Axt, Petropulos Lead Mount Greylock to One-Stroke Win over Wahconah
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Mount Greylock golf team was a model of consistency on opening day, placing four players within three strokes of one another to earn a one-stroke win over Wahconah at Waubeeka Golf Links.
Alexander Axt and Owen Petropolus led the way, each scoring a 7-over-par 43 on the par-36 front nine to give the Mounties a 175-176 win on Thursday.
Caden Conry pitched in with a 45, and Cam Turner, playing in the third group, clinched the victory with 44 after going 1-over for the final four holes.
Wahconah’s Pat McLaughlin earned medalist honors with a 4-over 40 as his team also got its delayed season underway.
Axt struggled to start the first competition of the season, going 4-over in the first two holes, but he settled down from there.
“When I was younger, I would have thought, ‘I need to make a lot of birdies now so I can get back to where I need to be,’ “ Axt said. “Now, I was just trying to make pars, and I know I can do it. And I did it pretty well today after the bad start.”
He turned around his round with pars on the par 3 third and par 5 fourth, and he closed his round with three straight pars, the only player in the 12-player field to turn that trick and one of just three to par the par 5 eighth hole.
McLaughlin also had a par on No. 8.
“I felt comfortable out there,” McLaughlin said of his round. “I was hitting all my clubs solid. It took me a little bit to find control of the greens because they were slow because of the weather we had the past few days, but I was hitting solid today.
“I haven’t had success like this [at Waubeeka] before. My best before this was like a 44 or a 45.”
McLaughlin was backed up on Thursday by Kristina Cusson with a 44, Dan Wilson with a 45 and Tim Kaley with a 47.
McLaughlin said he came into the fall with a lot of golf under his belt, having played pretty much every day during the summer.
He was just glad to have a chance to get out on the course for his school.
“We’re just lucky to be out here,” McLaughlin said. “I mean, I’d rather just even have a shortened season than nothing. It’s fun to be out here playing.
“I was just real anxious,” he said of not knowing whether the high school season would happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was really hoping for the season to come because I worked hard this summer, like I said. I played a lot, and I just wanted a season to come.”
Wahconah’s season continues Saturday when it hosts several of the other Berkshire County teams at Wahconah Country Club. Mount Greylock is off until Tuesday when it hosts Lee.