State boys’ golf starts Sunday: check out Section 9’s qualifiers

Section 9 won the boys’ golf team title at the state championships last
season for the first  in the tournament’s 35-year history.

Three
golfers, Kingston’s Doug Kleeschulte and Chris Ferraro and Rondout
Valley’s Andrew DeForest, are back to defend Section 9’s title.

Kleeschulte
should contend for a state title Sunday and Monday in his fourth trip
to Sunday Cornell University in Ithaca. He is the highest-returning
placer (tied for fourth) from last year’s championships.
Only two
Section 9 golfers, Al Chase of Port Jervis (1980) and Taylor Walsh of
Ellenville (1998), have won a state title outright.

Josh Goldstein
Liberty senior
First-round state tee time: 9 a.m. (first tee) Sunday
The 411 on Goldstein: 2008  Section 9 champion; two-time state qualifier (tied for 11th in 2006).

Doug Kleeschulte
Kingston senior
First-round state tee time: 11 a.m. (first tee) Sunday
The 411 on Kleeschulte:
2006 Section 9 champion; four-time state qualifier (tied for fourth in
2007, tied for 19th in 2006; tied for 72nd in 2005); 2007 U.S. Amateur
qualifier; will play for Division I Western Kentucky in the fall

Chris Ferraro
Kingston senior
First-round state tee time: 10:28 a.m. (first tee) Sunday
The 411 on Ferraro: Three-time state qualifier (tied for 19th in 2007; tied for 30th in 2006)

Andrew DeForest
Rondout Valley sophomore
First-round state tee time: 9:32 a.m. (first tee) Sunday
The 411 on DeForest: 2008 Section 9 runner-up; 2007 Mid-Hudson Athletic League champion; two-time state qualifier (tied for 61st in 2007)

Justin Armstrong
Sullivan West junior
First-round state tee time: 9:16 a.m. (10th tee) Sunday
The 411 on Armstrong: A pretty consistent scorer, who can make some noise in his first state tournament.

Mike Marotta
Monroe-Woodbury senior
First-round state tee time: 9:40 a.m. (10th tee) Sunday
The 411 on Marotta: If Marotta’s putting is on, he should fair well in his first state tournment; steady player

Rich Lenihan
Warwick
First-round state tee time: 10:12 a.m. (10th tee) Sunday
The 411 on Lenihan: was a surprise state qualifier after shooting two rounds in the 80s at the Section 9 championships.

Jeff Schaller
Kingston junior
First-round state tee time: 10:04 (first tee) Sunday
The 411 on Schaller: Pretty solid all-around game. First state tournament

Ryan Wolff
Onteora senior
First-round state tee time: 10:44 a.m. (10th tee) Sunday
The 411 on Wolff: This is Wolff’s first state tournament; Has one of the better chipping games in Section 9.