Liverpool senior Karl Deuble and Cicero-North Syracuse junior Joey Petrin are both proud part-owners of a state boys golf championship.
Deuble and Petrin helped Section III capture a tight battle for team honors during the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament at Cornell University’s Robert Trent Jones course in Ithaca.
Both Deuble and Petrin were first-time state tournament participants, but they had plenty of experience around them, including New Hartford’s Derek Bard, the defending state individual champion, and West Genesee’s John Clare, who tied for fifth in this event in 2012.
And though conditions at Cornell were not nearly as difficult as they were on the final days of the May 23-25 state qualifier at Seven Oaks, the course still took its toll on the field. By the end of the 36-hole tournament, no one had broken par.
Deuble opened on Sunday with an 80, tying for 33rd place in the 99-player field, while Petrin managed an 84. Nyack’s Alex Ferrante led after one round with a 71, the only round of par or better all week, as Derek Bard and his younger brother, Alec, stood tied for fourth to lead the Section III contingent.
As the winds picked up and the temperatures decreased for Monday’s final round, Deuble remained steady, posting another 80, but moving up to a tie for 26th with Clare. Petrin contributed a closing 83 to tie for 52nd place.
All of this helped Section III finish with a team score of 1,098, seven shots better than Section V’s total of 1,105. The Long Island sections, XI (1,107) and VIII (1,108), plus Section VI (1,112), were close behind.
Individually, Alec Bard was second alone with 150, three shots behind the new state champion, Shaker’s Davis Jensen, as Ferrante blew up to an 81 and tumbled to a tie for fifth, at 152, with, among others, Derek Bard.
Another New Hartford golfer, Tom Mandel, tied Utica-Notre Dame’s Mike Kalil for 15th place as they both shot 158. CBA’s Jack Bellardini, the ninth and final entrant from state qualifier, had a 161 to tie for 31st, four shots ahead of Canastota’s Ian Campbell (165), who tied for 37th.
