Shore golf 2023: Colts Neck's Eric Castner wins Shore Conference; Wall takes team title

MILLSTONE – As the birdie putt on the 17th green disappeared into the cup at Wednesday’s Shore Conference tournament at Charleston Spring Golf Course, the brief but boisterous celebration by Colts Neck’s Eric Castner on the 17th green made clear how big the moment was.

With his fifth birdie in 10 holes, the Cougars’ senior surged into the lead at 3-under-par, one shot clear of Wall’s Pat Scenna, the Monmouth County champion and his playing partner. And minutes later Castner secured the individual title with a par on the final hole, carding a 69 for a one-shot victory.

“Going into spring break I was not playing well at all, so I took that time to really work and focused on the Monmouth County championship last week,” said Castner, who finished fifth at MCT. “I played well there, just one bad swing last week really cost me.

“I played well today. I was playing with Pat so I knew where he was at all day and just had some putts fall. Just stayed focused, stayed in the moment.”

Scenna, who shot 70 and finished tied for second with Holmdel’s Patrick Sharpe, led Wall to the team title, ending CBA’s string of 12 straight SCT wins. The Crimson Knights shot 299 to win the league title for the first time since 2004, with CBA second at 302.

Wall got a 74 from junior No. 5 man Charlie Cormey, a 77 from junior Boden Pepe and a 78 from senior Alex Menges.

After his team won the Monmouth County Tournament with a 312 last week, ending CBA’s run of 10 straight wins in that event, Wall coach Matt Stefanski predicted his team was capable of breaking 300, equaling the 299 Wall shot in winning the 2002 SCT.

“I‘m proud of them,” Stafanski said. “A 299, you can’t shake a stick at that.

“They worked hard. They deserve it.”

As Castner and Scenna walked the fairways side-by-side, a spirited battle developed. Castner was a shot down when he pulled even at with a birdie at No. 10. And after Scenna made birdie at No. 12 to take the lead, Castner pulled even again with a birdie at 13 to get to 2-under.

“It started out a little weird, making two bogeys in the first four holes, but I definitely settled in a got the driver working,” Castner said.

After his drive on the par-5, 16th hole found a bunker, forcing him to lay up, Castner stuck his approach shot close and sank the putt to match Scenna’s birdie.

The turning point came on No. 17, a 176-yard par-3.

“I hit a 7-iron from 176 yards, a little into the wind, uphill,” Castner said. “The putt was about 18 feet, about a cup outside on the right. I hit it a little hard. I needed it to drop but once it went in the center I just let those emotions out.”

From there, Castner drove the ball into the first cut of rough down the right side on No. 18, before hit approach shot from inside 100-yards stopped 15-feet from the cup, two-putting for the victory.

Sharpe, playing two holes in front of the leaders, just missed on a 25-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.

SCT BOYS RESULTS

Team: 1. Wall 299; 2. CBA 302; 3. Holmdel 309; 4. Colts Neck 312; 5. Middletown South 316; 6. Freehold Twp. 317; 7. Ranney 325; 8. Howell 341; 9. Southern 346; 10. Point Boro 355; 11. Toms River East 359; 12. Brick Memorial 364; 13. Pinelands 381; 14. Toms River North 399.

Individual: 1. Eric Castner (Colts Neck) 69; 2. tie, Pat Scenna (Wall), Patrick Sharpe (Holmdel) 70; 4. Jack Hennelly (Monmouth) 71; 5. Ethan Weinberg (Colts Neck) 73; 6. tie., Jack O’Connor (CBA), Daniel Cassidy (Middletown South) 73; 8. Charlie Cormey (Wall) 74; 9. tie, John Raccuglia (CBA), Joseph Aiello (Holmdel) 75; 11. tie,  Christian Klemanowicz (Freehold Twp.), Jack Lawless (Rumson), Richie Reck (Middletown South) 76; 14. tie, Boden Pepe (Wall), Jack Puma (CBA), Sam Landers (Ranney), Alex Jang (Marlboro) 77; 19. Alex Menges (Wall) 78; 20. tie, Braden Dente (RBC), Ansel Patel (Freehold Twp.), Bowen Liu (Marlboro) 79; 23. tie, John Welch (Ranney), Ryan Quigley (Holmdel), Will Ross (Rumson), Kevin Ostrander (Point Boro) 80; 27. tie, Jack Aiello (Colts Neck), Pater Tadrick (Brick Memorial) Brett Luzzi (Freehold Twp.), Alex Henbest (Southern), Matt Cecilione (Freehold Twp.), Dylan Mattessich (Manasquan) 81.

Shore golf 2023: Sirina Ganne wins Shore Conference; leads Holmdel to team title

NEPTUNE – It appeared the treacherous 18th green at Jumping Brook Country Club had claimed another victim Monday afternoon, as Sirina Ganne’s two-footer for bogey from above the hole slithered past the cup and rolled eight feet past down the steep slope.

But the Holmdel sophomore was undaunted. Ganne, who had a two-shot standing on the tee, calmly rolling in the come-backer to force a playoff at the Shore Conference Tournament with her freshman teammate Minna Liang, with each finishing at 4-over-par 76.

And on the first playoff hole, it was Ganne draining a 12-foot birdie putt on the 10th green to secure the individual title.

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Their respective rounds helped propel Holmdel to the team title with a four-player total of 368, some 20 shots ahead of Marlboro, with Trinity Hall third at 395. It’s the same order the teams finished in at last week’s Monmouth County Tournament.

“I’m so happy that the team got to win and I got to play with my friends today. Just very excited right now,” said Ganne.

“And playing well felt good on a tough course.”

A week ago at Jumping Brook, Ganne finished second, nine shots behind Marlboro’s Kashish Malik, who shot 82 Monday, finishing fourth. And Ganne appeared headed for a similar outcome when her double-bogey on No. 9 left her at 4-over-par.

Meanwhile, Liang chipped in for eagle on the par-4 fourth hole, her fifth hole of the round, to take the lead.

Then Ganne opened her back nine with four straight pars, including a good save on the par-3, 13th hole, before a birdie on the par-5, 14th hole gave her a two-shot lead. And when Liang, playing one group behind Ganne, cut it in half with a birdie on the 15th, Ganne answered with a birdie on 16.

“I think I dialed it in a lot more and stopped being sloppy,” Ganne said. “I just focused more on the shot in front of me instead of my score and that definitely helped.”

Standing on the final green, Ganne had no idea her slick two-footer was for the victory.

“I try not to look at the leaderboard,” she said.

“I might have been a little nervous because anything above that hole is really difficult anyway. But I’m glad I made it coming back up the slope.”

Liang finished fifth a week earlier at Jumping Brook in her first high school tournament.

“I’m so happy for her. She won with a birdie,” Liang said.

Ganne’s older sister, Megha, a freshman at Stanford, earned All-Pac-12 honors at least week’s conference championship, after finishing top-10 in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur earlier this month.

“She has definitely made me a much better player. I look up to her a lot,” she said.

SCT GIRLS RESULTS

Team: 1. Holmdel 368; 2. Marlboro 388; 3. Trinity Hall 395; 4. St. Rose 432; 5. Southern 445; 6. Colts Neck 447; 7. Barnegat 470; 8. Central 512.

Individual: 1. Sirina Ganne (Holmdel) 76*; 2. Minna Liang (Holmdel) 76; 3. Isabella Scanapicco (Trinity Hall) 80; 4. Kashish Malik (Marlboro) 82; 5. Catharine Little (Trinity Hall) 85; 6. Sabrina Liding (Freehold Twp.) 86; 7. Kathleen Castner (Colts Neck) 89; 8. tie, Ruby Haloukas (Howell), Peyton Cerminaro (Howell) 90; 10. Caroline Hickey (Rumson-FH) 92; 11. Alex Schaul (Holmdel) 93; 12. tie, Alex Presutti (Ranney), Gwendolyn Chan (Marlboro) 96; 14. Riley Lawrence (Shore) 97; 15. tie, Yasmeen Muhammad (Barnegat), Gabriella Perrini (Marlboro) 98; 17. tie, Addison Salais (Jackson Liberty), Smantha Reilly (Southern), Reese Corcoran (Ocean) 99; 20.  Cloe Wright (Jackson Memorial) 100; 21. Tatiana Konczyk (St. Rose) 101; 22. Grace Klements (Pinelands) 103; 23. tie, Cate O’Grady (St. John Vianney), Capri Yarosz (Colts Neck),Colleen Ragan (St. Rose) 104; 26. Riley Stryker (Toms River North) 105; 27. Madelyn Beirne (Southern) 106.

Also from Monday:

Wall, CBA brace for epic clash at SCT; Plus, boys, girls' rankings

Given what transpired at last week’s county championships, the stars have aligned for what will be some of the most intriguing, and most competitive Shore Conference Tournaments, for both boys and girls’ golf, in recent memory.

It all begins Monday when the girls’ SCT is played at Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune.

And Wednesday, the boys’ take center stage at Charleston Spring Golf Course in Millstone. That’s where Wall, which dethroned Christian Brothers Academy at last year's Monmouth County Tournament, will try to end CBA’s run of consecutive SCT crowns that began in 2010.

Wall coach Matt Stefanski’s team topped a Garden State Cup field that included CBA two weeks ago. And at the MCT, the Crimson Knights stamped a 312 to finish two shots clear of the Colts, with Wall’s Pat Scenna besting CBA’s Jack Easter on the first playoff hole to grab the individual title.

“Our top guys played well (at MCT), and before that it had been the back end of the lineup carrying us,” Stefanski said. “I think when we get it together we will go under 300 this season. We’re capable of that.”

Of course, CBA can say the same thing.

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At Monmouth County, it was Easter, their No. 5 player who was only in the lineup because of an injury, shooting 1-under-par to get a spot in the playoff, and Jack O’Connor finished top-5. Meanwhile, Evan Sorensen, top-10 at the MCT in 2022, shot 81, when CBA shot 298, and Jonathan Raccuglia, 16th a year ago, shot 89.

If the Colts put it altogether, they too are capable of going sub-300. Raccuglia and Sorensen finished second and fourth, respectively, at last year’s SCT, when CBA shot 307.

It’s not just these two, with teams like Ranney and Middletown South capable of contending.

It’s no different on the girls’ side, where Holmdel won the Monmouth County Tournament by two shots over Marlboro, with two-time defending champion Trinity Hall another 11 shots back in third.

The other big storyline surrounds Marlboro sophomore Kashish Malik, a nine-shot winner at the MCT a week ago who returns to Jumping Brook, having won the SCT by four shots last season.

Check back later Monday, and during the week for complete coverage of Shore Conference Tournament golf. For now, here are the Asbury Park Press’ latest golf ranking:

BOYS TOP 10

1. Wall

2. CBA

3. Ranney

4. Middletown South

5. Colts Neck

6. Allentown

7. Holmdel

8. Freehold Twp.

9. Howell

10. Brick Memorial

GIRLS TOP 5

1.  Holmdel

2. Marlboro

3. Trinity Hall

4. Southern

5. Central

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Shore NJ golf 2023: Colts Neck's Castner wins SCT; Wall takes team title