WW-P South sophomore golfer breaks par back-to-back
By: Bob Nuse
Although he’s just a sophomore, Anthony Aloi is one of those athletes who seems like he has been around a lot longer.
A year ago, as a freshman, the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South golfer finished third at the Mercer County Tournament, shooting a 75 at Mercer Oaks to finish just one stroke behind Mike DiMeglio of Princeton and Ben Bershad of Hopewell Valley.
A veteran of summer and tournament golf, Aloi is off to a sizzling start in his second high school season. Last week he recorded rounds of 34 and 33 in wins over Lawrence and Notre Dame, respectively. In each of those matches, the Pirates shot a 186 as a team, giving them four straight matches under 200.
"Our last few matches have been real good," said Aloi, whose average for the year is 35.8 for nine holes. "You know that you’re playing well when you can consistently shoot in the 30s. For us, it’s nice to see the whole team doing well. We have four golfers who have been shooting in the 30s and we’ve had some good team scores."
In a 186-216 win over Notre Dame, all five South golfers shot in the 30s. Aloi led the way with a 33, but Ryan Phelan had a 36, Dan Kim a 37, Greg Quinton a 38 and Mike March a 39. In a 186-190 win over Lawrence, four of the five golfers were under 40, with Aloi shooting a 34 and Phelan a 36.
"If I play well, I feel like a 33 or 34 is what I can shoot," said Aloi, who had both of those rounds on the Mercer Oaks West course. "It’s just that I have to avoid bogeys and make a few birdies. We’ve all been able to do that the last few matches and that’s why we had back-to-back 186 scores."
Mercer Oaks West is where the Pirates will be playing when they try to unseat Princeton as the Mercer County Tournament champion. The Little Tigers have won the last two titles, and have most of the golfers back from last year’s title team.
"We’re looking forward to the county tournament," said Aloi, who shot a 36 when South lost to Princeton, 193-199, in a dual match nearly two weeks ago. "We’d like to win it. We know Princeton has a real good team, but we feel like we can win if we all play well. We’ve all put up good scores at one time or another. If we can all do that on the same day, we have a chance."
It seems like Aloi always has a chance to win when he takes the course. He’s been playing in area International Junior Golf Tour events since the fall, earning four wins along the way, the latest a seven-shot victory in a tournament in Absecon.
"The tournaments are pretty good and they’re all around the area," said Aloi, who along with his Pirate teammates participated in the Cherry Valley Invitational on Monday. "I played in one in Florida, but most of them have been pretty close to home. It’s good experience."
All the time on the course has helped Aloi put together a solid sophomore season. In fact, he’s just about reaching the high expectations he has for himself.
"I expected to have an average right around 35 and I’m at 35.8," he said. "It’s nice to have my average so low at this point. And the team is doing well, which is important. I expected us to have a good season and so far we have. Two other guys in my grade, Greg Quinton and Evan McGrain, have both been putting up good scores. And Ryan, Mike and Dan are all playing well.
"We’ve put up a real good score the last two matches and hopefully we can keep doing that."
Aloi has certainly been a contributor to that success. And he hopes he and his teammates can keep it going over the next few weeks.

