Storylines, Rule Changes & Apps: RI High School Golf Primer
The 2023 Rhode Island High School golf season is upon us.
Over the next week, GolfNewsRI will be rolling out previews of every division and the teams in them.
Those previews started on Tuesday, April 4 with the Central Division.
In the meantime, here is primer on what to watch for and know about heading into the season, including storylines, rule changes and a new app.
Enjoy and happy golf season.
Storylines:
There are a handful of storylines that GolfNewsRI is looking forward to following this season.
Max Jackson – The La Salle phenom, and recent Rutgers commit, goes for his third straight individual title this season. He will have a big challenge from players like Sebastian Carlsson, Cole Vieira, Dacey and others. The state championship tournament is going to be quite something.
La Salle – Last season the Rams swept the state titles (boys, girls and team). They are poised to repeat that feat this season. What team will step up and give them a run?
Kylie vs Olivia – La Salle’s Olivia Williams won the girls individual title last year, Moses Brown’s Kylie Eaton won the RI Women’s Am, Williams beat Eaton in the Girls Junior Am. The friendly rivalry renews this season.
Seniors –This season will mark the “last dance” for a number of seniors including Narragansett’s Sebastian Carlsson, Toll Gate’s Ryan Dacey, EG’s Ryan Marcantonio, La Salle’s Joe Earley, Moses Brown’s Kylie Eaton, and Barrington’s Cole Vieira, among others. What kind of show can the senior class put on this season?
Rising Stars: Of course, with outgoing seniors, there is always the opposite effect. Who will emerge as a rising star in Rhode Island High School Golf? A couple of names off the top of our collective heads include Barrington’s Lilly Dessel and Moses Brown’s Adriana Eaton. Both of whom have already had some success on the state level.
Bobby Leopold: Leopold is one of the greatest players in RI Amateur golf history. This season he takes on a new role as head coach of the Bishop Hendricken Hawks. He told GolfNewsRI that he has always wanted to give back to the game, and it will be fun to see him doing that this year and beyond.
Rule Changes:
This season, the qualifying format for the State Championship Tournament has been altered.
The top two teams from each division get the automatic bids, and then five other teams from across all the divisions will get a bid based on team scoring average.
As recent as last season, the top two teams in each division got in, then there was a playoff for a third team.
On top of that, and as GolfNewsRI reported, all three championships (girls, boys and team) will be decided all at the same time.
“The State Championship is going to have the best field that we have ever had. We are going to have the best teams, and then combining it with the girls state championship,” said East Greenwich Head Coach Marc Brocato.
The High School State Championship is May 30-31 at Cranston Country Club.
RIIL Launches App
Say goodbye to paper scorecards.
The Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) has launched a golf app which is “powered by” iWanamaker.
The app is available for all high school golf programs in Rhode Island and will be used to track hole-by-hole scores of players during matches.
Similar to how most clubs in the state use Golf Genius.
It is GolfNewsRI’s understanding that the players will be responsible for putting in their scores for every hole.
According to the RIIL website, the app costs $30 for a single regular season ticker (1 user), or $90 for a family regular season ticket (up to 4 users).
If you are just logging in for one event, it costs $7, and a state tournament ticket is $12.
Physically going to a tournament or match does not cost anything, this is just for the app to follow the live scoring.