By: Sean Moylan
It’s the week of the Masters so the "Masters of Peddie golf" went out this past Monday and won the Garden State Cup at the Blue Heron Pines Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township.
Peddie shot a stellar team score of 314, but needed to battle hard to stave off the runner-up Hillsborough.
Peddie head coach Bill Leece called the 18 hole course "extremely challenging," especially for kids who are used to playing 9 holes in competition, but if there’s one thing Max Bichsel, Peddie’s best golfer, likes, it’s a good challenge. Bichsel shot a terrific one-over-par score of 73 to tie Mainland’s J.D, Lorenzetti and Gloucester Catholic’s Ryan Cass for the lead after regulation.
"Max (Bichsel) shot a 39 on the front nine and a 34 on the back nine. Max played his heart out," said Leece.
The tournament’s top three combatants then went to a sudden death round. Cass went down on the second hole, which left Bichsel in a great head-to-head battle with Lorenzetti. Bichsel and Lorenzetti matched shots until Lorenzetti pulled ahead to win the individual honors on the fifth hole. Still, Peddie had the best team. In fact, in addition to Bichsel’s second-place finish, Peddie’s Warren Taylor shot a 79 to place 7th on the individual score board. The Falcons’ Preston Combs (80) and Rob Warfield (82) also delivered in the clutch. While he didn’t score in the team results for Peddie, Connor Monaghan’s stroked an 86, which is very good on such a tough course.
Although Leece was happy with the results, he was not surprised by them. He had expected his talented team to do well and compete for the title in the 20-team field.
"It was a good way to start the season. I think most of the schools which competed were from Southern Jersey and six teams were from Northern Jersey. But all of the schools were in the Top 25 in the state. So it bodes well for our season," said Leece, whose team from "Central Jersey" won it all. Some Top 25 lists do not include Peddie, but that’s just because the school accepts post grads. Ironically, there are no post grads on the current Peddie varsity golf team, however.
Peddie was scheduled to have played in the Blue Devil Invitational this past Wednesday, but that event was rained out and will be rescheduled for later this month. Peddie is scheduled at Blair Academy on Saturday. It is scheduled to host the Hun School of Princeton next Tuesday and Notre Dame next Thursday.
