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Sports

Dayton Boys Golf Team on the Rise

Four seniors lead the way to a respectable 10-8 record

With the amazing performance by the young 22-year-old Rory McIlroy at this month's U.S. Open, it's a great time to take a look back at the 2011 Dayton boys golf season.

Led by seniors Kevin Kirk, Nick Bongiovanni, Nick Pulice and Peter Bianco, the Bulldogs (10-8) started off strong with four victories in its first six matches en route to a record of 9-4 in its first 13. However, they dropped four of their last five matches to end the regular season.

Bongiovanni, who will be entering the PGM Program for Golf Course Management at Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C. this fall, made second team All-Union County Conference by overall score for the season, leading Dayton to a fourth-place finish in the conference's Watchung Division. One of PGM’s alum is PGA Tour professional Chad Collins, who played on two national championship teams in 1998 and 1999.

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"Nick has a gorgeous golf swing and has really worked on his game," said Dayton head coach Al Steiginga. "I always call him my Tom Watson of the team and I'm happy he is going to continue to further his golf career at Methodist."

Kirk just missed making second-team All-Conference by one stroke in the county tournament.

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The Bulldogs finished eighth with a score of 376 in the eight-team Union County Tournament at Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield on May 5. The team also qualified for the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 tournament, placing sixth.

Leading a new core of players next season will be up-and-coming juniors Adam Kennedy, who will look to lead the team after a successful season this year, and Matt Klein. John Hess will return to the team as the lone senior.

"We were very respectable during placing fourth in our conference’s division and we finished fourth overall in state sectional qualifying for the Tournament of Champions," added Steiginga.

Steiginga believes the team lived up to its potential.

"I thought we were as competitive as we could be," Steiginga. "One of the goals at the start of the season was to qualify for sectionals and we did that, so I was pretty satisfied. The sectionals were a bonus for our season and that worked out well for the kids. I always tell the kids to enjoy themselves, because when you play better, you have a lot more fun. I think we are improving and getting better as a team so with the new juniors and seniors coming back next year, I think we are an up-an-coming program."

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