Golf suffers first loss

The Blair golf team suffered their first loss of the season as they finished second to Paint Branch while beating Springbrook and Richard Montgomery on Tuesday September 16 at Northwest Park Golf Course. Despite the loss, Blair's record improved to 9-1 and leads their division.

Bill McManigle had the low score for the team as he shot a 44. However, Paint Branch's number one player shot a 38 for the low score of the match. Zach Mellman shot a 45, Neal Vasilak shot a 45, Danny Gillen shot a 47 and Ben Payes shot a 49. Blair's shot a 230 which was 16 strokes higher than Paint Branch's wining score of 214. Blair barely beat Richard Montgomery, which shot 234 as a team, and Springbrook took last place with a score of 256.

Payes playing in the number one spot struggled this match as he had an uncharacteristically high score. This was in part due to a two-stroke penalty he was assessed for picking up an opponent's ball, which he mistook for his own ball.

However, McManigle tied his lowest score of the season to assist in the team beating Richard Montgomery and Springbrook. He had four pars on the course and an excellent left-handed putt from just off the green on hole number nine. He started the match playing well but faltered on the last two holes because of a lapse in his mental focus. " I started off three over for the first seven holes and then was five over for the last two holes," said McManigle.

Jake Riley shot Blair's highest score, which did not count toward the team's overall total. However, he had the team's first birdie of the season on the par four hole number nine.

Blair had beaten Paint Branch last week, but was unable to outplay them in this contest. Still, Blair was able to defeat a talented Richard Montgomery squad.

Coach James Schafer was frustrated with the frequent mistakes of the team. " We started with a beautiful day and we finished with an ugly performance. We had a lot of mental mistakes which we paid for with our first loss," said Schafer.

The team's next match is against Richard Montgomery, Poolesville and Kennedy at the Hampshire Greens golf course on Thursday September 18 at 3:30 p.m.