New Hampshire fall was on full display at Moultonborough’s Ridgewood Country Club on Thursday morning: leaves of orange and yellow, pine needles blanketing the ground along with a good amount of rain and wind.
The colorful seasonal scenery was the backdrop to Bow’s golf team’s dominance on the green: The Falcons emerged victorious as Division II champions, finishing at 28-over-par with a combined 388 strokes for their 11th state title in the program’s 26 years.
The Falcons landed comfortably ahead of Windham and Timberlane, who finished tied for second at 36-over 396. Each team had eight players compete; the five best performances were used to determine each school’s score.
This was Bow’s first year as a D-II team, having moved up from D-III. The championship is the Falcons’ ninth in the last 11 years. But it was their first in the new division.
“It’s really a testament to the players and how hard they wanted to work and the goals that they set for themselves at the beginning of the year,” Bow head coach Matt Davis said of what it meant to see his team’s championship in its first year at the D-II level. “It can’t start in September or August when we have tryouts. It has to start at the beginning of the spring, and that’s what they did.”
Hunter Duncan turned in the best performance of the day for Bow and tied for first overall, finishing at 5-under-par 67. He’ll join teammate Cam Evans (fifth), who shot a 1-over 73, at the D-II individual state championship on Saturday at Beaver Meadow Golf Course.
“I don’t remember ever seeing a score, certainly from Bow, but in the years that I’ve coached, where you have 5-under 67 from Hunter Duncan,” Davis said. “Cam Evans had a huge day with a 1-over 73. Really great scores.”
Added Duncan: “It was a good day all around. I was hitting numbers. I was playing well. Solid day.”
Owen Webber (81), Eli Wilkening (82) and Sean Guerrette (85) were Bow’s other scorers.
Players teed off at 9 a.m. As the day progressed, rain started to fall from what felt like every direction and wind began disrupting strokes, blowing balls off-course.
Davis said the team prepared for inclement weather but thought it would play a role later in the day. Even still, the Falcons had to remain focused.
“If you can stay mentally tough, it’s not going to affect you nearly as much,” Davis said of the impact of the substandard weather conditions. “I think that’s what they did. They kept track of the wind, thought about how it was going to alter some of their shots and planned accordingly.”
Duncan added that knowing the weather wouldn’t be great tempered his expectations for the day, but it didn’t seem to bother his overall performance much. He tied Trinity’s Samuel Maurice with the best individual performance of the day. Thursday’s score will combine with his Saturday score to determine his final standing in the individual state championship.
In addition to Duncan and Evans, Merrimack Valley’s Andrew Surprenant (tied seventh, 3-over 75) and Pembroke’s Landon Pearson (tied 13th, 6-over 78) and Andrew Chiavaras (tied 16th, 7-over 79) will also represent their D-II schools in Saturday’s individual D-II championship.
Bow’s Luke Wilke (90), Ali Sargent (96) and Finn Benoit (96), and MV’s Jack Colvin (103) were the other area competitors.
Bow finished its regular season in first place at 26-2. Thursday’s championship adds the proverbial cherry on top.
“One thing that stood out was never settling for what their best was, always knowing that their best could be better,” Davis said about what he’ll remember most about this year’s team. “I think ultimately that was the final push that they had.”
And although Duncan still has more golf to play this weekend, he was sure to acknowledge the overall success of his team this season and at Thursday’s championship.
“We’ve had a solid year. We’ve been practicing pretty hard,” he said. “Now the work’s come to show. Here we are in first place. It’s a great win.”