By: Sean Moylan
It’s time to start mentioning Chris Mallett in the same breath with Justin VanHyning.
Because even VanHyning, who is widely considered to be the greatest varsity golf player in Bordentown Regional High history, never shot a 76 in the NJSIAA Tournament event.
However, that’s exactly what Mallett did this past Monday at the South/Central Group I State tournament at the Town & Country Golf Links in Woodstown.
"Mallett tied for third (as an individual). That 76 was our best individual tournament round ever," said Bordentown head coach Rob Shappell, whose senior star will now move on to play in Monday’s Tournament of Champions at Burlington Country Club in Westampton.
Bordentown came extremely close to qualifying for the TOC as a team as well.
"We missed making it by three strokes," said Shappell, whose Scotties shot a combined score of 332, which placed them third behind Delran (327) and Moorestown (339). Richie Talbot (84), George Benson (85) and Geoff Allen (87) all shot stellar scores for Bordentown.
"After the match I told the boys I was very proud of them," said Shappell.
Shappell got a little prouder on Tuesday afternoon as his Scotties shot a school record 148 team score to defeat Burlington City, 148-180, at Golden Pheasant Golf Course. Mallett led the charge with a 2-under-par 34 and Talbot shot just one-over- par (37) while Allen (38) and Tommy Pittman (39) also fired great scores.
"Adam Swanson shot a 40 and it didn’t even count," said Shappell, who was delighted with his team’s magnificent performance.
Last Wednesday, Bordentown beat Delran, 168-174, at Hanover Country Club. Mallett and Talbot each shot a team-best 40 as they tied with the Bears’ Joey Kane for medalist. Benson (42) and Allen (46) both came up with solid scores as well.
"I was excited for the kids in that match. I was happy to beat Delran (the very same Delran that won Monday’s Group 1 Sectional title)," said Shappell.
With Monday’s state tournament looming, Shappell did not play three of his top six players (Mallett, Allen and Swanson) in last Thursday’s match versus New Egypt. Normally it would not be a problem because Bordentown can usually go eight or nine deep and still win most matches. But a couple of Scotties shot several strokes over their averages and New Egypt ended up nipping Borentown, 173-177, at Hanover. Talbot (38), Benson (41) and Pittman (47) were Bordentown’s top three scorers while Chris Yanucil and Matt McBride each shot a 51 to tie for the fourth scoring spot.
"I’ve got to give New Egypt a lot of credit. They shot a respectable 173 score," said Shappell. "I thought that we’d be able to win even without those guys (Mallett, Swanson and Allen). They (the Warriors) shot very well. It (the loss) was partially because they had a nice day."
Always a class act, Shappell will give it up for another team that does well 10 times out of 10. Anyway, Mallett wanted to practice for the state tournament and it’s very possible that during that practice he discovered little things in his game which led to Monday’s tremendous performance. Bordentown will take that trade-off every time.
Bordentown (10-6) was scheduled to face Northern Burlington at Falcon Creek yesterday (Wednesday). It is scheduled to host Pemberton today (Thursday) at Hanover. Mallett will play in the ToC on Monday while the rest of the team takes on Holy Cross. Then on Tuesday, Bordentown is scheduled to compete in the BCSL Divisional Tournament at Rancocas Valley Golf Course.
