On a Challenging Course, Jays Shoot Just a Bit Straighter Than the Competition

The Blue Jay golf team brought home a district championship, the school’s 20th since 1990, when they shot a combined 311 on the Oak Course at Beau Chene Country Club on Monday, April 18. The Jays next week play for regional honors at Carter Plantation near Hammond. From left are senior Grant Glorioso, junior Nolan Lambert, senior Carlo Carino, sophomore Grayson Glorioso, freshman Britton Khalaf, and Coach Owen Seiler ’75.

View the Photo Gallery of Blue Jay Golfers Winning a District Championship

Since 1990, Jesuit golf teams have brought home five state championships (1998, 1999, 2009, 2010, and 2011), at least three regional trophies, and 19 district titles.

Oops, make that 20 district championships because the 2016 Blue Jay golf team bested about a dozen of their rivals in ideal conditions on Monday, April 18, at Beau Chene Country Club’s demanding Oak course, where the fairways seem to be as narrow as the streets in the French Quarter. Golfers who miss the fairway pay a price. Judging from some of the individual scores turned

As a freshman, Britton Khalaf is playing this year on the varsity team for the first time.

in — 87, 89, 94, 98, 100, 108, 116, 119, 120, 142 — there were a lot of missed fairways, a couple of buckets of lost balls.

The Blue Jays won the tournament with a low score of 311, 23 over par. Their closest competition was Fontainebleau (332) and Brother Martin (338). Each team has five golfers; the four lowest individual scores are combined for the team score. The highest individual score is discarded. The Oak course, all 6,325 yards, is par 72, so a foursome with a 288 played even par.

The five Jays and their 18-hole scores were: sophomore Grayson Glorioso (73), freshman Britton Khalaf (77), senior Grant Glorioso (80), junior Nolan Lambert (81), and senior Carlo Carino (81). One of the score cards with an 81 was discarded.

“The good news is we won the tournament and that’s more important than anything,” said Owen Seiler ’75. “This is a tough, tight course for all these kids. They’re used to playing on a little bit more wide open course. The Oak course requires a little more creativity. They have to learn to hit the ball straight. There are a lot of out of bounds and this creates more havoc on their game. While we played well, I think the boys know they can play better. But we came away a winner.”

Talking to his team after the match, Coach Seiler chided a couple of his players for taking big risks that ended up costing them several strokes.

“I have high expectations for you guys and you should have them for yourselves,” he told them. “I want the guys on the course not to try to go for crazy shots. I want them to play for par. Par is good. We really don’t need to be going for eagles on this course. This is a very tight course. The goal is to make par. They don’t need to be going for something that’s not necessary. Just play for par.”

Sophomore Grayson Glorioso found this greenside bunker, but had no trouble getting the ball up on the green and one-putting for par.

The LHSAA Division I – Region II Tournament is scheduled for Tuesday, April 26 at Carter Plantation Golf Club near Hammond.

The state tournament is scheduled May 2-3 in Lafayette at Farm d’Aille Golf Club in Carencro.

“The competition will be much tougher next week,” Coach Seiler said. “My expectations are we win again next week. We’ll see what happens, but the competition certainly will be better.”

Coach Seiler, who is completing his third year as head coach, said this year’s team enjoyed a terrific year.

“We lost to Brother Martin once, otherwise we won every match we played,” he said, adding the team is fortunate to have depth. “We have a good bunch of competitive kids and we’re deep. We got 10 kids who on any given day can shoot below 80. So we have a deep team and a lot of them are coming back. We’ll be even better next year.”

Chip Shot…

You would have to search the Blue Jay Archives all the way back to 1932 to discover that was the year when Jesuit’s golf team won prep and city championships for the first time. Then, absolutely nothing for 13 years. In 1946, Jesuit’s athletic teams won it all (hence the saying, “All the tricks in ’46”). Three years go by, and again, nothing, followed by five consecutive city championships from 1949 – 1953. Nine more years putter along before the 1963 golf team won the city championship. The longest drought for Jesuit’s golf teams spanned 25 years, 1964 – 1989, with one exception – in 1982, Blue Jay golfers won a regional championship.