Scarsdale Boys' Golf Team: Hungry for Redemption in 2023

Thomas Kronenberg hits a putt in preparation for a match at Quaker Ridge Golf Club on Wednesday, 4/19The 2022 season came to a rather forgettable close for the SHS Boys’ Golf Team. After a 19-win, undefeated season in ‘21 in which the Raiders won the Section Title in dominating fashion, Scarsdale stumbled to a 3rd place finish at Fenway Golf Club, their home course, the very next year. It was a surprising end to a spring that dished out much individual success to Raiders. A record 13 boys from the team qualified for individual sectionals, 4 were all-section, and, senior captain Matthew Choe, qualified for the state tournament.

Due to this large amount of returning talent, only 4 spots were available on the varsity team this spring. After two nine-hole rounds, two players from last year’s team, Ryan Phillips and Matthew Steuerman, secured their places on the roster, and two underclassmen earned a spot as well. Leo Chu, a reclassed sophomore back from two years abroad in Taiwan, had a good showing at the tryouts, as did Reece Schneider, a freshman whose first-day score of 1-over 37 led the tryouts. With the roster set, the Raiders took full advantage of a week of Spring break to hone their games and came out firing in the first week of matches, shooting scores of 203, 201, 210, and 190. These matches all went down in the “Win column”, but they weren’t without some close calls.

On Tuesday 4/11, the Raiders were in the midst of a close match with John Jay Cross River. After the rounds were in and the scores were counted up, it seemed that the Raiders had lost – they had shot 201 to a score of 200 by John Jay. However, a few hours after the last putt was holed and the players had left, Scarsdale Coach Andy Verboys realized that a score had been miscounted – he had misheard one of the John Jay boys’ names and thus put down a 40 instead of a 43 for him. When the player’s true score had counted, the Raiders won, 201 to 203.

Despite the eventual result, a match that came down to the wire was a learning experience for the Raiders. Junior Justin Liu said, “Last year, we lost. So this year, we’re going to try to make sure that doesn’t happen, and today reminded us of that.” The motivation did its work just 2 days after the John Jay match, when the team fired a score of 190 at the back nine of Fenway Golf Club, a score that, according to Coach Verboys, is the lowest Scarsdale has ever gone on those specific nine holes. They were led by a 1-under 34 by Liu, who made an eagle on the final hole to break par for the first time in a high school match.Sajiv Mehta hits a tee shot on the 15th hole at Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Wednesday, 4/19.

This year, Scarsdale’s lineup is especially centered around the team’s upperclassmen. Indeed, several veteran juniors are all arguably in the running for the starting lineup and looking to make a deep postseason run. Justin Liu has been on Varsity since his freshman year and has had strong finishes each year since – he would have made Section 1’s team at the New York State Tournament in 2021 if it hadn’t been canceled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Last spring, he qualified for the second round of the sectional tournament. Another strong junior is Cole Gerson, who is only in his second year of Varsity play but has already made a big impact. Last season, Gerson had a strong, consistent regular season, finishing the regular season with a scoring average good for tenth in the section. He, too, qualified for the second day of sectionals. Fellow junior Thomas Kronenberg is yet another regarded player, having earned all-section honors last May. Lastly, senior captain Choe is also looking to reload and repeat his success in 2022, when he won a one-hole playoff to secure the final spot on the state tournament team.

The Raiders have a record of excellence – they’ve won six section titles in the last ten years and three in the last four seasons. With a roster as remarkably deep as ever and a competitive fire that only seems to burn brighter in the face of setbacks, the Raiders likely won’t be satisfied with anything less than another title to further add to their history of prestige.

Justin Liu hits a tee shot in preparation for a match at Scarsdale Golf Club on Tuesday, 4/18And really, why should they be?

Author Sajiv Mehta is a junior at Scarsdale High School. He has been a member of the varsity boys' golf team for three years.

Sajiv Mehta hits a shot in preparation for a match at Scarsdale Golf Club on Tuesday, 4/18.