Marlboro’s young golf team comes of age

By Mike Zummo
Posted 5/17/23

The Marlboro girls’ golf team just finished its second full regular season.

And what a season it’s been, so far.

Led by seventh-grader Alexa Trapani, the Dukes have posted a …

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Marlboro’s young golf team comes of age

Posted

The Marlboro girls’ golf team just finished its second full regular season.

And what a season it’s been, so far.

Led by seventh-grader Alexa Trapani, the Dukes have posted a 10-2 record, including an 8-0 record in Section 9 Division V, for the first time in program history.

“I was pretty surprised even though because a lot of the girls on our team were beginners,” Alexa Trapani said. “Except for me and this other girl, but I was pretty surprised that we won our whole division.”

Freshman Gwen Benninger was the only other Duke with some out-of-school experience.

They began golfing in 2022 and were an exhibition program in 2021. The program’s first season was expected to be 2020, but that season was canceled before it began by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trapani, the team’s youngest player, was the Duke to beat in every league match, as she posted the lowest score in all division matches and set a program record for a 9-hole score with a 4-over par at the Red Hook Golf Club.

She qualified for the upcoming Section 9 Championship tournament next Tuesday and Wednesday at Apple Greens Golf Club with an 8.2-over-par average.

Benninger also qualified for sectionals with a 14.7-over-par average.

“The girls have different abilities,” Alexa Trapani said. “Each girl is different, while in tournaments I play in, all the girls are really good.”

The Dukes have a core of four golfers that includes one senior, Ashay Guzman. Madison Markle is a freshman, giving the Dukes a solid core for at least the next three years.

“I’m pretty happy because all these girls are very nice,” Trapani said. “But I’m going to be sad because some of them are older than me and they’ll leave.”

But right now, all goals are set toward next week’s Section 9 tournament.

The groupings are expected to be announced Friday, and the tournament is scheduled to begin Tuesday. The top 18 from Tuesday will return to Apple Greens on Wednesday to vie for a berth in the state tournament, scheduled for June 3-5 at Edison Golf Club in Rexford.

The Dukes qualified as a team by virtue of winning the division. For most of them, it will be the first time they will play a full 18 holes.

“It’s going to be a lot different,” Marlboro coach Gary Trapani said. “They’re used to playing double par. So, if they have a bad hole, they can’t score more than double par. At the sectionals, there’s no such thing as double par. So, you have to putt everything out. So that’ll be different. It’s probably going to be a five-plus hour round. So, we’re going to practice walking whole rounds next week, and see how we go from there.”