- April 24, 2024
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Matanzas' Matthew Bayer hits a bunker shot on the ninth hole at Palm Harbor Golf Club. He led the Pirates with a 9-over 45. Photo by Ray Boone
FPC sophomore Cameron Coates sinks a birdie putt on the seventh hole at Palm Harbor Golf Club. He fired a low-round 43. Photo by Ray Boone
Matanzas golfers Lawrence Russo (right) and Erik Libby walk toward the fairway on the seventh hole at Palm Harbor Golf Club. Photo by Ray Boone.
The Matanzas Pirates easily defeated Flagler Palm Coast on Tuesday, Aug. 22, to extend their winning streak over the Bulldogs.
It wasn’t in football, however. That matchup comes later.
It was in boy’s golf.
“It’s always there,” Matanzas boy’s golf coach Jeremy Pease said of the schools’ rivalry. “They’re the only other (public) high school in town, and all the kids know each other. The rivalry is always present.”
The Pirates won the nine-hole match, held at the Palm Harbor Golf Club, with a four-man score of a 52-over-par 196. The Bulldogs finished 17 shots back with a 69-over 213. FPC sophomore Cameron Coates, who played the No. 2 spot on Tuesday, shot a 7-over 43 for the low round of the day. Matanzas’ No. 1 player, Matthew Bayer, led his team with a 9-over 45.
“We got away with one today,” Pease said. “Our score is probably not close to victory against the Neases and Ponte Vedras and those teams. But it gave us something to go off of. Hopefully we can turn it around.”
Although boy’s golf doesn’t get the same amount of attention as the more popular sports, namely football, Coates said a rivalry does exist between the two programs, even to the extent of a bit of trash talking on the course.
“There was some smack talk today,” he said. “We were going back and forth. We practice at the same course together, so I know a lot of the kids on their team.”
Despite Coates' low round, it was a rough start to the season for Flagler Palm Coast, whose team features only four players.
“We are very young,” said Steve Collier, who’s in his third year as the head coach of the team. “Of all four of our guys, we have four sophomores. We have two returners from last year and two new people. So, I’m relying on four scores as opposed to six if I had six strong golfers out here.”
Bayer, a senior, was all smiles after the win. He said the Pirates haven’t lost to FPC since he joined the golf team his freshman season.
“It’s good competition said,” Bayer said. “Hopefully our football team gets the W, too.”
