It’s been a year of growth for Bromfield’s varsity golf team, with one senior, captain Adrian Curtis; five sophomores; and one freshman in its starting lineup. The squad finished fifth among the six teams of the Midland-Wachusett League C Division but ended its season on some high notes.
First, in the Mid-Wach C Division championship played Oct. 15 at Northern Spy Golf Club in Townsend, the team came in second to Tyngsborough, the No.1 C Division team. Bromfield’s No. 2 seed, sophomore Evan Piekos, medaled, finishing first in the event with a 5-over-par score of 75 on the 18-hole course. Curtis was not far behind and tied for third with a score of 79.
With a 4-8 season record, the team failed to qualify for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Central Division 3 championships, or districts, as they are commonly known. But Bromfield’s two top players qualified for the event, which was held Oct. 19 at the New England Country Club in Bellingham. And there Curtis and Piekos tied for sixth place along with three other players in a field of 73, all five finishing with a score of 82 after 18 holes on the 71-par course. Because each district gets to send its top three teams and top eight players—including ties—to states, a sixth place finish was enough to send Curtis and Piekos to the state championship at Shining Rock Golf Course in Northbridge. The match had been scheduled for Oct. 26, but was postponed until Nov. 2 due to forecasts of an intense nor’easter on Tuesday.
“This has been a fast-paced season; it seems like we just started,” wrote Coach Rod Van Guilder in a recent email to the player’s parents. The team didn’t begin the year with a roster of experienced players, he said, but he has watched every player improve.
Curtis, who graduates in June, is the brother of former league MVP Freddie Curtis (Class of 2021) and son of Fred Curtis, owner of the Shaker Hills Golf Course in Harvard, which has served as the team’s home course for the past three years. Last year’s team included both Curtis boys on its roster, but although Bromfield won the 2020 Midland-Wachusett C League championship, with statewide tournaments cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no opportunity to compete for a state title. The team has been to the states twice, once as district champ and once as runner-up.
This year’s starters were (in order of seeding): senior Adrian Curtis, sophomores Evan Piekos and Stavros Bassi, freshman Fin Piekos, sophomore Joe Donahue, and seventh-grader Cael Piekos. Alternates were freshman Ethan Zhou, eighth-grader Siwoo Kim, and seventh-graders Julian Holt and Jasper Pride.
Next week’s state championship course will be a challenging one, Van Guilder wrote the Press this week. He said he’s glad the meet was delayed. The course is cut out of sheer Blackstone Valley granite with a lot of elevation, he said. “The views are spectacular with some demanding holes requiring pinpoint accuracy from off the tee. The greens are lightning fast and with just a little slope, gravity pulls the ball away from the hole.” The player who makes the fewest mistakes on the greens has the greatest chance of winning, Van Guilder added. Par for the course is 72.
