Golf
By: Steve Feitl
It was his goal from the inception of his senior season.
Bob Whartenby wanted to win the Mercer County Golf Tournament in 2000.
On Tuesday, he got his wish.
The Lawrence High School stand-out shot a par-72 at Mountain View Golf Course in Ewing to take the MCT crown.
The Cardinal team finished third, just five strokes back from the team champions, Hopewell Valley.
As for Whartenby, he successfully captured the one accolade that had alluded the defending Group III state champion.
When signing his letter of intent April 5 to play this fall for Rider University, Whartenby named the MCT title as his goal for the remainder of the season.
He completed his mission Tuesday by being the only golfer in a field of 75 to shoot par. He came in three strokes lower than second place-finisher Sean Hartman of Ewing.
Cardinal coach James Csogi was proud of his senior golfer, who has led the LHS squad to a 7-3 record this spring.
With Whartenby, it’s leading by example, according to the coach.
“Everyone wants to follow him and keep up with him,” Csogi said. “He is a great leader because the other guys on the team are always looking to see how well he shoots. They say, ‘If he can do it, then I can do it too.’ That’s a big thing.”
Whartenby’s teammate Kevin Malone shot a 79 for a top-ten finish. The Cardinal team shot a 328, while HoVal shot 323 and second-place finisher Hun scored 325.
West Windsor-Plainsboro (329) and Pennington (332) rounded out the top five.
Csogi was pleased with his team’s performance at the MCT Tuesday, as he has been all season.
The Cardinals qualified for the state tournament — their preseason goal — and now face the stretch run.
“Our main concern was to get into states,” Csogi said. “We had enough wins to get in and that’s what we we’re looking for. Now we’re looking to pick up some more matches along the way.”
As it stands now, the Cardinals are in a battle for supremacy atop the Colonial Division with West Windsor-Plainsboro and Nottingham. Lawrence takes on Nottingham today (Thursday) with the opportunity to pull two games ahead.
The match against North Brunswick scheduled for Monday has been canceled, and the one against Hightstown Tuesday has been rescheduled for May 25.
But the Cardinals still have rival West Windsor-Plainsboro Wednesday, and tough matches against Steinert and HoVal after that.
“It will go right down to the end to see who is going to win both the Colonial and the Valley Divisions,” Csogi said. “That’s just the way our conference goes. Any team can knock off any other team on any given day.”