Sandwich senior Nick Burke tees off on the first hole of the Division 2 state golf championship; his team finished in second place.
(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)
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Sandwich senior Nick Burke tees off on the first hole of the Division 2 state golf championship; his team finished in second place.
(Wendy Maeda/Globe StaffSUTTON - For Duxbury coach Jack Stoddard, this was his sweetest victory.
Stoddard’s son, Jonathan, shot an even-par 72 yesterday to lead the Dragons to the MIAA Division 2 golf championship at Blackstone National Golf Course.
“We’ve won before, but this is the sweetest,’’ said coach Stoddard. “When you have your own son come in with the low score, that makes you real proud.’’
Duxbury’s four-player total of 313 was two strokes better than Sandwich’s 315.
Jonathan Stoddard’s round tied for the lowest score on the day as Duxbury won the team title for the first time since 2006.
The Dragons’ victory also was aided by fellow junior James Magner. He finished with a 3-over 75.
“We had two kids go low, which is what we have been trying to do all year,’’ said coach Stoddard.
Rounding out the scoring for Duxbury were Billy Curley (82) and Kevin Kuckuk (84).
Coach Stoddard thought the weather played to his team’s strong suit.
“It wasn’t really windy out there, and that helped us a lot,’’ he said. “My kids are very accurate but aren’t really long-ball hitters. If it was windy, who knows what would have happened?’’
“The course was pretty easy,’’ said Magner. “You had to hit it straight and hit a lot of fairways because the rough was really bad.’’
Jonathan Stoddard liked that there were opportunities to make up for bad holes.
“There were lots of holes you could take a big number on, but there were also a lot that you could birdie,’’ he said.
Sandwich and Hudson, which was third with a 318 total, were nipping at the heels of the Dragons as the scores came in.
“Sandwich is a really good program,’’ said coach Stoddard. “We split with them during the regular season and knew they were going to be tough.’’
David Prouty and Concord-Carlisle tied for fourth with 319 totals.
The Dragons are positioned well for next year, too. Five of their competitors were juniors, while the other was a freshman.
Catholic Memorial’s Joseph Harney also shot a 72. There was some confusion, however, before the trophy ceremony. Jonathan Stoddard was on a list of players eligible for individual honors, but before he and Harney went back out for a four-hole playoff, it was determined Stoddard had failed to qualify for the individual tournament so Harney was the winner.
“It would have been fun to play the playoff,’’ said Stoddard.
Harney birdied his final two holes. “The course played really nice,’’ he said. “I thought the greens were a little slow, but I was able to play a steady round.’’
Milton’s Blake LeBrew, Hudson’s Josh Feinberg, and Mansfield’s Adam Bourque tied for second place with 74s.![]()