The golf team has gotten off to an impressive start, currently ranked fourth in their division, at 7-6-2, five matches into the season.
Once regular season play ends over the week of Oct. 2, district and state championship competition will start. If members on the team qualify, states will be Oct. 23-25 at the University of Maryland.
This year the team has a new coach, Sean Crawford, replacing last year’s coach and English teacher Danny Pecoraro. Crawford previously played club golf for the University of Maryland. “I have been playing golf for just over a decade. I decided to coach at Wootton because I coached the team during the 2021-2022 school year, so I am familiar with the staff and procedures that come with coaching at this school in particular. In addition, my wife coaches the varsity softball team [here], so it is a fun and convenient thing for us to work at the same school,” Crawford said.
Most golfers on the team have been playing for the majority of their lives. “I’ve been playing for around eight years. I really like how it doesn’t just challenge you physically, but also mentally,” sophomore Charlize Lin said.
Although golf is typically an individual sport, the team tries to support each other throughout the season. The team is led by senior captains Jane Lee and Holden O’Brien. “A highlight of my season has been team practices and hanging out with the team,” Lin said.
This year at states, the team will be expected to try to defeat the back-to-back defending state champions, Poolesville. Last year, the team was not able to win at states and is hoping this year will mark a change. “A goal of ours is to qualify for the state championship as a team. In addition, I’d love to see some of our players do well in the individual portion of states,” Crawford said.
Each member of the team has to try to qualify for the smaller lineup that can play at the matches. Qualifying for districts and states can be even more difficult, with competition from other schools. “My goal is to make it into at least two more matches before the season ends and to make top ten at states,” Lin said.
Since the team doesn’t have practice space at school, it can be a struggle to coordinate team practice and travel to matches at different golf courses every week. “One of the struggles with golf is definitely the traveling aspect. Unlike other sports, we do not practice or have matches in the same place every day. Instead, we travel all throughout the county throughout the week to practice and play matches. Because of this, there is a lot of extra coordination and planning that goes into our daily routine,” Crawford said.
