I’ve been told to post our college signings link on the blog. It’s actually pretty cool since you can check out where local high school stars will be attending college.

If you or someone you know isn’t listed and you want them to be, there’s also a link to send us an email to get them in the system.

Check it out:

http://www.nyjnews.com/college/signings/

The CHSAA State Championship will be next Friday at James Baird State Park, starting at 10 a.m. The top 20 local scores qualified and the rest of the field will be filled out by the best golfers attending Catholic schools from the rest of the state.

Here’s the list of the local top 20 with their scoring averages, courtesy of Iona Prep coach Kevin O’Meara:

· 1.44 Rob Anderson (St.Joseph)
· 2.33 Paul Toohey (Fordham)
· 2.5 Ray Ferrari (Farrell)
· 2.55 Jon Renza (Fordham)
· 2.62 Eric Mackey (Xaverian)
· 2.66 John Hough (fordham)
· 2.66 Teddy Morrissey (Fordham)
· 2.75 Shane Malloy (Iona)
· 3.11 James Buttermark (Farrell)
· 3.22 Sean Prisco (St.Peters)
· 3.4 Pat Collins (Molloy)
· 3.55 Rob Fredrickson (St.Joseph)
· 3.8 Mike Walsh (Xaverian)
· 4.11 Mike Oligotti (St.Joseph)
· 4.14 Steve Clavin (Xavier)
· 4.22 John Mcmuerrer
· 4.5 Rich Korzelius (Iona)
· 4.5 Ryan Tupaz(McClancy)
· 4.55 Ryan Feeney (Farrell)
· 5.2 Joe Collins (Stepinac)

· ALTERNATES:
· 5.5 Ethan Nelson (Stepinac)
· 5.66 David Bush (Fordham)

I will have more on today’s action in the coming days, but first here’s a rundown of those who finished in the top 9 to earn a spot on the Section 1 team going to the state championships at Cornell University June 1-2:

Marisa Kamelgarn, Mahopac (154)
Andrew Graham, Arlington (154)
Mike Miller, Brewster (156)
Luke Feehan, Mahopac (156)
Joe Raitano, Mahopac (156)
Drew Clayton, Somers (157)
John Casey, North Rockland (157)
Dylan Newman, New Rochelle (159)
Stu Kaufman, Byram Hills (160- defeated Scarsdale’s David Spiro on 3rd playoff hole)

Congratulations to all who made it. Of the 9-person list, a remarkable six golfers are new to the state team. The three returners are Graham and Miller, who made it last year, and Newman, who qualified as a freshman in 2006.

Okay, it’s been a 12-hour workday so I’m going to stop there and finish up some of this delicious Chinese food. I’ll be back on the tee myself bright and early tomorrow trying to emulate some of the stellar play I witnessed today. One thing I do know is that if I ever play a round with Marisa, I call I’m on her team.

Wow. What a second round of golf today at the Section 1 Championship. There was a little bit of everything, but one person clearly stole the show.

What an amazing performance by Marisa Kamelgarn. The Mahopac junior fired a 4-over-par 75, which tied for the low round of the day, and then defeated Arlington’s Andrew Graham on the first sudden-death playoff hole to become the second girl to ever win the tournament.

Sorry for my delay in posting this info, but the magnitude of this win caused my editor decide to have me write two articles, with one just on Kamelgarn’s accomplishment that will actually run on the front page of the entire paper… I felt under pressure when I heard this news for a few minutes, but then I remembered how Kamelgarn handled the pressure in the playoff.

With a huge group of coaches, players and parents looking on, Kamelgarn drilled her tee shot down the middle and then hit her approach just over the green. Graham struggled throughout the hole, but made a fantastic flop shot to about a foot to save bogey forcing Kamelgarn to get up-and-down for par and the win.

Kamelgarn made a brilliant chip that just crawled up the ridge and stopped about 2 feet below the hole. She went through her normal routine and then calmly drained the putt to win it all.

Ironically, Kamelgarn joined fellow Mahopac girls golfer Kelly McCall as the only girls to win the event. McCall won in 1993 before going onto play at UNC and is now a teaching pro at Pinehurst. Kamelgarn is also the first girl to qualify for the state championship since Pelham’s Nannette Hill in 2003.

The only girl in this field for the past three years, Kamelgarn proved not only that she can play with the boys, but that she can beat them… All of them.

Perhaps you heard of the interview President Bush gave recently in which he said he didn’t think it was appropriate for him to play golf during wartime:

“I didn’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

Now, as a rule, we should steer completely clear of politics on this blog, but in my view, this is less about the President’s decision and more about the perception of golf in this country.

For one, I should say that I actually applaud what the President is doing. No one should confuse his giving up the occasional 18 holes with the real sacrifice being made by American soldiers, but it’s at least a symbolic reminder that everyone’s lives should be disrupted somewhat these days.

That said, it’s interesting that golf is the sport that is again taking it on the chin, only complicating the game’s efforts to distance itself from its elitist reputation. Needless to say, not everyone’s happy about this. As Bill Fields, the respected writer at Golf World pointed out, why is golf any different than Bush riding a mountain bike or clearing the brush at his Texas ranch? Is it the time involved? The money?

I think it goes back to perception. For some reason golf still invokes images of country club exclusivity, of men and women partaking in an activity only afforded to a privileged few. The game is much more than that these days, of course. The problem is, not everyone knows it.

As a point of reference, this all reminds me of 9/11 and the days that immediately followed. I once did a story about the deep impact that tragedy had on the local golf community, and one of the things that came to light is that while the vast majority of golfers steered clear of area courses that week, some sought refuge there.

You could argue that teeing it up was inappropriate while so many people were mourning. But a number of golfers said immersing themselves in a round of golf was the only way to clear their heads.

We’re about 13 hours away from the second and final round of the Section 1 Championship at Hollow Brook Country Club in Cortlandt Manor. So since I have a few more hours, here are a few more thoughts:

First, let me respond to Golfer A’s question of asking me to break down the 32 golfers who made the cut by school. Here we go:

Mahopac- 3
Clarkstown North- 3
Scarsdale- 3
Harrison- 3
Brewster- 2
Arlington- 2
Somers- 2
Fox Lane- 2
Tappan Zee- 2
Mamaroneck- 1
Lourdes- 1
Byram Hills- 1
Westlake- 1
North Rockland- 1
Pearl River- 1
Pelham- 1
New Rochelle- 1
Nyack- 1
Rye- 1

This list is interesting for a few reasons. Obviously, the teams with the most (Mahopac, Clarkstown North, Scarsdale, and Harrison) are top heavy, but they also make sense since those are four of the best teams in the area.

Somers and Fox Lane having two is very impressive. Fox Lane’s two players are both young, so the Foxes’ representation in sectionals in the near future should only get larger.

Surprisingly, Rye, who will play in the Section 1 team championship next week, only has one player. This after a year in which the Garnets had seven players make the second round last year and three make the state team.

In response to another post, it is interesting to note that the two Somers’ golfers, Drew Clayton and James Casola both have plenty of experience playing Hollow Brook. I spoke to Fordham Prep’s Jon Renza, who lives in Cortlandt Manor and is a caddy at the relatively new layout, and the first thing he said is that if you haven’t played the course before, you’re in for a brutal day.

Apparently, it’s not a “what you see is what you get” type of course and those with experience like the Somers’ duo have a definite advantage. Renza predicted plenty of high scores and said that a 74 might be possible on the par 71 layout, but probably nothing better. He said he thought anyone who made the cut still has a legitimate shot of making a run at it, so if you’re sitting there at 85 don’t give up.

In the same line of thinking, let us recall the story of Brian Bartow two years ago. The then Rye Neck senior had a disastrous first day at McCann (85 I believe) but bounced back with a 75 at Fenway to make a playoff for 10th place and the first alternate spot. He held off Byram Hills’ Rob Brand on the 6th sudden death hole and then got to go to states when someone withdrew due to injury. He certainly made the most of his second life, earning all-state honors, winning the Federation championship and collecting The Journal News player of the year.

What a script, eh? Will we see a similar performance tomorrow? Only time will tell.

I just got back from the CHSAA championship match at Waccabuc Country Club where Fordham Prep defeated Iona Prep 3-2 in thrilling fashion.

The entire match came down to the matchup of the No. 2 players for both teams, Paul Toohey of Fordham Prep and Rich Korzelius of Iona Prep. Toohey had control most of the way, leading 3-up on a couple occasions, but Korzelius battled back to send the match to 18.

But on 18, the freshman Korzelius caught a bad break when his tee shot went way left and ended up in a ditch. He opted to try to play the ball and then wound up having to take a drop. Meanwhile, Toohey waited through a long delay before putting his approach in the front bunker. From there, he knocked it on the green and then two-putted to clinch a 2-up win and seal the overall match for the Rams.

The win marked Fordham Prep’s second title in three years. The Rams lost 3-2 to Molloy in last year’s final or it would be a three-peat.

John Hough and Teddy Morrissey also played great for Fordham. The pair of juniors were in the same group and won their No. 3 and No. 4 matches easily.

Shane Malloy and Ryan Hudson won matches for Iona Prep, which had an amazing turnaround this season to get to this point. The team played three freshmen and a sophomore so the future looks bright.

Malloy continued his amazing campaign by defeating Jon Renza 2 and 1. The freshman defeated Renza, the defending CHSAA state champion, in all three matches this year to emerge as one of the top golfers in the area.

Malloy and most of the golfers in this match will be in action next Friday at the CHSAA state championship at James Baird State Park.

So, I got one prediction right and I even nailed the score on the head! Then again, it’s not too hard when it’s best of five…

Okay, I was going to leave this until tomorrow, but I’m stuck in the office with nothing to do, so here they are now.

Once again, I feel for those of you who I pick to do well. For those of you that I don’t pick, please don’t take it as a slight, but as a positive. I’m not going to predict the entire team of nine that will represent Section 1 at the state championships, but I will pick some of the selections. Let’s get started:

1. Will the leaders make the state team? Yes. For one, all three are obviously excellent golfers to have made it to this position. Secondly though, and probably even more importantly, they’ve all qualified before. Andrew Lichtenauer (Harrison) and Andrew Graham (Arlington) both made it last year and Dylan Newman (New Rochelle) made it as a freshman. I just think the experience of making it already will help during a pressure-packed second round.

2. How will Hollow Brook affect things? This will be tougher to tell and will only be answered when we see the scores at the end of the second round. From talking to a lot of players, it seemed that many had never played the course, which is only about three years old. A couple had played it, a few more were going to try to get a practice round in, and others were just going to try and walk the course the night before to get a better feel. From what I’ve heard, the greens are slick and there are some tricky holes that could pose a problem for people who haven’t seen the course before. Then again, a lot of these players hadn’t played Spook Rock before Monday either and a lot did just fine. The bottomline is when you’re good, you’re good.

3. Will Mahopac have a representative on the state team? With three chances in Luke Feehan, Joe Raitano and Marisa Kamelgarn, how can I not say yes. How many and if the Indians can match the three players Rye sent last year remains to be seen.

4. Will Mike Miller make the state team? Before this event started, I would have said this was a stone cold lock. Then again, I picked the Brewster sophomore to win it all (my apologies again, Mike). For a second straight year, Miller had a negative scoring differential, a feat that apparently has never been done once before, not even by Ardsley legend and Duke senior Michael Quagliano. An 81 on day one didn’t help, but while six shots on the leaders may be tough to make up, I’m confident that Miller will come back with a round in the mid-70s and comfortably grab one of the coveted nine spots.

5. Who will win it all? Here it is, the ultimate kiss of death. Like I said, I have faith in all the leaders to hang in there and be in it until the end. But for the winner, I’m going to look to the second to last group. There, Rye’s Mark Mumford is lurking dangerously, just two shots off the lead. If he gets off to a quick start, look out. Remember, Mumford nearly won this event last year as a sophomore, before losing to senior teammate Max Buckley by a single shot.

So there they are, my fearless predictions. Feel free to dispute any or all and to weigh in with your own thoughts. I’ll be trying to get a little golf in myself tomorrow morning before heading to the CHSAA championship match, but I’ll be back with more at some point. In the meantime, let’s hope for some drier weather over the next few days! Apparently, April showers bring… May showers.

In response to Gary W (thanks for the post by the way, let’s keep ‘em coming!), I will highlight the youngest golfers that moved onto the second round of sectionals. You mentioned that three freshmen (or younger) made it through, but I only count two in Harrison 8th-grader Michael DiTursi, who is tied for 21st with an 83 and Fox Lane freshman Max Christiana, who is tied for 23rd after posting an 84.

Players making it this far at this young of an age is certainly a rarity. The past two years, a freshman has made the state team in New Rochelle’s Dylan Newman (2006) and Brewster’s Mike Miller (2007), but that is even rarer.

A look at the field of 63 qualifiers for sectionals this year shows that only three players of that age or younger even made it into the first round (White Plains’ 7th-grader John Morrissey is the other). Two other freshmen, Derek Kim (Clarkstown North) and Ben Cahn (Nyack) had 6.0 differentials, but were squeezed out in a numbers crunch.

But while there may not be a huge wave of top-level players this year in the ninth grade or younger, an overall lack of seniors on that level shows that there is a huge group of tremendously talented sophomores and juniors that should be a great representation for this section for the next few years.

In the meantime, let me hear your thoughts/predictions concerning round two at Hollow Brook. Will the leaders hold on? Will a girl qualify for the state team? Will I get a prediction right? Stay tuned…

Tomorrow I’ll be at the CHSAA Championship and thanks to Iona Prep and Fordham Prep taking care of business, it will be an all Journal News coverage area matchup!

The Gaels and the Rams will renew their rivalry when they tee off at 1 p.m. at Waccabuc Country Club. These two teams both had fantastic seasons and split their regular season meetings, so it should be a tight one.

The matchup will once again be a best-of-five of individual matches so things could definitely go either way like they did in the first two meetings. The headlining match will be in the No. 1 slot as Fordham’s Jon Renza, the reigning CHSAA state champion, will face Gaels’ freshman Shane Malloy.

I think the entire match could hinge on this matchup in which Malloy surprised Renza twice during the regular season. Renza did shoot an unofficial score of 69 on this course last year in the championship match so based on that experience, I’m going to pick Renza to bounce back and beat Malloy and lead Fordham to a 3-2 win. Then again, I probably just jinxed the Rams with that pick.

Speaking of jinxed, how about the Knicks’ franchise? Not only did another chance to strike it big in the lottery (Derrick Rose could have put them in the playoffs next year), but they slid down to the No. 6 spot, where they’ll get stuck with a player that may help them win a whopping 30 games next year. Sweet.