The Monroe Township High School boys golf team may come up short in its bid to win the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division title, but there’s no denying this has been another quality season.
Afour-stroke season-opening loss to the Chargers has forced the Falcons to play catch-up this spring, and with the schedule winding down, opportunities are dwindling to overtake their rivals.
“That loss to Spotswood hurt, since it was our only match against them,” said Dennis Kelleher, Monroe coach. “We are really starting to play well, however. In our last match [against Woodbridge], we shot 165.”
That score was posted at Forsgate Country Club, the Falcons’ challenging home course. If Monroe manages similar scores in its remaining matches, the Falcons have to be given an outside chance to challenge St. Joseph of Metuchen, Metuchen and South Brunswick high schools for GMC supremacy.
“Honestly,” Kelleher said, “I’m still hoping we can win the White Division. St. Joe’s is the clear favorite to win the GMCs, and the other two are right behind. I’d be happy with our team making a strong showing and let the chips fall where they may.”
The chips will fall where shots by a group of talented youngsters hit them. Fouryear starter Nik Esposito is the leader of the group; however, his stroke average isn’t the team’s best. That distinction goes to the top four who are either sophomores or freshmen. Sophomore Brandon Hur has averaged 7.8 over par and is followed by freshman Matt Concorikis’ 8.7 over, sophomore Eric Monticello’s 9.8 over and sophomore Matt Gordon’s 11.8 over. Esposito comes in with a 12.3-over average.
In regular-season match play, the best four out of six rounds count in the scoring. However, in the state tournament, the best five out of six are used to tabulate the results.
“Those [top five] have been outstanding,” says Kelleher, who teaches math at the high school. “What I love about them is their serious approach to playing golf but being able to have fun at the same time.
“In practice,” he continues, “we have all kinds of different competitions and the golfers really get into them.”
Kelleher takes a hands-on approach to instructing team members, which is over 20.
“In the beginning of the season,” he says, “we hit balls and work on the short game. That’s when I demonstrate basic fundamentals. As the season progresses, we have nine-hole practices and I am able to point out things the players are doing wrong. When they learn to hit a wood or iron the right way and putt properly, the players understand the difference between right and wrong.”
In addition to playing matches at Forsgate, the Falcons have access to Clearbrook’s course in the township.
“I tell the kids they are extremely fortunate to be able to play on those courses,” Kelleher says.
Like many GMC golf teams, community involvement is an important element of the program. Last year the team helped raise $1,100 for the Pediatric Cancer Institute at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. This year, $1,500 was donated to the HelmettaAnimal Shelter.