Last fall, the Newburyport golf team experienced a first.
Plenty of its golfers had qualified as individuals for the Division 2 State Championship Meet over the years, but the Clippers had never qualified as an entire team. That, however, changed a year ago when the Clippers collectively made it to Berkshire Hills, finishing 10th out of 13 qualifying programs.
And that success doesn’t appear to be a flash in the pan.
Based on reports coming out from this summer circuit, Newburyport golf may not just qualify for the Division 2 State Meet this upcoming year, but contend for a title.
It all, once again, will start with rising-junior Jack Oreal, our returning Daily News MVP from last year. Oreal has been back on the New England Junior PGA Tour this summer, and is off to a strong start. He’s competed in eight events so far, and last week recorded a win at Campbell’s Scottish Highlands where he shot a career-low 69 (-2). The victory goes along with four runner-up finishes — including one at Rockport Country Club where he fired a 70 to finish one stroke off the lead — and three third-place finishes.
Oreal has posted a 73 or better in six of his eight events this summer, lowering his tournament scoring average from 78.5 last year to 72.8. He’s currently ranked No. 4 out of 313 players in the NEPGA Jr. Tour’s 16–18 age division, and still has over 10 tournaments to play this summer. Admittedly it’s still a little early to be thinking about college, but the recruiting process has started for Oreal, and he’s already seen a number of Division I-III coaches show interest.
But he’s not the only All-Star who’ll be returning to the links this fall.
Gavin Goich, a rising-junior and fellow returning Daily News All-Star, has been competing on the Illinois Junior PGA Tour with three top-20 finishes that have included rounds of 78 and 74. Rising-sophomore Tommy Gagnon has two top-10 finishes on the NEPGA Jr. Tour this summer, and rising-senior Miguel Nye has also shown a lot of improvement.
Throw those names alongside two more returning Daily News All-Stars in Davis Pons and Sam Luekens — with other strong pieces in Jackson LaCava and Braeden Aussant also expected back — and the Clippers should have both the high-end talent at the top paired with plenty of depth. The whole group have all stayed close throughout the summer as well, making time to get out and play together whenever schedules align.