Burlingame’s boys’ golf jumped into the season with their first match against San Mateo High School at Green Hills Golf Course on Thursday, Feb. 24. Burlingame emerged victorious over the Bearcats with a final score of 212-251. Burlingame’s top two scorers were Zach Newman with 39 and Andres Valldejuli with 40. 

This year’s golf team currently consists of 11 golfers with a small handful of winter athletes awaiting tryouts. 

“I feel great about this season,” senior golfer Keyaan Maqsood said. “The team is filled with talent, and everyone gets along really well. It’s just a perfect environment for playing golf.”

The golfers are led by second-year head coach Jon Ramirez. 

“The ‘Covid-year’ was my first season coaching golf at Burlingame, the previous 11 years I coached at Hillsdale High School,” Ramirez said.

Alongside Ramirez are assistant coaches Michael Zozos and Taylor White. Zozos was the previous boys’ golf head coach, while White is a new face on this year’s team and the Burlingame staff. 

White has been involved with golf for approximately the last 25 years, 10 of which he coached at a non-profit organization called First Tee. White is excited to find out what the season has in store and to bond with the team.

“This being my first year coaching [at Burlingame], I want to get to know the players better,” White said. “We have a pretty young team. We only have three seniors, so there will be a lot of returning players over the years. I think golf is such a mental game that developing close relationships with each of the players will help me as a coach in terms of how to best help the players.”

Last season, Burlingame’s golf team qualified for Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs, and senior Wyatt McGovern finished in fourth place in the individual competition, despite the team finishing in third place in their league.

“We were fortunate enough to qualify [for] CCS as a team,” Ramirez said. “We had one player who finished fourth in CCS — Wyatt McGovern — who is currently playing at Columbia University.”

The boys’ golf team looks forward to their new season with their relatively new coaching staff, hoping to compete for a league title and make a CCS playoff run like their prior season. 

“I’m very optimistic [for this season]. The game of golf is all about taking one shot at a time and having patience,” Ramirez said. “If we’re able to have patience and take our time, I think we’ll be very successful.”