NORTH ANDOVER — They are huge golf shoes to fill.
Tyler Fawaz has the resume, the attitude, the desire and the game to fill them.
With the graduation of 2023 Eagle-Tribune Golfer of the Year and two-time Eagle-Tribune All-Star Brendan Burke, North Andover High will look to the junior Fawaz to lead the Knight charge this fall and help the program defend its spot among the Merrimack Valley Conference elite.
“I feel I have the talent to do it, and it should be awesome,” said Fawaz, whose debut in the leadoff spot for the Knights against Methuen was cut short and postponed by the wild storm cell that shot through the region on Wednesday afternoon. “There’s really no extra pressure. I played No. 3 as a freshman, two last year and have experience going against the best players in the MVC. So that doesn’t really bother me.”
The opportunity to face the region’s finest a couple afternoons a week is actually a bit compelling to Fawaz.
“I’ve played with (Andover’s Lucas Jenney) forever and gone against (Central’s Harry Garland) a bunch,” said Fawaz. “That’s what makes high school golf great. You have all these friends, and you’re out there going one on one against them. It’s pretty cool.”
Fawaz’s impact in the perennially lethal North Andover program was immediate as a ninth-grader.
He came up large in the Division 1 North sectional as a freshman, his two-over-par 74 helping North Andover shock the world at Renaissance CC and bring home the title.
“I’ve shown some signs of greatness in my career,” said Fawaz.
“I think the main goal is college golf, Division 1. Golf opens a lot of doors in life. With a lot of practice and a lot of faith in the people around me, I think anything is possible.”
Last summer, Fawaz won a Notah Begay Junior Golf Regional Championship tournament in Connecticut, advancing to the National Championship in Louisiana, an event that was broadcast on The Golf Channel.
He then carried that momentum into the high school season, bumping up a spot and rolling to a 10-3-1 regular season mark and a selection to our Eagle-Tribune All-Star team.
But now, the real work begins.
He heads up a 2025 Knights team that graduated all but he and Ben Woodford from last year’s starting lineup. There will be six fresh faces teeing it up in matches for coach Matt Lombard, including Fawaz’ younger brother, Logan.
Logan, by the way, is coming on strong, and Tyler can share in the credit for that.
“He’s looking up to me, a little bit. I think when I play well, he wants to get better,” Tyler said.
Where will North Andover finish in the MVC this fall? That story is yet to be written. But Fawaz says the Knights have the potential to be pretty dangerous at some point.
“I think the team has a lot of potential. As long as we believe in each other, I think the team can do some things this fall,” said Fawaz. “I don’t know if this team has the skills we’ve had in the recent past, but we can still accomplish great things with this team.”
Individually, Fawaz, whom Lombard called “One of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen in golf,” last fall, has set the bar pretty high for himself.
“I want to have a solid record, shoot some good scores, and maybe compete for the title in the (MVC) Open,” Fawaz said. “I hope we can be above .500 to make sectionals as a team, but if not, I’ll probably be there individually. And I definitely want to qualify for states.”