Zach Wilcox, Erica Honadel win golf titles at windy Harford County tournament
Oct. 19—High school golfers converging on Geneva Farm Golf Course in Street Monday to vie for individual and team titles at the 2021 Harford County tournament were greeted by gusty winds.
North Harford senior Zach Wilcox and Aberdeen junior Erica Honadel weathered the elements better than their peers, winning boy's and girl's titles, respectively, on the par 72 course. Both golfers were runners-up at the District VII Tournament held recently at Mountain Branch Golf Course.
Wilcox, who made four birdies, led all players with a round of 79 to win by a stroke over C. Milton Wright junior Trevor Heid (80).
"It feels good, after losing to Will [Creery], I made it my overall best to be on top," Wilcox said. "I know I had a chance my sophomore year and just couldn't get it done. I knew this year I had to get it done. That's been my main goal all year ... to win this."
Addressing the playing conditions, Wilcox said, "Off the tee, it was little hard because the wind was circling, so sometimes having a little guesswork, but sometimes you gotta get lucky I guess. I just made sure I always kept the ball below the hole. I never wanted to club up and shoot it 30 yards over the green."
Following up Heid's score, a trio of players shot 84 to tie for third. Two were Heid's teammates — freshman Jack Geyer and sophomore Joey LoBianco — and the other was Patterson Mill senior Sam Schepleng.
Honadel shot 88 to win the girls title by 10 strokes over Harford Tech junior Aurora Walters (98).
"The wind was so strong. It's crazy how much the wind can affect your ball and I'm pretty sure that it affected everybody, but I know for sure it affected me in a lot of ways," Honadel said. "It hasn't been too windy for us, so it's kind of hard to practice for those conditions. So, I didn't really know what to expect."
Honadel was happy to get through it. "I've been struggling recently, so still being able to shoot a 88 in these conditions it gives me confidence, since I have states next Monday as well," Honadel said. "I want to do better, but I know these are things I can't control."
Honadel is one of eight Harford golfers that qualified for next week's Maryland State Golf Tournament at the University of Maryland Golf Course. Additional female players are Tech's Walters, Fallston's Jupiter Moore and Bel Air's Lily Harman.
Male players are Wilcox, Geyer, Patterson Mill's Brandon Palen and Havre de Grace's Ben Brzozowski.
CMW, which qualified as a Class 1A-2A team, won the Harford County team title with a score of 528. In addition to Heid, Geyer and LoBianco, the Mustangs' scorers were Josh Strong, 90; Tyler Mann, 91; and Gavin Castelli, 99.
Teams played eight players, with the best six scores counting toward the team score.
Rounding out the team scores were North Harford, 557; Patterson Mill, 567; Fallston, 585; Harford Tech, 591; Bel Air, 613; Aberdeen, 653; and Havre de Grace, 668.
