Matt Lowe, Annie Park unlikely to play at states
Matt Lowe of Farmingdale tees off on the 10th Hole of Bethpage State Park's Red Course. (May 23, 2012) Credit: James Escher
With the top two golfers unlikely to play in the boys state golf tournament, Cold Spring Harbor will be leading the Nassau County contingent to Cornell University in Ithaca June 2-4.
MacArthur's Annie Park, who Wednesday became the first girl to win a Long Island boys county golf championship, said that it is possible she won't attend the state championship to play in a national junior event. Farmingdale's Matt Lowe, who finished second, says he will play in the U.S. Open sectional qualifier in New Jersey instead.
Park finished the Nassau tournament with a county-record score of 8-under 134 on the Blue and Red Courses at Bethpage State Park, and Lowe, the two-time defending county champion and defending state champion, finished with a 2-under 140.
Cold Spring Harbor sophomore Chris Gabriele finished third yesterday with a score of 147. Teammates Anthony Wagner, who shot a 149, and Steve Tanen, who shot a 151, combined with Gabriele to lead the Seahawks to their first county title since 1979.
Along with Gabriele, Wagner and Tanen, the Section VIII state championship team will include Sewanhaka's Chris Yeom (148), Syosset's Willis Huynh (149), Farmingdale's Kyle Brey (150), Friends Academy's J. Christian Fitzgerald (150) and Great Neck District's Ross Hoffman (151) and Johnson Ko (152).
"We still have great players in our section," Lowe said. "The Nassau team should be fine."
Cold Spring Harbor finished with a score of 775, holding off three-time defending champion Farmingdale, which finished with a score of 781. The Seahawks had finished second to the Dalers for the past two years.
"I'm very happy for my kids," 11th-year coach Jamie Lawlor said. "I know it meant a lot to them to try to beat Farmingdale, and they finally did."
Cold Spring Harbor finished with a 378 after the first round on Tuesday to take the lead, while Farmingdale was in third with a 396. But the Dalers made a late push Wednesday, shooting a 385 while the Seahawks shot a 397 for the second round.
"I was terrified," Lawlor said. "We started so well yesterday with no one shooting over 80, but our first two scores today were both 85. We were nervous right until the very end, our last two groups really sealed the win for us."
Cold Spring Harbor will face Ward Melville in the Long Island Championship on May 30 at Bethpage Black.
"We would love to win," Lawlor said. "We were extremely excited to win the county title so I can't imagine what it would feel like to win the Long Island championship."
