Henry Kathawala capped off an up and down season for the Nantucket golf team as a whole Friday afternoon with a third place finish in the Cape and Islands Golf Championship held at Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee. Head coach Nate Roberts said Kathawala told him before the championship began that he wanted to shoot an 80 on the 18-hole course, but ended up doing better by shooting a 76.
“He rolled in a 20-footer down a hill for par on his last hole and just gave it a big fist pump,” Roberts said. “That right away showed how well he played and how fired up he was because he doesn’t usually show a lot of emotion. He immediately came over to his teammates and said it was the best round of his life.”
Roberts said Kathawala has continued to trend in a positive direction all season. Kathawala has been shooting around 40 through nine holes in each of his matches this year. The sophomore competed against 41 other golfers from 14 schools who were among the Cape and Island’s best from during the fall.
Roberts added that he was impressed with how Kathawala handled the conditions of the course. He said Miacomet’s greens play faster than any other course they play at throughout the season because of how high quality Miacomet’s course is, but said Mashpee’s played faster and forced Kathawala to adjust as the championship progressed.
“The rough was just thick and lush too,” Roberts said.
Roberts is optimistic about the program’s future with players like Kathawala, Cole Chambers, Aidan Sullivan, and Jack Billings returning next year after securing starting roles this season. They will also have ten sophomore golfers come up from the junior varsity level to compete for spots.
“This year was really kind of like a rebuilding year because after the year off due to COVID even our seniors didn’t have any varsity experience,” Roberts said. “I’m hoping that Henry’s performance can give us some momentum going into the offseason and get the team fired up to work on their skills ahead of next year.”
