Copyright The Boston Globe
With an hourlong wait ahead of the playoff and more than 100 spectators lining the 351-yard par-4 first hole at The Ridge Club, the stone-faced Morrow executed his tee shot to gain an early edge, and then nailed his approach shot to reach the green a stroke ahead of his two competitors. Two short putts later — and without ever changing his facial expression — Morrow was the champion. His finish, coupled with his 3-over-par 74 through the first 18 to share medalist honors with Arlington’s Owen Shea and Longmeadow’s Connor Henrey, punctuated a dominant team effort for Xaverian. After a 16-0 run through the regular season, and a nine-stroke victory in the South sectional, the Hawks (313) captured their first Division 1 title in seven years, surging past St. John’s Prep (320) and Braintree (324). “He’s just an all-business kind of a guy,” said Lambert of Morrow. “I really knew that he had it. That doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to win, but he wasn’t going to crumble in the moment. He’s just not that guy. For somebody so, so young, to be able to be that way is very impressive.” The 16-year-old Milton resident got off to a slow start on the hilly par-71 course, bogeying his fourth hole (the 395-yard ninth) and double-bogeying his sixth hole (the 182-yard 11th). But Morrow never let his score go any higher than 3 over, notching his first birdie on his eighth hole and then settling into a groove. “It feels great,” Morrow said. “Got off to a pretty rough start, but just tried to stay with it ... It’s a tough course, especially with the wind. You just have to avoid big numbers and [making] a lot of pars wins the tournament.” Facing Henrey and Shea in the playoff, Morrow grew optimistic after his tee shot reached the top of the hill on the fairway — well ahead of the others’ tee shots. Henrey and Shea ultimately bogeyed the hole. “I knew if I made par I’d have a good chance,” Morrow said. “The others didn’t hit great tee shots, and I was able to get a good tee shot, so I was able to go for the win.” Xaverian also received scoring performances from sophomore Luke Edgar (7-over 78), senior Quinn Dumas (79), and senior Antonio Cilloc (82), who finished ninth, 14th, and 24th, respectively. The victory marked a major team triumph for the Hawks, who finished second at last year’s final and set a goal to return and finish the job. “We were a little kind of miffed about it — like maybe it was a missed opportunity, maybe wasn’t quite our day,” Lambert said of last year’s loss. “This year, it was all business right from the jump … they were just on a mission. And they really executed it.”
