Friends Academy boys golf's Charles Nevin leads team to Long Island championship
Friends Academy wins the Long Island boys team golf championship against Sayville at Bethpage Black on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
The green on 18 lies above a steep hill at Bethpage Black, so Charles Nevin couldn’t see the cup from where his drive ended up, in the left rough, 41 yards away. But not seeing the cup and believing he could get his golf ball in the neighborhood were two different things.
The two-time Nassau individual champ from Friends Academy used a 60-degree lob wedge, pitched to about 5 feet to the left of the pin, drained the putt for a birdie and later said of the pitch, “That was one that I was happy with.”
Nevin carded a team-best 7-over 77. It wasn’t easy to conquer this course, but he and his teammates still beat Sayville, 8-1, Tuesday for the Quakers’ first Long Island team championship in four years.
“It means a lot,” Nevin said. “… At the beginning of the school year, all I said to myself was, ‘Hey, if I could do one thing this year, I want to win the Long Island championship as a team.’ ”
Nevin and fellow senior standout Akash Agarwal, who shot 79, admitted they weren’t at their best. But look where they were playing.
“This is a top course in the world,” Friends Academy coach Bob Kaible said.
His top two guys still both earned a point with stroke-play wins in the six-vs.-six competition.
So did Wallace Nevin, who shot 78, Eddie Englander and Dylan Price. The Quakers also received three points for having the lowest aggregate from its top five scores, 407-423.
“It’s been what we’ve been dreaming of,” Agarwal said. “… As soon as (last) season ended, we were all talking about it as a team that this would be our last ride. Four of our starters are seniors.”
The Quakers trailed going into the Nassau tournament’s final round and rallied to win. Kaible noted they were also down by one stroke heading for the back nine against Sayville.
“They keep grinding,” Kaible said.
Golden Flashes coach Sean McLaughlin expressed pride in the grit and progress of his young team, but he wasn’t pleased it faced Friends Academy.
“We’re still the best public team in Long Island,” McLaughlin said. “They’re a private school … They don’t belong in the championship.”
Kaible called the private vs. public argument “low-hanging fruit sometimes. But at the end of the day, you’ve got a very small school. You’ve got to come and play the course. You’re not really playing anybody else.”
