With spring sports starting up, the Morgan Golf team is getting ready for a new season. After losing several key seniors, Morgan now begins their rebuilding process behind freshman Landon Coley and returning players Luke McComiskey and Robert Bergman.
The Morgan team is coming off a 6 and 10 season. The team is used to being in the middle of the pack. This year, they’re just trying to do better than the season before and prove that they can beat anyone in the conference.
Eric Bergman, the head coach of the Morgan golf team, said, “Losing Jack Nye and Kolby Clifton are two big losses, and these are kids who didn’t play golf all their life, but they got better and helped us complete the season last year.”
One of the captains this season is Robert Bergman, who has played golf all four years of high school and knows primarily how the matches are run. The second captain, Luke McComiskey, started last year when he was a junior and has been a big part of helping the team succeed and do well in matches.
Because the team will be young, coach Bergman is holding back expectations until he learns a bit more about the team. “I just don’t know what players are out there, so it’s hard for me to tell,” said coach Bergman.
Despite the rebuild, new players are holding out hope for a successful season. Freshman Landon Coley, who decided to play golf this year, has played in tournaments. His most recent one was in Tampa, where he placed 4th out of the top 100 kids in the Tampa Area. “We’re trying to get a lot of wins and maybe making it to the playoffs. I mean, isn’t that the goal for any team,¨ said Coley
The golf team plays 16 matches this season. 11 of those are league matches in the Shoreline conference, and five of those matches are non-conference matches where they play teams like Guilford, Hand, Waterford, Fitch, and East Lyme.
Some top teams coming in to this year are HK, Portland, Cromwell, and Coginchog because they have been skilled in past years. Cromwell has always had strong golf teams. They usually stick in matches. Same with HK, a big rival and a team that stays in the match and doesn’t give up easily. The team will close out the year, if they don’t make states, with the Shoreline conference tournament on March 27th at the Stanley Golf Course. “That’s an 18-hole all-day affair,” Coach Bergman said, “Which is a great experience for the kids, too.”
Coach Bergman believes the team is more than just golf. He likes to participate in fundraisers as a team. This year, like in the past, they are involved with the Derek Greatly Foundation. “It was founded in memory of Tanner Romanos, who played for us ten years ago and was killed in a motorcycle accident two years ago,” Coach Bergman said. “We’d like to have some affiliation with the group.”
The golf team is planning other charity events, such as a cancer walk. Additionally, they are also going to watch a classic film together called, “High Noon” to build team bonding. Bergman said, “It’s a great way to connect the team.”
This year’s team is smaller with only 15 total golfers on the roster, five of them being freshmen. ¨Just because we are smaller and younger than last year’s team doesn’t mean we should be taken lightly,¨ said Coley. The team is focused on getting to know each other and learn about the game. Coley said, “It’s not stressful, and it’s not that hard. Even if you are not the best, there are still spots on the team.”
Kids should definitely be interested in this sport. “Golf is a wonderful sport, and you can play it for a lifetime. It’s the only sport where you refer to yourself, and you call penalties on yourself. I also think you make a lot of new friends, and you learn how to deal with people you don’t know,” said coach Bergman
The team is overall trying to get better together and win as many matches as possible. After losing a lot of players, they are focusing on getting better for years to come.
