Golfers rebound after streak snapped

The home course proved friendly in the win over Blanchet.

They may not have their overall winning streak anymore, but the Bainbridge boys golf team are still tough at home.

The Spartans easily defeated the Bishop Blanchet Braves 106-72 on Monday to extend their home winning streak at Wing Point, a course that not many teams like to visit because of its challenging greens.

Paul DeBarros was the medalist for the match, as he shot a 33 to score 29 Stableford points. He had one bogey and three birdies.

Austin Hurt recovered from his previous rough outing with a 34 to tie with Blanchet’s Francis Santiago for second, while Jamie Neill shot a 35. Kyle Hurt rounded out the team’s score with a 40 to score 22 points.

Neill said the team’s performance was a better showing than their loss to O’Dea a week earlier.

“It was a good rebound from last week,” Neill said. “We used it (the loss) as motivation. We lost, and now we need to start winning to get our streak back.”

DeBarros, who said the team hasn’t lost in his four years on the team, said he and Neill held a quick team meeting before the match to refocus on what they need to do to succeed, using the success of Team USA at the President’s Cup as an example.

“We told everybody to play with the attitude to just go out and have fun,” he said. “Just be relaxed, have fun, making sure we’re taking our time on every stroke. I think towards the end of the streak, it just got lackadaisical.”

Neill agreed.

“We figured, ‘Oh, someone will go out and shoot a good score and save us,’” he said. “But if we’re all struggling, you’ve gotta go out and fight to get that number. Instead of having a 40, where you’re relaxed and not really caring as opposed to a 38 where you really dig it out and put it all out there.”

The loss will serve as motivation to get the team where they need to be, DeBarros said.

“In some respects, losing that match freed us up,” he said. “Now we can just go out and get ready for the Metro Tournament. We’ve got the strongest team in state. We’ll beat O’Dea the next time we see them (on Oct. 3).”

The Spartans face off against Rainier Beach, Nathan Hale and Chief Sealth today at Jefferson Municipal in Seattle. Tee time is at 3 p.m.

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