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The Cardinals walked into the gloomy, rainy weather at Lincoln Park on May 17 ready for redemption, and walked out of the golf course later that day with the well-deserved title of champions.
The boys’ varsity golf team sank birdie after birdie in the AAA golf championships on May 17 against the Washington Eagles. They crushed the Eagles—who have been the reigning champions for the past two years—in a dramatic 443-459 victory. “We should have won by a larger margin from the beginning,” junior golfer Edwin Mak said. “It was uncomfortable to have the match go down to the wire like that, though it certainly added more excitement.”
The Cardinals and Eagles played 18 holes, as opposed to the usual nine holes for a regular season game. This win was very satisfying for the Cardinals because last season Washington triumphed over Lowell at the championship match by only two strokes. “I feel redeemed in a way for winning this year because our team worked hard and we know we deserve it,” sophomore golfer Tom Ebergen said.
Dominating the individual tournament on the same day, the Cardinals faced golfers from Washington, Lincoln, Wallenberg and Balboa. Six golfers—Ebergen, freshman golfer Scott Bang and senior golfers Max McKenzie, Sam Berry, Patrick Berg and Andrew Huang—placed in the top 17. Ebergen placed first in the individual tournament. Last year, as a freshman, he placed second. “I’m happy with how I played, especially in the rain,” Ebergen said.
Keeping a clear head this season, golfers gave their all at practices despite being undefeated. “We kept focused on what we wanted to achieve this year,” Mak said. “For the past two years we have been undefeated, and we started to loosen up on our practice routines and such. This year, we did not.” According to coach Mitchell Wagner, the team has “improved their focus level, motivation, camaraderie, team spirit and cohesiveness.”
The strong bond between team members and their coach also helped them excel this season. “We as a team have a lot of faith in each other, and that faith is like the glue that holds us together,” sophomore golfer Jonathan Duong said. “Even if we have a bad day, we can relax because we are confident that the rest of the team has our backs. This strong mentality comes from Coach Wagner, who always tries to keep us focused and relaxed, even in the toughest situations.”
Six seniors are leaving the team after this season. Despite this, Wagner is not worried. “It’s certainly a loss,” he said. “But we have a good core to rebuild it. Like any sport, you need to constantly rebuild.”
This was Wagner’s third year as the golf coach. His first year, he had a “hard time recruiting just six guys for the team.” Since then, the golf program has grown considerably. Both upperclassmen and underclassmen have plenty of team spirit. Underclassmen Ebergen and Bang were both part of the key to victory at the championships, according to Wagner. “Scott had the second best round of our team at the championships,” Wagner said. “I put him in last minute and he proved to be part of our success.”
Most Valuable Player
The Lowell’s choice for MVP is sophomore Tom Ebergen. Though it is difficult to choose just one player because the team is composed of all solid players and no one is the best each week, Ebergen has showed stability throughout the season. He shot an 80 at the championships, the highest scoring round of all the golfers competing. “He’s consistently one of our best players,” Wagner said. “He is always enthusiastic and constantly working at his golf game, trying to get better.” |
