Greylock's Gilooly, Taconic's Case Battle in Rain at Waubeeka
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- For first-year Mount Greylock golf coach Mitchell Spooner, a bit of sportsmanship made a soggy day a whole lot brighter on Thursday.
The Mounties’ No. 1, Ben Gilooly, was finishing his day on the ninth green at Waubeeka Golf Club as part of the only foursome that would finish its round before conditions were deemed unplayable.
“He calls me over and said he was tapping his ball mark down and the ball moved,” Spooner said. “No one else saw it. I was five feet away, and I didn’t see it. I was really proud of him for the maturity in that decision.
“[Taconic’s No. 1] Mike Case parred the hole, and Ben pars the hole, but he takes the penalty, so Mike would have taken medalist by one stroke with a 37.”
As it turned out, Spooner and Taconic coach Michael Hillman decided to suspend the match before the next two groups came home and shortened the event to nine holes. That left Gilooly and Case tied at 33 for medalist honors and gave the Mounties a 161-180 win in their home opener.
“I was more proud that [Gilooly] called that penalty on himself than that he won back-to-back medalist honors to start the year,” Spooner said.
Case and Gilooly battled to played the front nine at 1-over without getting a birdie between them, Spooner said.
“It was a great match,” he said. “They were trading pars all day.”
Gilooly was joined in the scoring column by Tenley Smith (40), Connor Daley (42) and Bennett Zimmerman (46).
Taconic’s Connor Champoux carded a 39. Brent Arseneau (45) and Derek Wurtemberger (63) rounded out the scoring.
“Taconic, honestly, is going to be tough if they can get a couple of more guys up there, is going to be tough,” Spooner said. “They have a great top three guys.”
Mount Greylock (1-1) goes to Mount Everett on Friday. Taconic goes to Lee on Tuesday.