Lenox, Three Berkshire Individuals Qualify for State Championshps

LUDLOW, Mass. – Zach Mongeon’s golf game was on.

 

But then he had to play the waiting game.

 

Mongeon carded an 82 Tuesday at Ludlow Country Club in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Championships.

 

That gave him a tie for fifth place and a spot in next week’s State Championships at Stockbridge Golf Club, where he will join a big Berkshire County contingent that includes the Lenox team and two golfers from McCann Tech.

 

Mongeon, however, had an excruciating wait for that news. As one of the early wave of finishers at the sectional, he had to cool his heels in the clubhouse, where at first he was one stroke below the cut line for the six golfers who would qualify as individuals for the big show.

 

“You know, I never want to wish the worst on anyone to make a bogey or for them to not make it themselves,” Mongeon said. “I was hoping that I was able to make it this year, it being my senior year.

 

“I really wanted to see my name be in the top six. So I was glad to see that a few people were able to drop.

 

“But it was a lot of nerves there, I will say. It was tough.”

 

Scoreboard watchers also saw the Millionaires bounce around at the top of the team leaderboard all day. Lenox flirted with a first place finish for a while then appeared to be secure in a second- or third-position to clinch a ticket to Stockbridge.

 

But fourth-place Westfield Tech made a late charge to get within two strokes of Lenox, which finished 10 behind sectional champion Montachusett Tech of Fitchburg.

 

Mia Freeman and Oliver Kirby led the way for Lenox, each carding an 83 to join a three-player tie for ninth place.

 

Kirby, who started his day in a shotgun start on the sixth tee, birdied the 367-yard, par 4 10th hole to stand at 1-over at the top of the leaderboard but then had to fight through some troubles on the front nine (his final holes), holding on to finish in the top fifth of the field.

 

“I was off to a very good start, and I just stopped catching breaks toward the end,” he said. “Putts stopped falling, and it was just a little unlucky, but I kept my head up and hung in there.”

 

Freeman started on the eighth tee and was six-over through her first five holes, but she rallied to make par on all but two holes the rest of the way.

 

KIrby and Pinsonneaul recorded the only birdies for the Millionaires. Pinsonneault broke par on the 482-yard, par-5 second hole on his way to an 89 that contributed to Lenox’s team score.

 

Thomas birdied the par-4 sixth hole, his fifth hole of the event, on his way to an 81 that was the best of the 15 Berkshire County competitors at the event.

 

Kondel, who went off on the first tee Tuesday morning, birdied a pair of par 5s, Nos. 2 and 9 – the latter when he really needed it.

 

“I was on a rough stretch there,” Kondel said of holes 5 through 8, where he was a collective  6-over. “I went, like, bogey, double, double, or something like that, and that birdie helped. I just cleaned it up after that, striking my irons better.”

 

“I hit a good 3 wood [on No. 9], which felt good because I wasn’t hitting it great off the tee. Then I had a tough lie in the rough and hit a good 5 iron out and a pretty good wedge shot, ran up to about 10 feet and made the putt for birdie.”

 

Now, Kondel and the rest of the county contingent can spend the next five days getting ready to go back to Stockbridge, where Thomas will look to repeat the performance he had in winning last week’s Berkshire Classic.

 

But he won’t be the only one familiar with the course.

 

“I definitely want some revenge there,” Kondel said. “I struggled a bit there.”

 

Some folks have better memories.

 

“That’s a good home course advantage for a lot of our players,” Lenox’s Kirby said. “A lot of them have memberships there. We’ve played the Classic there. We’ve played there a million times. It will be comforting.

 

“I think we can play pretty well if we all put our strokes together.”

 

Photos from this event to come.

 

Team Scores

1. Montachusett RVT, 337

2. Franklin County Tech, 341

3. Lenox Memorial (Oliver Kirby, 83; Mia Freeman, 83; Noah Pinsonneault, 89; Katie Shove, 92; Edmund Pritchard, 98; Jacob Quallen, 102), 347

4. Westfield Tech, 349

5. McCann Tech (Gabe Thomas, 81; Kale Kondel, 82; NIck Varellas, 88; Jayden Dean, 105; Brandon Sinopoli, 108; Parker Kennedy, 109), 356

6. Monsoon, 401

7. Pathfinder, 402

8. Springfield International Charter, 407

9. St. Mary’s (Westfield), 417

 

Playing as individuals

Zach Mongeon, Hoosac Valley, 82

Matty Abderhalden, Lee, 89

 

Top 6 Individuals (qualify for state championship)

79

Brady Wood, Franklin Tech

81

Lukas Segur, Montachusett RVT; Jackson Day, Franklin Tech; Gabe Thomas, McCann Tech

82

Kale Kondel, McCann Tech; Tyler Albero, Montachusett RVT; Zach Mongeon, Hoosac Valley; Chris Pedersen, Westfield Tech