Social media hype continues to grow, as golf team competes in Districts, States

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Photo by Mason Berk

Senior Jake Hoffman puts for birdie in a match.

After making the Wootton Golf Instagram account more active, a lot of positive attention has been coming toward the team. This has been uplifting for the team, in a time of need with districts and states going on.

During practices, the team takes full advantage of the account by posting funny content regularly. This has attracted a lot of hype and attention from large social media accounts that have reposted the videos. The engineer of the account is senior Mason Berk. Berk also has his own personal golf account where he makes original memes and videos that he posts. That account has done well and is what sparked the idea of using the Wootton Golf Instagram account in this way.

The six-person lineup for districts starts off with the electric freshman twin duo, Charlton Lin and Charlize Lin. These two have been a highlight for the team all season long and were ready to showcase their talent during states. Charlton had an off day, one of his worst of the season, and did not qualify for states.

Seniors Colin Grange and Tyler Cosgrove also made the lineup. Both of them have been playing solid golf all year long, but the pressure of districts and states seemed to be getting to them. Both boys did not have their strongest performances. “It definitely felt a lot different to be competing in a match with this much significance. I’m used to just going out to the range with the boys and having fun, but this was much more serious, and I haven’t had experience with these types of matches,” senior Tyler Cosgrove said.

The pressure got to junior Holden O’Brien, who squeaked into the lineup over senior Jake Hoffman. There was controversy over this last spot, as O’Brien was in jeopardy of losing his place to Hoffman. Hoffman was outperforming O’Brien in practice, but Coach Danny Pecoraro decided to stick with his gut and play Holden. O’Brien underperformed and shot a score of 90 during states. He 3-putt nine out of the 18 holes, and could never get into his rhythm.

Now that the season is over, the team is looking forward to the future. Seniors Hoffman, Grange, Kaleigh Barrow, and Cosgrove will be leaving the team. All of them participated in several matches throughout the season and were strong leaders for the team. Grange said, “I loved every moment on the team the past couple of years, and I can’t wait to watch the people that didn’t get to play much in the matches this year get a chance to shine next season.”