Wheatley's Joseph Dolezal wins Nassau boys golf championship

Joseph Dolezal has been the top boys golfer at Wheatley since seventh grade. Now, he’s the top boys golfer in Nassau County. 

Dolezal shot a one-under par 69 on Bethpage Red on Wednesday for a two-round total of 141 and a two-stroke victory over Massapequa's Will Welling and Port Washington's Bryce Karty in the Nassau boys individual championship. Dolezal opened with a 72 on the Blue Course on Tuesday. 

“I feel great,” Dolezal said. “I feel like my game is right where I want it to be. Over the last month, I’ve definitely improved. I feel like I’ve been able to control the ball. And especially my mental game has been there.”

The junior entered day trailing by two strokes, and he  trailed Bryan Zhao of Jericho  by  three strokes after the front nine despite shooting 34. Dolezal didn’t know where he stood at that point, just that he was toward the top of the leaderboard.

“I didn’t want to get ahead of myself to think if I’m way out of it or way in it,” Dolezal said. “I really was just trying to focus on one shot at a time. Just keep progressing the ball forward. Ultimately, I tried to make a par. I just didn’t want to give any more strokes away on the last [hole].”

His conservative strategy paid off on the back nine where he shot even par 35. Zhao closed with 41. 

Dolezal said he “protected the par”  on the 18th hole to wrap up his victory,  saying his conservative play helped keep his mental game in check.

Head coach Henry Kupstas knew Dolezal was capable of being a county champion the moment he joined Wheatley’s team in seventh grade. It took just a swing for Kupstas to know he was a natural.

“He started No. 1 for me since he’s been in seventh grade,” Kupstas said. “Playing with high school kids and everything else — he didn’t shy away from it. He just went right after it. He’s been the captain of my team forever, and he does a great job with that, too.”

Dolezal will go to the New York state championship at the Mark Twain golf course in Elmira on June 3-5.  Also qualifying for the state tournament were Welling (Massapequa, 143), Karty (Port Washington, 143), Zhao (Jericho, 144), Jack Estrella (Friends Academy, 144), Edward Paik (Jericho, 146), Jaden Cheng (Manhasset, 149), Sean Shallat (Friends Academy, 150) and James Fabrikant (Port Washington, 150) also qualified for the state tournament.

Port Washington won the team championship with a 776 score and will play Comsewogue/Miller Place at 10:10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 30, at Bethpage (Black) for the Long Island championship.