Chesapeake's Jack Synder Is County Golf Champion

Jack Snyder was a freshman in 2014 when he picked up golf for the first time and began playing for the Chesapeake golf team.

Today, he’s the county champion.

The Chesapeake senior shot a 1-over 73 at Crofton Country Club on October 4 to defeat Severna Park’s Addison Wells (75) and South River’s Joe Gaulin (76) and a full field of over 50 golfers to win the Anne Arundel County championship.

Snyder shot a 39 on the front nine and trailed Wells by a stroke and Gaulin by two strokes at that point, but he shot a scorching 34 on the back nine with birdies on 11 and 12 to bring home the crown.

A year after finishing as runner-up to Gaulin in the 2016 county championship, Snyder said he wasn’t about to let this one slip away. The clincher came on the par-five 16th hole, when he hit his tee shot into the rough and laid up on the fairway before his approach shot landed in the bunker.

After pitching onto the green, Snyder sank a 25-foot to save par.

“The 25-foot par putt on 16, that was the lock right there,” he said. “I was up two [strokes], feeling good, and that was the biggest putt of my round. That was definitely it right there.”

From there, Snyder made par on 17 and 18 to finish two strokes ahead, achieving the goal he made known to everyone around him when he lost out on last year’s title.

“I said I was going to win since I lost last year,” he said. “I told [Chesapeake Athletic Director Chip Snyder (no relation)] I was going to win it, and I just stuck to it.”

Snyder’s father, Dave, was in attendance for the round and said Jack has learned a lot from his mother, Lynn, and that he has been dedicated to improving his play over the past year, playing for hours almost every day. He estimated there have been only a handful of days in the last calendar year on which Jack hasn’t played golf and worked on his game.

“He goes to Pasadena Golf Center every night to hit balls after he’s done playing a round,” said Dave Snyder. “There was a night he was out at the range, and I told him I was leaving. He came back after an hour and I said, ‘What are you doing? It’s pitch dark out there.’ He had put his phone out with the flashlight on so he could keep putting.”

Jack, who is exploring options to play golf at the college level, said it felt good to achieve his goal especially after coming so close last year.

“I just held it together on the back nine today,” he said. “I worked hard for it, definitely. So, I’m really excited.”