Belen’s Rodriguez and Palmer Trinity’s Bacardi are Miami-Dade Golfers of the Year
Belen Jesuit’s Lorenzo Rodriguez and Palmer Trinity’s Remi Bacardi aren’t just the top golfers in Miami-Dade County this season.
Rodriguez and Bacardi - both seniors - have wrapped up high school careers, which have etched their respective names among the best ever in county history.
A year after becoming the county’s first state individual champion in 21 seasons, Rodriguez added to his legacy with a third-place finish at the state Class 2A meet.
And after dominating at the local level for four years, Bacardi finished with a career-best state runner-up finish in Class 1A.
As a result, Rodriguez and Bacardi repeat as Miami Herald Miami-Dade County Golfers of the Year.
Rodriguez, a Wake Forest University signee, wins the honor for the second consecutive year.
Bacardi, a University of Virginia signee, completes a rare career sweep, earning the accolade for the fourth consecutive season.
“It’s all about believing in myself,” Rodriguez said. “There’s been times I’ve been down, but I’ve stuck to it and practiced more and got better. It gets lonely sometimes, but you have to stick to it and stay patient.”
During his career, Rodriguez anchored an effort which successfully put Belen Jesuit among the top golf teams in the state.
This season, Rodriguez dominated individually like few have in recent memory with impressive performances which included a 9-under 63 to secure his third career district championship and a 7-under 63 to win the Youth Fair title.
As a team, Belen continued its rise as it finished eighth at state in Class 2A.
“I’m gonna miss the brotherhood we made and I hope the team continues to play well next year,” Rodriguez said. “The state championship was obviously one of the great moments I’ll remember. I’m incredibly grateful to have the chance to play in the ACC and I can’t wait to get up there and play that great schedule.”
Bacardi became the first girls’ golfer from Palmer Trinity to earn state runner-up honors and dominated like few have in recent memory, going 4 for 4 for her career at multiple major tournaments including the Youth Fair invitational. Although she finished four strokes behind Montverde Academy’s Zilin Xu, Bacardi’s two-day score of 135 capped an incredible career and a senior season in which she finished as the top-ranked player in the state per Iwanamaker’s rankings.
