When Christian Brothers Academy boys golfer Jack Bellardini completed his fall season at the Section III tournament at Marcellus Golf Club, it was amid cold, raw and windy conditions.
And when Bellardini’s season ended nearly eight months later at Cornell University’s Robert Trent Jones course during the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship tournament, it was again cold and raw.
That sent scores soaring for most of the field, and even Bellardini could not fully escape that fate – but he still improved as the tournament went on, and helped Section III win the team portion of the state tournament.
The practice round on Saturday was held in hot, humid conditions, with the thermometer pushing close to 90 degrees.
By the time they teed off Sunday morning, though, everything had changed. Heavy rain had soaked the course the night before, and temperatures had dipped nearly 40 degrees.
Perhaps due to that stark change, no one broke the RTJ course par of 71 in that opening round. Bellardini managed just one birdie, on the par-four 5th, and finished with an 81, 10 over par, but that still beat more than half of the 99-player field.
Other Section III golfers fared better, filling up half the top 10 by day’s end. New Hartford’s Alec Bard, with a 72, tied Brent Ito and Christian Cavaliere for the lead through that first round. Bard’s New Hartford teammate, Tom Mandel, was two shots back, with the trio of Alec Kunzwiler (Oswego), Bobby Davenport (West Canada) and Mike May (Auburn) tied for ninth at 75, four shots back.
It was still cold and wet when the final round started on Monday morning, and Bellardini would make a pair of double bogeys on his front nine en route to a 43. But he saved his best nine holes for the end, returning in 35, including closing birdies on holes 16 and 18.
That meant a six-over-par 77 for the day and an overall total of 158. That back-nine 35 helped Bellardini climb up more than 20 spots and tie for 32nd place.
It also may have helped Section III prevail in the team competition, as the combined total of 1,059 was six shots better than Section I (Westchester and Rockland County, Hudson Valley), who finished at 1,065.
Bard just missed out on winning the individual title, shooting a 75 in the final round to finish at 147, one shot behind Scardsale’s James Nicholas, who posted a one-under-par 70 in his final round.
Davenport tied for fourth, with 149, while May, Mandel and Migliore all shared seventh place at 151. Oswego’s Matt Dreimiller (Oswego) tied for 30th at 157, with Bellardini followed by New Hartford’s Alec Kunzwiler at 160 and Baldwinsville’s Matt Monaco at 168.
Next weekend (June 13-14), the girls state golf tournament takes place at SUNY-Delhi, where Jamesville-DeWitt stars Jung-Hye Kim and Alanna Jones will take part.
