Bill Russell understood he had one of the best players in the Colonial Valley Conference returning this year, but never realized that it would help give him one of the CVC’s best teams as well.
However, with senior Brandon Li leading the way, Russell’s Hopewell Valley Central High School golf team carved out a 16-1 record and finished fourth in the Mercer County Tournament and fifth in the Central-South Jersey Group II sectional tournament. While the team did not advance to the Tournament of Champions, Li moved on as an individual by finishing second at sectionals with a 74.
He went on to finish 6th in the state Tournament of Champions, held May 21 at Twisted Dune Country Club in Egg Harbor Township.
“I knew we lost a couple players from last year so I thought we’d take a step backward,” Russell said. “But I also knew we had a solid three or four kids that play well and had one of the better players in the CVC, if not the best player, so that would help. I was just hoping to get some quality starts from some of the younger kids, and they helped us a lot.”
It began with Li, who was a starter all four years of high school. He reached the Tournament of Champions as a freshman, finished fourth in the county meet last year and averaged a 38 this season (over 9 holes).
“He’s just a solid player,” Russell said. “He’s one of these kids that’s a perfectionist. He practices nonstop and just wants to get better. If he does something wrong, he’ll stay after the match and work on that aspect of his game. I equate him to a basketball gym rat.”
Li converted from tennis to golf in 8th grade and set a goal of cracking the Bulldogs starting five as a freshman. With help from Alan Bowman, the pro at Cherry Valley Country Club, and help from Russell, he reached that goal.
“I guess (Bowman) saw some talent,” Li said. “He put me in every match, that really helped.”
During his sophomore and junior years, Li finished second in the Voorhees Invitational at High Bridge. Unfortunately, he seemed to run into injury problems around the county tournament and was rarely at his best.
But in his last high school hurrah, Li made it count. In his sectional performance on May 14, he finished one stroke behind champion Travis Weiner of Rumson-Fair Haven.
“I felt I did pretty good overall, but it was definitely a grind,” said Li, who hopes to walk on at Boston University next year. “My driving and irons weren’t great, so it was a lot of getting up and down, and the wedge and putter were working well.”
Li felt if he had not hit one in the water on the first hole, he may have had a shot at first. But overall, he said, he was happy with his performance.
Aside from playing well this season, Li took it upon himself to be a team leader. Most of it had to do with advising on course management and giving scouting reports on teams he had seen through the previous three years.
“I thought coming into this season with a young team, my role would be to kind of help others to get their game better,” Li said. “I could only do so much with my one score. I thought I’d be more effective helping other players elevate their game. I can decrease my score by maybe one or two strokes; but helping everyone would really be a help to the team.”
It paid off, as Hopewell Valley had a solid lineup from top to bottom. Junior Luke Wittenborn, a three-year varsity starter, played at No. 2. A natural golfer, Wittenborn averaged 39 strokes this year.
“It comes so easily for him,” Russell said. “He’s consistent, he doesn’t blow up, he doesn’t make bad mistakes. He just grinds. He comes in at 39, 40, 38, he’s just consistent. I tell him, ‘You play boring golf but I love it.’ He’ll go par, par, par and walk away (saying) ‘Eh, I did all alright.’”
The No. 3 man was senior Brian Hertig, a two-year starter who flashed potential his first two seasons and continued to work on his game.
“He wanted to jump into a starting spot,” Russell said. “He worked hard in the off-season and played at five and six last year. This year he’s a solid number three, averaging a 41. He works hard and knows what he’s gotta work on to get better.”
Filling the fourth slot is another TOC qualifier, sophomore Caroline Tamasi. She had the 38th best ranking among female high school players in the state. The top 50 were taken for the girls’ Tournament of Champions.
“She’s young, but she’s one of those players who doesn’t give up,” Russell said. “She’ll come in with a bad round and the very next day, her determination is like ‘Let’s do this, let’s work on this.’”
Entering the final week of TOC qualifying, Tamasi was ranked 52nd in the state. That was before she carded scores of 41, 38 and 39 to leap 14 spots.
“She knows what she wants to do and she goes out and works at it,” Russell said. “She plays against the boys and hits the ball as well as a lot of them. You’d never know she was such a young player.”
Rounding out the top five was senior Chandler Habig, a first-year starter who exuded energy and enthusiasm.
“You kind of know how the kids are playing when you look at him,” Russell said. “They feed off his energy. He’s a team leader, he leads by example. He doesn’t always put up the greatest numbers but he brings that cheerleading kind of thing – ‘How’d you do? What happened? Good job!’ – He wants what is best for the team.”
Rotating into the sixth spot were senior Henry Burditt, junior Rob Cacciabaudo and sophomore Rehan Yedav. They all chipped in to keep Hopewell a top-level program despite personnel losses.
“This year was definitely a very pleasant surprise,” Li said. “Every year that I’ve been here, we’ve lost one or two players. But we found out we’ve also been gaining key players from the younger side.”
And Li was there to help show them the way.
Brandon Li of the Hopewell Valley Central High golf team, teeing off during the match against Notre Dame High School May 11, 2018 at Hopewell Valley Golf and Country Club.,
