WMass D2 Golf: Scoring hard to come by at Crestview Country Club on Monday

AGAWAM — Scoring was hard to come by at Crestview Country Club on Monday for the Western Mass. Div. 2 golf championship. 

Just about all 11 teams who competed struggled to put up numbers on the wet course. It was Wahconah that ran away with a victory after a team total of 312, with Pope Francis taking second (334) and Tantasqua placing third (349). 

Wahconah’s Tim Kaley (73) and Patrick McLaughlin (76) were the lone team players to break 80 on the day, with Kaley finishing as the overall winner. Colin Majowicz, competing as an individual for St. Bernard’s, shot a 77 while Leominster’s Daniel Simons, also competing as an individual, shot a 78. 

South Hadley placed fifth (360), Hampshire earned seventh (368) while Greenfield came in 10th (386). Frontier’s Ryan Cetto, who qualified as an individual, shot a 93. 

South Hadley’s Ryan MacGregor paced his squad by shooting an 81. Caiden Drohan (86), Matthew Blaser (95) and John Viola (98) had their scores count for South Hadley while Jack Maziarz (100) and Bennett Allen (106) also competed. 

“It didn’t go great,” MacGregor said. “I hit the ball as well as I could. I just couldn’t putt today. The greens were fast. They just cut them so they were running quick.” 

Count MacGregor as one of the many participants who were psyched to compete against the best Western Mass. had to offer, but felt like the round didn’t go their way. 

“I love big tournaments like this,” MacGregor said. “I’m hoping it could hold up for states. If it doesn’t I get it. It was a rough day out there.” 

Freshman Brayden Fennessy was the top finisher on the Raiders, carding an 86. 

“The course played tough today,” Fennessey said. “We battled it out. All in all, it was pretty fun. The team played pretty well. We had some high scores but it was pretty tough out there. It was fun competing in this.” 

Pryden Messier (93), Camden Jarosz (93) and Riley Florek (96) rounded out the Hampshire scorers, with Owen Lech (99) and Cole Boissonneault (101) also competing on the day. 

For Greenfield, Micheal Pierce finished with the low round of 87. Bryce Avery came in with a 96, Preston Lafleur shot a 97 while Conner Bergeron tallied a 106. Johnny Marchefka (114) and Luke Scotera (120) also competed for the Green Wave. 

Marchefka, a captain, noted how tough the scoring was on Monday. 

“I can count how many good swings I had on one hand,” Marchefka said. “On the first hole I was 215 [yards] out and hit my five iron on from 10 feet, but it was after six tee shots. When you put in the work, you get the results you want. I didn’t put in the work and the results showed.” 

Without a team of Redhawks there with him, Cetto was competing as an individual. He went down to Crestview for a practice round last Thursday and walked away confident afterward. 

Unfortunately for him, the course played much different on Monday. 

“It was rough out there,” Cetto said. “If you lost a ball a couple yards right or left you couldn’t find it in the leaves. I did a practice round here on Thursday and felt confident during that. It didn’t transfer over today. It’s a really nice course and I really like the layout. It was just wet which made it tough.” 

Still, Cetto said he enjoyed getting to see and compete against many of the golfers he faced during the season. 

“It’s always fun to get a day off from school, see some of my friends and play,” Cetto said.