Northport's Mikey Falasco overcomes 10-shot deficit to win Suffolk boys golf championship
Mikey Falasco of Northport after winning the Suffolk boys golf individual championship at Pine Hills Golf and Country Club in Manorville on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. Credit: James Escher
This comeback is one for the history books.
Northport junior Mikey Falasco was nowhere near his best on Monday, as he shot a 10-over-par 83 on Day 1 of the Suffolk boys golf individual championship tournament at Pine Hills Golf & Country Club in Manorville. The performance tied him with sophomore teammate Joey Kirch for 28th place, but the top-40 finish was still enough to qualify him for Day 2.
Even with the extra life breathed into Falasco, he still trailed the lead by 10 strokes.
However, the wind at Pine Hills on Day 2 made putting difficult for just about all 27 players ahead of Falasco, opening a window for him to gain some ground. Falasco was relatively unbothered by the wind as he fired a 1-over 74 to lead all players on Day 2, besting all of his opponents by at least three strokes.
His strong Day 2 helped him finish with an 11-over 157 for the 36-hole tournament, winning it by two strokes.
“Today, I had a lot more confidence because there was a lot less to lose,” Falasco said. “I started off a lot better and just played better the whole rest of the day. Yesterday, it definitely felt like there was a lot more to lose and today, there was a lot more to gain. I mean, nobody’s expecting much from the kid tied for 28th, so I just had the opportunity to play my game, and it worked.”
Falasco hit his drives low, allowing the ball to cut through the wind rather than being blown off its path. He also went 4-for-4 on sand saves.
Falasco felt a lack of pressure on the greens, which freed up his putting stroke. He birdied five holes and parred seven, and avoided everything above a bogey on Day 2. He finished the tournament with six birdies and 15 pars.
“I really felt like the pressure had shifted more onto them than to me,” Falasco said. “I was just thinking about trying to finish in the top nine so I could qualify for states. It didn’t hit me until the 15th hole that I actually had a chance of winning. I didn’t really think winning was a possibility. It feels great just to win it — it hasn’t even settled in yet.”
Westhampton junior Daniel Schumacher had a similar bounce-back performance, as he rebounded from an 82 on Day 1 by shooting a 77 on Day 2 to place second overall with a 13-over 159.
“It wasn’t anything with my game that changed, it was just mental,” Schumacher said. “If you told me before today that I was going to place second, I’d have said you’re crazy.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
