St. Paul junior Michael Dolce can call himself an individual state champion after his final charge during Monday’s Division IV state golf tournament on Monday at Hebron’s Tallwood Country Club.
Dolce shot a four-over-par 76 and shared co-medalist honors with Coginchaug Regional senior Tyler Woodward. Dolce wasn’t in great position through 13 holes of the 18-hole round. He was five-over-par, two shots behind Woodward.
After a par on the par-3 14th, Dolce birdied the par-4 15th and par-5 16th to get to three-over-par. Over those three holes, Woodward went bogey, par, par, which meant Dolce had a one-shot lead. Dolce bogeyed the par-4 17th, but was able to par the par-4 18th to finish tied at four-over-par with Woodward.
In terms of team finishes, Holy Cross tied for sixth place with Old Saybrook at 338 (+50). St. Paul finished eighth with a team score of 339 (+51). The best score for the Crusaders was from senior Vin Graziano, who shot an 80. He was followed by senior Alex Ford (85), junior Nathan Erdtmann (86) and senior Thomas Moran (87).
Dolce was followed by senior Ryne Salius (83), Jeremy Rinaldi (89) and sophomore Christopher Millerick (91). Dolce will play in the State Open on Saturday at The Black Hall Club in Old Lyme. He and Salius made all-state, according to a post on the St. Paul boys golf Twitter account.
Cover photo caption: St. Paul’s Michael Dolce earned a share of the Division IV golf individual championship on Monday at Tallwood Country Club in Hebron. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
