Knowing how golfers will try anything if they believe it will improve their game, it wouldn’t be surprising over the rest of the summer to find doctor’s offices filled with people wearing plaid pants and Ashworth shirts, hoping not to be inoculated against ‘Swine Flu’ but to be infected with the disease.
For three weeks prior the 48th Northeast Amateur golf tournament 22-year old Dan Woltman of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, was suffering from Swine Flu.
The University of Wisconsin star not only shook off the disease, but came to newly renovated Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I., and shattered the tournament record, set last year by defending champion Brendan Gielow, by two strokes, firing a four-day total of 11-under par.
“It was really a weird deal,” said Woltman, who only played 27 holes of golf over weeks leading up to competing in one of amateur golf’s most prestigious events.
“I’m all right now but I lost something like seven pounds. It was really tough. I wasn’t able to practice.”
That seemed to be the ticket to his good play.
“I came in fresh,” he said. “I didn’t have any bad thoughts in my head.”
The $3 million renovation at Wannamoisett was not undertaken just to toughen up the Donald Ross-designed course for the best amateur players in the world, but certainly the membership was hoping it might slow down the ‘kids’, who have come to treat the historic piece of golfing heaven like a piñata, from which birdies cascade.
Instead the top players ignored the new bunkering and mounding, the lengthened tees and bigger greens and overpowered the course.
The top 21 in the field all ended up in red numbers.
Instead of being miffed, the quality of the play thrilled the tournament committee.
“We had the best amateur players here and they played like it,” tournament director Denny Glass told ‘The Providence Journal’. “The scores were amazing.”
Especially Woltman, who charged from behind to the championship. After opening with a 1-over 70, he put together rounds of 64 and 67 and then finished it off with a sizzling 64 to pass Robert Rohanna and third round leader David Holmes (who shot 67 in the fourth round).
Holmes (University of Tennessee) finished in a three-way tie for second along with Duke’s Adam Long and South Carolina’s Wesley Bryan (all at 8-under).
The top New Englander was Peter Uihlein of Mattapoisett, Mass, who finished in a 3-way tie for 13th place at 2-under.
Uihlein, a sophomore to be at Oklahoma State University, was right in contention going into the final day, but carded a 3-over 72 after rounds of 71, 64 and 67.
The top Rhode Islanders were Matt Broome of Barrington and two-time defending RIGA Player of the Year Charlie Blanchard of Tiverton, who tied for 57th at 9-over.
Seven-time Mass Golf Association Player of the Year Frank Vana Jr. finished 48th at 6-over.
The last Rhode Islander to win the tournament was Brett Quigley in 1988.
Two years ago Woltman won the Wisconsin Open and plans on turning pro this fall after the Walker Cup matches are completed.
Prior to the Northeast Woltman had not yet been selected to the team but his victory at Wannamoisett should have taken care of that.
Glass pointed out prior to the tournament that while it is not a lock, “Whenever it has been a Walker Cup year our champion has been named to the team. The USGA looks highly on the event.”
The Northeast has played host to some of the greatest players in the world before they became household names.
Past champions include John Cook, David Duval, Scott Hoch, Allen Doyle, Luke Donald and Ben Crenshaw.
Among those who have competed the tournament are Curtis Strange, Tiger Woods, Jerry Pate, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton, Mark Calcavecchia, Corey Pavin, Trevor Immelman, Jim Furyk and Steve Jones, all of whom went on to win one or more major championships.
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