BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Doug Welsh wasn't sure just how strong his Brookdale Community College golf team was going to be back in March.

"We had to replace a lot of players," he said. "We had a lot of freshmen and you're not quite sure how they'll perform in competition. After the first two tournaments. I knew our level of player and saw our depth, I knew we had a good shot at winning."

Win, the Blues did. They won five of their six tournaments during the season, including the Garden State Athletic Conference and Region XIX tournament. With Brookdale's win at the Region, the Blues qualified as a team for the National Championships for the first time since 1991.

"The key to the Region is having depth," said Welsh. "We've always had one or two top players, but you need to carry it down to five players. Our four and five players were tremendous."

Brookdale's depth carried them to tournament wins in Burlington and Raritan Valley, as well as their own tournament played at Charleston Springs in Millstone.

Freshmen Matt Quigley (Manalapan), Joe Landers (Moorestown) and Dickie Hyde (Wall) were the cornerstones for the Blues. Mike Xenakis, a teammate of Quigley's at Manalapan, is a sophomore at BCC, but was playing for the first time.

That left only Mike Hart (Howell) and John Genovese (Long Branch) as the only experienced Blues.

Quigley, Landers, Hyde and Xenakis quickly removed any fears that Welsh had about how they would hold up under tournament pressure. The Blues won their competition of the season in Burlington and were second in Union.

"Once I saw how consistent they were, I started thinking we had a good team," he said. "During the season, we used everybody's score. It was a team effort."

Chemistry can be important in golf, and the Blues had an edge there with Quigley and Landers being friends from caddying at Eagles Oaks, and Xenakis knew Quigley from high school.

Hyde joined the team after the fall and that was the final piece of the puzzle, making the team five-deep.

Landers won the Brookdale tournament carding a 70, and he also won the 36-hole Region championship held at Cape May National.

In that tournament, the Blues were in third place after the first day of competition.

But everyone was on his game the second day and the Blues vaulted to the top and their first trip to the nationals in 15 years.

The National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Tournament was held at the Chautauqua Golf Club in New York, June 5-9.

The Blues' five-man team of Hart, Hyde, Landers, Quigley and Xenakis finished 11th with a 72-hole score of 1,281.

Quigley was Brookdale's low man with a 316, tying for 47th. His four rounds were 80-77-77-82.

Hyde and Landers both had four-day totals of 320 and tied for 60th. Hart scored a 333 and Xenakis, a 341.

With Landers, Quigley and Hyde all returning next year, Welsh is already looking forward to the season and the possibility of returning to the nationals in back-to-back seasons, rather than a 15-year wait.