Leonardtown wins St. Mary's County Golf Championships

Roughly two dozen golfers from the three high schools in St. Mary’s County were permitted ideal, fall conditions for Tuesday’s St. Mary’s County Golf Championships at Breton Bay where Leonardtown posted the low team score to best rivals Chopticon and Great Mills for the title.

Leonardtown, which went 11-2 during the regular season slate losing only to unbeaten Northern and La Plata, finished with a team score of 328, exactly 45 strokes better than Chopticon (373) which had a similar cushion on Great Mills (416).

Raiders’ senior Johnathan Stumpff (77) was low medalist, four strokes better than senior teammate Johnny Malinowski.

“I was glad to see all four of our guys play well today,” Leonardtown golf coach Dave Darden said. “Johnathan Stumpff has been our most improved golfer the last two years. Two years ago he would shoot 60 for nine holes and now he’s able to break 40. It’s a tribute to his hard work and dedication. Johnny Malinowski also played well today and I know both of them would like to play in college next year.”

Stumpff, who also plays the piano for his high school band, was pleased to lead the team to the St. Mary’s County title and would like to help the squad capture the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference title next week. His ascension to the head of the class among county golfers validated his work ethic and mental approach to the game.

“I was so proud of my teammates for playing well today and it was an honor to win the county championship on our home course,” Stumpff said. “All of the other guys played well and contributed to the team title. For me, it all comes down to hard work and having a strong mental approach to the game. I had to scramble to save par a few times today.”

Stumpff earned the low medalist honor with a 77 and Malinowski was next with an 81, while teammates Cooper Ferris (83) and Brayden Owen (87) posted the next two lowest rounds. Chopticon took second as Aaden Glascoe and Nick Sanders both finished with identical rounds of 92, while Great Mills’ Brayden Langley (97) was the only member of the Hornets to break 100 on Tuesday.

All three teams will next head to Chesapeake Hills Golf Course in Calvert County for Tuesday’s SMAC golf championships. Then six days later the SMAC golfers will convene at Breton Bay for the District IV Championships with the goal of earning a berth, either individually or as a team, in the state golf tournament at the University of Maryland in College Park Oct. 28 to 30.