Looking back as the St. John’s men’s golf team wraps up their fall season, Long Island native Gerald Mackedon’s play shined the brightest. The junior placed in the top-20 four times in their seven events, including an emphatic first place performance at the Patriot Intercollegiate in Virginia. Mackedon finished fifth at the Villanova Wildcat Fall Invitational and led the team at the Musketeer Classic.
However, one of his most notable outings came in the SJU-hosted Doc Gimmler tournament, at which he shot for the lowest round in event history for a Johnny and his career-low with a 64, to help him reach second place.
Gerry attributes his success in the autumn to, “Growth and maturity and hard work. I put in a good amount of work this summer to be ready for this fall season so I think that paid off.”
After playing in a few tournaments on Long Island over the summer, he says he’s come into the year with a greater ability to get past a bad drive and finish every hole strong. “Mainly this season what I’ve been better at is just getting the ball into the hole. So if my drive isn’t well and my play isn’t well I just find a way to get the ball into the hole.”
Now Mackedon and the rest of the Red Storm golf team will enter the dog days of the golf year when they’ll be Carnesecca-bound, working in the weight room and practice golf room. Over the winter, there may not be events to set goals for but Mackedon looks to set smaller, steady goals for practice along the way in order to continuously improve and keep the momentum going heading into the more arduous spring season.
“There’s stuff I want to achieve in the spring. I’ll set miniature goals for practice over the winter. That’ll hopefully help me achieve my goals in the spring. Hopefully we can win tournaments, not just individually but as a team, in the spring. Hopefully all of us have good form going into the Big East because that’s obviously the goal at the beginning of the season for everyone,” Gerry told the Torch.
As the junior continues his stellar collegiate career close to home, his success at St. John’s allows him to represent his Long Island roots on a grander scale. “It’s definitely nice. Obviously, being from Port Jeff a lot of the people when I go back home I’ll see who went to St. John’s, who go to St. John’s. So it’s cool representing the school and going home and people knowing as well as being from St. John’s. It feels special.”
Mackedon looks forward to the spring to take on the rest of the Big East as a veteran leader of the Red Storm golf squad. With hard work over the winter, a Big East conference victory is the team’s target and Gerald Mackedon’s continual improvement will be a major factor in that feat.
