Wins in Virginia over PVI and SSSA

On an extremely cold and windy Tuesday afternoon, Prep (6-0) defeated Paul VI (10-1) on their home course of CC of Fairfax 6.5-2.5. Coach had five layers on and could have used another at times. But the players seemed to persevere nonetheless.
As has become custom Denny McCarthy started the match with the Panther's #1 Tyler Wingo by winning the first three holes to set an early torrid pace. He finished the front side in 37 with a couple of uncharacteristic putting misses but managed to close out Wingo on the 10th hole of the 12 hole match.
Sam Spikell started in the #2 slot based in part on his good showing the last two outings but he struggled with his putting and some bad breaks along the way and lost 1 down to Jay Pinkos. On the third hole, for example, Sam hit a draw into a small stand of trees but was not able to find his ball and had to go back to the tee to rehit. Later Coach found his ball in the rough on the opposite side of the fairway. Sam had a chance to pull his match even on the final hole but his 12 foot birdie putt refused to drop.
With Denny's torrid start and a clutch birdie putt on #7 by Sam they easily won the best ball point.
The second group was a wash. Nate Cohan drew Brandon Luxenberg but he couldn't get any part of his game going this day and Brandon, who also had his share of troubles outlasted Cohan 3 and 1. Nate won the par 5 fifth hole with a 7.
Greg Bourdon , on the other hand, had a good back and forth match with Matt Astorino but he prevailed 3 and 1 as well. The best ball came down to the final hole where Astorino made an excellent recovery to save par while Bourdon put his third shot on the par 5 hole outside of birdie range, and the point was halved.
Wes Strang and Matt Brown dominated the third foursome fairly easily. Wes struggled with his game again today, especially his putting but still managed a 3 and 1 win over Alex Kormanec. Matt kept the pedal down and cruised to a 4 and 3 win over Scott Simmons. His play complemented Wes' quite well and they won the best ball point 4 and 3.
In all likelihood these two teams will meet again in the Metros on May 12th at International CC in Virginia.
On Holy Thursday the guys wore short sleeve shirts and a few even donned shorts as the weather warmed up to the low 60s for the match with St. Stephen's and St. Agnes. The ride out to Mt. Vernon Golf Club took the scenic route out the parkway alongside the Potomac River and that may have been a portend for some of the players. Too much woods and water.
A few starters were not in town for this contest but the team stepped up to pull off a 190 - 208 win. Matt Brown was low man for the day on the basis of his even-par 35. He played conservative golf and kept the ball in play for the most part. He did "over club" on #4 which resulted in a three putt but made up for it by sinking a 10 footer on the ninth hole. As Captain, Matt switched up the pairings a bit and opted to play with Nate Cohan. Nate posted 37 with a birdie 3 on the most difficult hole on the front side - #3 where he stuck his nine iron relatively close after a drive that hugged the tree line.
Sam Spikell played a most conservative game (for him) today until the ninth hole. He made one mistake on #4 when his three-wood caught some tree limbs and kicked into the woods and out of bounds on the right, but he rebounded by bombing a drive over the corner of the dogleg to the front edge of the green where he made the up and down to salvage a bogey. On #9 Sam took his drive as deep as he could go so that he might have a more open approach to the ninth green from the first fairway. But he could not convert the opportunity and had to settle for a three-putt bogey. He finished one over at 36.
Greg Bourdon did a lot more scrambling than he is used to and faltered on #8 and #9 with back-to-back sixes on his way to a 41. Tom Horton sandwiched three straight pars between a four-over start and a two over finish to close with another 41. Jack Myers simply had a miserable round as he couldn't keep the double bogeys off his card; he soared to a 45.
The Saints were led by David Budway (36), followed by Holt Mountcastle (39) and Joe Curley (40). Marshall Hughes had a triple and two double bogeys on three of the last four holes on his way to a 46; Hunter Garth was ten over par on just three holes on his way to a 47. Alex Freedman simply struggled to a 52.
The team improved to 6-0, 2-0 on the season and looks forward to next week's match-ups with St. Albans at Columbia CC, Gonzaga at Argyle, and Archbishop Spalding at Lake Presidential in Upper Marlboro, MD.