Henry Kathawala Wins NEPGA Cape Cod Tourney Of Champions Invitational

Henry Kathawala begins his senior year of Nantucket varsity golf later this month and if Wednesday’s performance at the Cape Cod Jr. Tourney of Champions Invitational is any indication, this season will be a very successful one.

Kathawala placed first in the invite only tournament – shooting a 72 (E). Outside of junior golfer Ryan Feloney from Milton, who shot a 74 (+2), the next closest score in the 16-18 age range was a +10.

“The drives and irons were on fire,” Kathawala said of what went right on Wednesday.

The tournament took place at Sacconnesset Golf Club in Falmouth and is held by the NEPGA (New England Professional Golfers’ Association).

Kathawala is no stranger to success as a golfer. He finished second out of 51 golfers last fall as a junior at the Willowbend Cup Championship tournament in Mashpee after shooting a 75. As a sophomore, Kathawala placed third in the Cape & Islands Golf Championship in Mashpee after shooting a 76.

“I played pretty well overall,” Kathawala said of his performance. “I knew I was going to be playing with one of the top players in the state, so I didn’t really have a choice but to play my best.”

Kathawala aspires to play golf in college. He said he is currently planning and hoping to be able to play golf at that level but admitted that there is a lot of practice and improving to be done in the next few years in order to make that dream a reality.

Sam Herrick, Kathawala’s varsity golf head coach, is currently in Michigan tweaking his own golf game but took a few moments while on the course to express how thrilled he is to see Kathawala’s success at this tournament while adding that he is excited about the upcoming season.

“I’m really happy with the work that Henry and everybody has been putting in this offseason,” Herrick, who will begin his second season as the varsity team’s head coach this fall, said. “They are committed to doing well this year and we have big expectations.”

Kathawala echoed those statements and expressed his excitement for the fall season. He also gave high marks to his coach for all he has done to help him improve as a golfer.

“Sam has been an amazing coach and he always has a super positive vibe out on the course,” Kathawala said. “It really encourages all of us to get out there every day and have fun. Our grade has some very talented golfers who have made up most of the varsity team these last two years. If there was ever a year to really go far with the golf program, it would be this year.”

Kathawala wasn’t the only Whaler golfer to partake in the tournament. Seniors Braden Knapp and Colby O’Keefe also played and figure to be key pieces of this year’s team. Knapp shot an 86, placing eighth, while O’Keefe shot a 92, placing 10^th.

These three golfers qualified to play in the tournament of champions after placing in the top five of last week’s New England PGA Jr. Tour golf tournament. Kathawala and Knapp (+1 and +2) finished first and second respectively on the leaderboard last week while O’Keefe (+9) finished fifth. Herrick said that Knapp led the tourney with four birdies.