May 20, 2009
PSAL Individual Golf Championship
Bethpage State Park – Blue Course
Next month, Bethpage State Park will serve as the site of the U.S. Open when Tiger Woods and the top golfers in the world battle for the prestigious championship on its famous Black Course.
For one day, the PSAL was able to call this world famous golf course its home as host of its annual individual championship.
Xander McDonald-Smith played the part of Tiger Woods, capturing the PSAL individual golf title for the second year in a row. The sophomore shot a six-over-par round of 78 and held off Cardozo’s John Kim by just two strokes.
The field at Bethpage’s Blue Course featured plenty of golfers from the top programs in the city including defending team champion Tottenville, as well as Cardozo, Stuyvesant and Petrides. McDonald-Smith plays for a little known school in Rockaway Park, Queens called The Scholars Academy.
McDonald-Smith, Kim and five other golfers including Alex Robinson (Stuyvesant), Nick Homan (MSIT), Kyle Diel (Petrides), Darren Chi (Stuyvesant) and Anil Chandrakumar (John Bowne) qualified for the New York State Federation Golf Championships at Mark Twain Golf Course in Elmira, New York,
June 7, 2009
McDonald-Smith, who shot the same score last year on the Yellow Course, is a product of The First Tee, a non-profit organization that provides young people of all backgrounds an opportunity to develop life-enhancing values such as confidence, perseverance and judgment through golf and character education.
Golf Notes: Two players have combined to win the last five PSAL titles. Newtown’s Suchart Sernvongsat won three in a row from 2005 to 2007… Seven of the top 15 finishers were from Staten Island… The PSAL individual championship has been played on a different Bethpage course each year: Yellow (2008), Green (2007), and Red (2006)… The U.S. Open was also played on Bethpage’s Black Course in 2002.
Leader Board (Top 15 Golfers)
(Blue Course, 18 holes, par 72)
1 |
Xander McDonald-Smith |
Scholars Academy H. S. |
78 |
2 |
John Kim |
Benjamin Cardozo H. S. |
80 |
3 |
Alex Robinson |
Stuyvesant H. S. |
81 |
4 |
Nick Homan |
McKee / S.I. Tech H. S. |
81 |
5 |
Kyle Diel |
The Michael J. Petrides School |
82 |
6 |
Darren Chi |
Stuyvesant H. S. |
82 |
7 |
Anil Chandrakumar |
John Bowne H. S. |
82 |
8 |
Jonathan Lee |
Bronx High School of Science |
85 |
9 |
Joe Marselle |
Tottenville H. S. |
86 |
10 |
Matt Moers |
Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences |
87 |
10 |
Steven Suto |
The Michael J. Petrides School |
87 |
12 |
James Edgeworth |
Tottenville H. S. |
88 |
12 |
Nick Mazzarisi |
Tottenville H. S. |
88 |
13 |
Brian Kang |
Bronx High School of Science |
89 |
13 |
Steven Russo |
Tottenville H. S. |
89 |
Golfers in bold qualified for the New York State Federation Golf Championships