Caylin Wong helps Great Neck girls golf capture state championship
Great Neck District celebrates its first girls golf team state championship in Rush, N.Y., on Monday. Credit: Brian Rath
The last two years, Great Neck District’s girls' golf team ended its season with a second-place finish at the state tournament.
Entering Day 2 this year, the team trailed by five strokes. Senior Caylin Wong refused to let history repeat itself.
Wong shot 1-under-par 71 in the final round, leading Great Neck to a 27-over-par team score on Day 2. Great Neck finished at 79-over-par across the two days to capture the state team championship at Wild Wood Country Club in Rush, New York.
This marks the first state team championship by a Long Island public school girls golf program since the team event began in 2019.
“Caylin saved her best show for last,” Great Neck coach Matt Corrigan said. “She came out and played unbelievable. I can’t say enough about her talent and the leadership she brings to this team. It’s just pure joy right now. I couldn’t be prouder of the girls to get over the hump here and win it. All the girls wanted it. They went to work and got the job done.”
Wong shot 9-over-par 81 with no birdies on the first day, but then flipped the switch. She birdied six holes on Day 2. The performance helped her finish eighth in the individual component of the championship and sparked Great Neck to shoot 25 strokes better than it did in the opening round.
“My short game wasn’t the best yesterday,” Wong said. “Today I made a lot more putts and kept it very calm. We met as a team before we teed off and encouraged each other to have fun, and it worked out. It feels amazing to end on such a high note with how hard our team works.”
Jericho seventh grader Taerin Lee finished at 9-over-par 153 over the two days, tying Southampton sophomore Elie Poremba for 10th place individually.
