Teen golfer with rare hand condition shines at Archbishop Curley

At Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, 16-year-old Jack Bennett has become one of the top golfers in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association despite having only two fully formed fingers on his left hand. The junior says the condition has become part of his normal routine, and his game has put him among the school’s most notable competitors.

Bennett, born with a rare congenital condition, has turned that difference into a point of drive rather than limitation. “I just want to prove to myself that I can do anything someone with two hands can do,” he said.

His rise matters inside a Curley golf program that has built real depth under head varsity coach Mark Johnson ’76. Curley listed Bennett as a 2025 MIAA all-conference honoree alongside Drew Phelan, and the team’s 2026 all-conference honors went to Phelan, Chase Farmer and Nolan Morrison. That kind of repeat recognition shows Bennett is not a curiosity on the roster; he is part of a competitive core that keeps producing results.

Curley’s recent history gives that success more weight. The Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association says Archbishop Curley captured a golf championship on May 18, 2024, a milestone that underscored the program’s rise in a league where margins are thin and roster spots are earned. Bennett’s place in that environment shows how a Baltimore-area school can stay competitive while making room for an athlete whose game has had to develop around a physical difference.

Bennett’s story also reflects the way inclusion actually works in high school sports: not through slogans, but through a coach, teammates and a program willing to trust a player’s ability under pressure. At Curley, that support has meant a place on the varsity stage, recognition from the MIAA and a chance to compete against the best while carrying a rare hand condition that might have sidelined other athletes. Bennett has instead become one of the names tied to Curley’s recent golf success.