Zach Berger, Owen Jessop Claim Fifth Straight Sebonack Challenge Title for Westhampton Beach; Mariners Go Undefeated to Win League VIII Title

After having won it the past four years straight, Westhampton Beach boys golf wasn’t ready to give up the Sebonack Challenge plaque just yet, so freshman Zach Berger and sophomore Owen Jessop made sure that didn’t happen.

On Friday, the Hurricanes pair won the best-ball formatted tournament, which has been bringing the top pairings from the four Southampton Town school teams — Hampton Bays, Pierson/Bridgehampton, Southampton and Westhampton Beach — together for a late-season, competitive match that has taken place since 2010. Berger and Jessop, caddied by teammates Zach Bennett and Avery Merrihew, not only won it, but they set a new tournament record by shooting a 71 on the day, besting last year’s score of an even par 72, set by Berger and his then teammate, Harry Moloney.

Southampton seniors Liam Blackmore and Brian Emmons, caddied by teammates Ethan Heuer and Ronan Brady, shot 5-over to place second. Hampton Bays juniors Erik Sandstrom and Mike Poremba, caddied by teammates Rieve Nydegger, a junior, and senior Jamie Moore, shot an 84 to place third, while Pierson/Bridgehampton’s Adam Drohan and Carter Kleinsmith, caddied by teammates Yudai Morikawa and Mason Wheeler, shot an 88.

Mackenzie Kim and Thatcher Cord started the Hurricanes run at Sebonack five years ago, then Kim and Cole Federico won it in back-to-back seasons, most recently in 2019. After the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, Berger and Moloney won it before this year’s fifth straight victory by Berger and Jessop.

“Our coach (Fred Musumeci) was telling us he didn’t want to give this trophy back, and our mindset was really to go and break the record that Harry and I set last year,” said Berger, who, as a freshman, is already in his third year on the team.

Jessop not only never played an entire course with his teammate, Berger, but he had never played Sebonack before so he had to make some early adjustments. Once he did, everything went smoothly.

“Zach and I played really good together,” Jessop said. “I think Zach played good in the beginning, and I played really well on the back nine, and I think that really helped us win.

“I went into it knowing we could do well, just how well we’ve played as a team so far, so I don’t think there was much added pressure,” he added. “I definitely wanted to win though, and we did that.”

Berger said the strategy for him and Jessop was to not make any bogies and try to shoot even par throughout, easier said than done given the unforgiving greens at Sebonack. To that end, the pair of ’Canes went even par through the first six holes playing against Baymen Sandstrom and Poremba, then they birdied the ninth hole to be 1-under halfway through, when scores are calculated and the top two teams at that point are paired for the final nine holes.

Berger and Jessop and Mariners Blackmore and Emmons basically played even for much of the second half of the day. But Jessop hit a solid tee shot on 17 that allowed him and Berger to birdie that hole that put them up six shots going into the final hole.

“Already 1-under at that point, we said maybe we can make an eagle to get into the 60s or birdie to finish in the low 70s and increase our lead even more,” Berger said, explaining the mindset going into the final hole. “We wanted to keep our foot on the gas the entire round and not let up.“

Musumeci was ecstatic with yet another Sebonack Challenge victory, and said he’s been fortunate to have dedicated and quality players for quite some time now.

“They played so well,” he said of his players. “They struggled on the greens — the greens were really fast, they were really tough — but they were striking the ball so well they could have easily been 5-under if they were making putts. I just kept telling them to keep hitting the ball the way they were hitting them and not get too concerned with missing putts because then pressure starts to build up. They made the putts they had to and just kept striking the ball. An amazing performance and really fun to watch them both.”

Berger’s father, Josh, has been attending the Sebonack Challenge for years, well before his son started playing in it. He was there last year when Zach won it and he was there again this year, and he appreciates that the club allows parents to join in on the day, and he also appreciated seeing new Westhampton Beach Athletic Director Jason Cohen attend as well.

“Jason McCarty and [Michael] Pascucci, the owner of Sebonack, are so great for hosting this event, having us out there, treating the kids so nicely. Everyone is fantastic to them, warm and welcoming,” Berger said. “I know they’re already thinking about the dates for next October. It’s just unreal this goes on every year.”

Southampton head coach Tim Schreck thought his players in Blackmore and Emmons played very well, especially after bogeying the second and third holes. After that, they pretty much played even the rest of the day and finished with a solid number that, again, in most years can win the entire thing.

While Schreck gave credit to Berger and Jessop for the win at Sebonack, it was his team that took home what is always up for grabs at the start of the season, the League VIII title. The Mariners finished the season with an impressive undefeated 10-0 league record.

“The Sebonack Challenge is super fun and it’s a really nice feather for the cap, but it’s only two guys,” he said. “The ultimate goal every year is to win the league title, which is doing something as a team. Everything after that is an individual achievement, so I’m super pumped about that. It was our main goal at the start of the season and we accomplished it, which is always a tough task, this year especially with how East Hampton and Westhampton are playing and how tight the margins are. It was a tough one, but credit to all these guys and the way they played.”

While Blackmore and Emmons got highlighted by playing Sebonack this season — and they got to play by having the top averages on the team, as did the other pairs — Schreck said it could have been any of his top six golfers in their spots. Only two to three strokes separated the team’s top six in every match this season, something that should help them going forward as the postseason begins this week.

“Someone else seemed to lead the way every match. They all took turns leading the way,” Schreck said. “Liam and Brian had a good enough lead over the rest of the field, and that was the biggest gap. Brian really led the team all year in average. He’s our captain. He’s a bit understated, but when the season ended, he ended up besting Liam by a couple of strokes. Brian really blew up this year. He’s been on varsity for quite some time and this year ended up being the year where he led the squad all the way.”

“What tends to happen is one kid has a bad day and there goes your chance of winning as a team,” he continued. “But if one person has a bad day for us, the depth of our team is able to alleviate that some. That sort of things don’t show up in a tournament like Sebonack, but it will going forward.”

The Conference IV Championships, which brings leagues VII and VIII together, were Wednesday at Cherry Creek Golf Links in Riverhead. The top 50 golfers from that meet will advance to the Section XI Individual Championships, which will be played this Monday and Tuesday, October 24 and 25, at Spring Lake Golf Club in Middle Island.

Suffolk County is bringing back its Section XI Team Tournament. The county first created the tournament in 2019 — Southampton wound up falling to Ward Melville in the championship match of that inaugural tourney — but the pandemic canceled having it the following two years. It’s now back with the difference being that it’s being held after the county individual tournament, whereas it was played before it three years ago.

Brackets for that tournament should be released later this week, but Schreck is expecting a top-eight seed being that his team was a league champion, which would ensure it home course advantage, at least through the first two rounds, with a first round bye. Second place teams in each league automatically advance to the tournament, so the ’Canes, finishing 8-2 in the league behind Southampton, are moving on. Teams such as Hampton Bays (4-5 in League VII) and East Hampton (7-3 in League VIII) are looking to secure wild card bids, which will be determined at conferences this week. The team with the best finish there outside of the top two league finishers will qualify for the county team tournament.