Around the Hill: Denny McCarthy
By Matthew Laux
Annually, the Washington D.C. area produces elite level athletes. By the time these athletes graduate high school, they have already earned a large quantity of awards and even national recognition. Year in and year out, these players go off to various colleges across the country and accomplish a great deal. From here on out, however, much of what these athletes accomplish seems to go unnoticed. Every Wednesday, tune in to alloverthehill.com as I spotlight local area athletes that have flourished in their respective sports. This segment will highlight how the careers of local products have progressed and what their next step will be. It is my pleasure to open the Around the Hill segment profiling Georgetown Prep alumni, and current University of Virginia Golfer, Denny McCarthy.
Calm, determined, and consistent. These three adjectives typically go along with that of an NFL quarterback. You think of Tom Brady poised in the pocket throwing touchdown pass after touchdown pass or maybe even Drew Brees’ thousands of yards each season. What may not first come to mind is a collegiate golfer. McCarthy was a 2011 graduate of Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, MD. Throughout his decorated career, he captured 3 IAC conference championships, 3 metro Championships, and was the All- Metropolitan Player of the Year, twice. Much of McCarthy’s work however came outside of his Georgetown Prep season. Denny won several of the top tournaments, was a member of the victorious U.S Junior Ryder Cup Team as well as being recognized in Sports Illustrated’s Faces of the Crowd for his success.
McCarthy currently attends the University of Virginia where his mentality has made an instant impact on the program. McCarthy, like he did in high school, burst onto to the scene winning ACC rookie of the year and all- ACC conference honors. Entering his sophomore season, Denny progressed rather nicely as he retained his all conference honors and headed into his second NCAA Championship Berth. Aided by a strong second-round of 67, McCarthy placed 22nd in individual play making him one of the program’s highest finisher in recent memory.
Denny continued his hot streak into the summer, as he proceeded to win both the Maryland Open and Maryland Amateur in the same summer. McCarthy credits his success to his phenomenal work ethic and time management. Next year, he will enter his third year at Virginia and will hope to continue his improvement by competing for a national title. Once graduated from Virginia, Denny hopes to compete professionally but said he “will give his game an honest assessment at the end of his four years.” High hopes remain for what seems to be a promising future for the UVA golfer, but one things for sure is that Denny McCarthy has allthe intangibles to be one of the select area golfers to make it to the PGA Tour.