Fall Mountain's Mitchell Cormier going for second golf title, other locals qualify for state tournament

Oct. 14—CONCORD — Come Saturday, Fall Mountain senior Mitchell Cormier will have one more chance to be a state champion on the golf course.

Cormier won the individual golf state title his sophomore year, and after qualifying for the tournament again this year, will have another chance to end his career on top.

The field tees off Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Beaver Meadow Golf Course in Concord.

Cormier finished second in the Division IV tournament Tuesday at Mount Washington Resort Golf Club, shooting a 71 (-1), two strokes behind Mascenic sophomore Josiah Hakala.

He scored five birdies, which he believes is the most he's ever had in a tournament.

"Started on a par 3. Felt warmed up, no nerves," Cormier said. "Felt like I had been there before, and I had. It was a pretty slow start: I made a birdie, then I had two bad holes in a row, which put me down a little bit, but I knew that course was scorable and there were chances for birdies all over, so I wasn't too discouraged."

Cormier and Hakala will be going neck-and-neck again Saturday, both fighting for that coveted state championship. The two will be paired up Saturday, along with Hopkinton's Evan Fairneny.

"[Hakala is] a great kid and he's really good too," Cormier said. "I have to give him so much credit for how good he is. It's amazing. It's awesome to have competition like that. To be able and try to catch him is great."

In order to catch him, Cormier said he just has to stay focused and play his own game.

"Not worrying about getting down too much or getting up too much," Cormier said. "It's golf, it fluctuates so much. Anything can happen at any time."

When Cormier tees off Saturday morning — no matter what happens throughout the day — it'll be his last time at the high school level. He plans to continue his golf career at Southern New Hampshire University next year, but this will mark his high school finale.

"High school golf has been pretty much my life for the last five years," Cormier said. "It's been pretty special, so I think it'd be really nice to go out on top."

Murphy twins will represent Keene in Concord Saturday

Keene seniors, and brothers, Orion and Jonah Murphy made the cut after top-16 performances at Thursday's Division I tournament. Orion finished tied for fourth, shooting a 76 (+4), and Jonah finished tied for 10th at 79 (+7).

"Overall happy to make it," Orion said. "Just take it and run."

Orion made the cut the last two years as well, but this will be Jonah's first time competing on Day 2.

"It feels great," Jonah said. "It was pretty disappointing not making the cut the last few years. I played a lot worse than I know I can. But I played up to my level today. I know I could've done better, but it just feels great to make it."

The team finished third in Division I, behind Exeter and Bedford.

"I think we came in as underdogs," Orion said. "I don't think we upset anyone, but we played right where we were expected to be. We know we could've done better, but can't beat ourselves up over it."

Keene had three guys just miss the cut: Ben Greenwald and Jack Cahill missed out by one stroke and Sam Timmer missed it by two strokes.

Jonah will be paired up with Exeter's Christian Barone and Bedford's Ryan Rankins, while Orion will be playing with Exeter's Andrew Degen and Bedford's Braden Kiley.

"Just looking forward to Saturday," Orion said. "Put my best foot forward and see where I end up."

"Yeah, me too," Jonah agreed.

Monadnock's Gabe Hill, ConVal's Wyatt Burbank also qualify for individual tournament

Two more local golfers qualified for the individual tournament: Monadnock senior Gabe Hill and ConVal senior Wyatt Burbank.

Saturday will mark a full-circle moment for Hill, who played the final match of his freshman year at Beaver Meadow, and now will finish up his high school golf career at the same course.

He finished tie for 13th (86, +14) at the Division IV tournament Tuesday, needed to get through a playoff hole to qualify for Saturday's round.

"I thought I was out of it, from some of the scores that I heard were coming in," Hill said. "So, I was preparing to not make the cut, and then we got back to the clubhouse, and I was tied with five other players for the last spot."

Hill bogeyed the playoff hole, and it was enough to get him through to Saturday.

"Definitely a roller coaster," Hill said.

Now the senior embarks on his final high school golf tournament. He qualified for the individual tournament last season but was unable to compete after cases of COVID-19 cropped up at Monadnock Regional High School.

Now he gets another chance.

"It'll be nice to go back and play Beaver Meadow because I wasn't able to play there last year, just with all the COVID stuff that happened at Monadnock," Hill said. "It'll be nice to go back there and do what I should've done last year.

"Just being able to take it all in, have fun and go compete," Hill added. "I'm not worried about going out there and trying to win the whole thing. I think being competitive and having a good time as well is the most important thing for me this weekend. End on a good note. Go out and shoot a number and see where it goes."

Hill will be playing with Woodsville's Camden Clawson on Saturday.

Burbank finished third at the Division III tournament (81, +9) and will be playing with Souhegan's Nick Nowak and Matt Canavan.

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct the tee time from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Chris Detwiler can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1411, or cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Detwiler.