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07/21/2018 12:00 AMThe Hand boys’ golf squad entered the 2018 season with a young team that featured just one senior and a pair of freshmen in its lineup. However, the campaign turned out to be a coming-of-age story for the Tigers, who quickly got into the swing of things and kept getting better as the year wore on.
Head Coach Jim Holleran’s club notched a record of 14-4 during match play in the regular season, after which Hand kicked it into another gear when the postseason rolled around. First, the Tigers totaled a collective score of 321 to finish in fourth place at SCC Championship at Racebrook Country Club. After that, Hand hit the course for the Division II State Championship, where the Tigers came in third place with a score of 317 at Fairview Farms in Harwinton.
Coach Holleran said that his golfers were unsure of what was in store for them when the season began, but he was pleased to see them grind it out on the links and prove a formidable opponent at any venue.
“We had a young team entering this year, so we didn’t really know what to expect. But the young guys took to the game quickly,” said Holleran. “We had some small ups and downs during the season, but the team got better. They developed a quiet confidence about themselves that they could shoot low scores anywhere. It was a pleasurable team to coach.”
The Tigers were guided by a pair of captains in senior Matt Pellatt and junior Michael McKeon. Coach Holleran said that both athletes provided excellent veteran leadership for Hand by championing the concept of camaraderie throughout the roster.
“They were both part of the starting lineup and brought experience playing. They were terrific leaders,” Holleran said. “They showed up early every day and communicated with the rest of the team. They were good at bringing everyone together and helped make it a fun team to be around.”
Holleran said that some of the highlights from the 2018 season came when the Tigers gave a few of the SCC’s premier teams everything they could handle. The coach also noted how well Hand played away from its home course of Madison Country Club. These ingredients not only helped the Tigers have a solid season this year, they also gave Coach Holleran an optimistic feeling going forward.
“There was no one particular defining moment this year, but we just became a competitive team this year,” Holleran said. “We shot good scores against a good [SCC champion] Xavier team. The past couple times, we had played poorly against [SCC runner-up] Fairfield Prep on the road, but we only lost by a few strokes this year. We also had a nice home win against Hamden. Another good sign of this year was that we started to play well on the road. We had a good turnaround this year, and the future is bright.”
Two key pieces of the Tigers’ bright future are McKeon and Matt Doyle. Both athletes shot a round of 76 at the SCC Championship to earn All-Conference honors this year. Doyle, who was a freshman, followed up that performance by scoring an even-par 72 at the Division II State Championship to finish tied for second place and solidify a spot on the All-State Team.
The graduation of Pellatt leaves one spot to fill in the starting five, although the Tigers will still return a good amount of experience next season. Along with Doyle and McKeon, Hand is welcoming back Aiden Stuart for his junior year, as well as Conner Quinn, who will be a sophomore
“We will be pretty solid with Matt, Conner, Michael, and Aiden, but we will be searching for that fifth guy. We are looking for a guy that can make solid contributions,” said Holleran. “Conner also came into his own this year and realized he can really play. Again, the future is really bright here.”
From the Sidelines
Additionally at the SCC Championship, Matt Pellatt scored an 84 for Hand, while Conner Quinn and Aidan Stuart both finished with a score of 85.
For the Division II State Championship, Quinn shot a 76, Pellatt finished with an 83, Aiden Stuart scored an 86, and Michael McKeon finished with a round of 88 for the Tigers.
On June 9, Matt Doyle competed in the inaugural State Open Championship, where he finished tied for 10th place with a round of 78 for the par-71 course at Black Hall Country Club in Old Lyme. Doyle recorded four birdies on the day.