The Palm Beach Central High School boys golf team is young and inexperienced, but they are motivated to improve. Head coach Lucas Basso has a squad of seven players, which includes three freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors.
The trio of freshmen are Myles Basso, Santino Spidalieri and Abner Williams. The two sophomores are William Adams and Logan Rifflard. The two juniors are Samay Thakor and Collin Walker.
“As you can see, my team is young,” said Basso, who is now in his ninth year as the boys golf coach. “No player on my team has more than two years of experience.”
The number one player on the squad is Basso’s son, Myles. He averages 47.9 strokes for nine holes, but he has yet to play a competitive 18-hole round.
Another player who has shown great improvement this fall has been William Adams.
“The strength of both Myles and Will is their swing,” Basso said. “Both these guys have great fundamental golf swings, so they both have a very high ceiling as they refine other aspects of their games. Their weakness right now is their short game, and I think most golfers can relate to that. That’s, by far, the hardest part of this game, and it takes years to refine it.”
Basso is delighted at the progress of his team this season.
“Everyone has shown improvement,” added Basso, whose team practices and plays its home matches at the Okeeheelee Park Golf Course. “From tee to green, we are much better now than we were at the beginning of the season.”
As the regular season winds down, the team’s focus has shifted to preparing for the local high school district golf tournament at the Wellington National Golf Club on Monday, Oct. 25. At the district tournament, Basso’s team will learn a great deal from the experience of playing with and against teams with more skill and depth.
“Unfortunately, this year, with a team so young and inexperienced, and with powerhouses in our district like Palm Beach Gardens and Dwyer, our chances of advancing are probably low,” Basso said.
Despite a 2-10 record in match competition, the highlights of the season have been the consistency of Myles Basso on the putting surfaces.
“Myles has developed the reputation for sinking at least one or two very long putts every round,” Basso said of his son. “He has made at least five putts this year of at least 50 feet. The putts have been pretty amazing.”
