All photos taken by Shuyi Chen.
The Malden Revere varsity golf team starts off strong for their 2023 season with a record of 4-1-1 under the guidance of Coach Rick Malatesta. This is Malatesta’s 30th year coaching the golf team here at Malden High.
Their most recent game of this season was on September 28th in which they tied against the Somerville Highlanders with a score of 36 – 36. Malden’s eight starters tied one match, lost four, and won three out of the eight.
Golf is a game where each school assembles a lineup of its best eight players who will be matched up against the eight players from the opposing school. Their number 1 player, Frankie Annunziata, won his match 5 – 4 against Somerville’s number 1.
However, Malden’s junior alternate captain number 2 player, Chris MacDonald, tied his match 4.5 – 4.5. Things didn’t look very good for Malden/Revere once their third, fourth, and fifth players all from Revere lost their match-up. However, their 6th player Freshman Tommy Cronin brought it back with a 5.5 – 3.5 win, but Ollie Svendsen, the 7th player, lost his matchup 5.5 – 3.5. The score was now 32.5 – 30.5 in favor of the Highlanders.
Under big pressure at the end of the match, Malden’s number 8 player Bo Stead found a 5.5 – 3.5 win in his first varsity match bringing Malden Revere to a 36 – 36 tie.
Freshman starter Tommy Cronin believes that putting was the difference between a draw and a win today. He stated, “We would have won if I didn’t lip out my putts.” He also stated that the team’s biggest weakness is “putting, but that’s about it.”
MacDonald agreed that Malden left points on the board with their putting. “We definitely need to improve on our short game,” he stated “Putting, chipping, and the like.”
Even though the outcome wasn’t ideal, Coach Richard Malatesta was proud of the team. “A lot of the players scrapped and fought hard,” he stated. He also agreed that the team could improve upon their short game. “Our kids are doing really well hitting the ball off the tee, but the short game is where you make the money. As they say, “drive for show, putt for dough.”
Malatesta highly values his position as coach and makes sure to teach the players integrity and respect. He pointed out that Cronin once showed this respect he teaches during a match when he and his opponent had different scores. He accepted his opponent’s score because it was the right thing to do and Malden ended up losing by half a point. Malatesta stated he “Would rather lose that way than win by being dishonorable.”
The team is now 6 -1 -1 on October 4th and is trying to finish .500 and make the state tournament.
