July 20 — Massachusetts golf lost one of its most enthusiastic champions when Richard D. Haskell passed away. Haskell, executive director of the Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA) for 30 years before retiring in 1997, died recently at his Brookline home. Haskell, for whom the MGA’s men’s amateur player-of-the-year award was named, was instrumental in establishing several local tournaments. Massachusetts golfers will miss him. Haskell was 84.
Futures Tour. Boston golfer Alison Walshe (Westford, Mass.), Briana Vega (Andover, Mass.), Susan Choi (Natick, Mass.), Chelsea Curtis (New Seabury), and Juli Erekson (Chicopee) will be among those playing in this week’s Duramed Futures Tour event, The International at Concord (N.H.) at Beaver Meadow GC. The tourney will run from July 23-July 25.
How to speak Boston-ese. Vega had a bit of fun with out-of-staters heading to New Hampshire for the Futures Tour match. “tip for the girls in the DFT event,” Vega posted on her @BriVega Twitter account Tuesday. “Concord is not pronounced CON CORD.. more like Conkurd, or Conkahd.. just a fun tip.” Don’t say you haven’t been wahned.
New England golfers on the move. After finishing third at last week’s ING New England Golf Classic in Bloomfield, Conn., Vermont native Libby Smith (Essex Junction) jumped up the Futures Tour money list. Smith soared from 66th place to 27th. Walshe also made a sizable leap, moving from 60th to 50th on the money list. Tiffany Joh (San Diego, Calif.) came from five shots back to beat Gerina Mendoza (Roswell, N.M.) in a four-hole playoff at Wintonbury Hills GC.
Hadges wins second Mass. Am title. John Hadges (Thorney Lea GC) beat Dan Head (Wellesley CC) to capture his second Massachusetts Amateur Championship title in three years. Hadges, who won for the first time in 2008, outlasted Head, 2 and 1, at Myopia Hunt Club (South Hamilton) last week. The five-day tourney culminated when Hadges won it on the 35th hole.
New England championships. Top men golfers from across the six-state region are teeing it up in the New England Amateur Championship June 20-June 22. The event is at The Course at Yale (New Haven, Conn.)….The State of Maine Championship is June 20-June 21 at Sugarloaf GC (Kingfield).
Titleist rules British Open. Massachusetts-based Acushnet Co. boasted that Louis Oosthuizen drove and putted the Titleist Pro V1x to victory at last week’s British Open Championship. The Open leaderboard was lousy with Titleist golfers, including runner-up Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson, who shared third place, who also hit Pro V1x golf balls. Rory McIlroy, among the three third-place finishers, uses Titleist 909D2 driver, 909F3 and 906F2 fairway metals, MB irons, Vokey Design wedges, Scotty Cameron Newport Fastback putter, and the ubiquitous Pro V1x.
Champions. Margaret Sheehan (Sagamore Spring GC) fired an 83 to win the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts’ (WGAM) Class B Championship at Far Corner GC. Barbara Parton (Far Corner ) defeated Judy Corson (Wenham CC) on the first playoff hole to capture the Class C Championship. Parton and Corson carded identical 85s to force the playoff.
Tie at the top. Joanne Gagnon (Renaissance GC) and Amy Dickison (Ould Newbury GC) tied with Gail Regan (Granite Links GC) and Kathy Vinson (Walpole CC) for low gross at WGAM’s recent Hannah D. Townshend Cup. Sally DeGan and Valerie Casella (Sagamore Spring) won low net with a 62.
Mother-daughter. Low-gross winners at WGAM’s mother-daughter tourney at Charter Oak CC were Division 1‘s Joanne Catlin/Kylie Ruschioni, Carol and Kelsey McGowan (Division 2), and Shari and Paige Crotty (Division 3). Member-junior, winners were Leslie Logan/Bethany Arnold (Divisions 1 and 2) and Gloria Ellsworth/Gabrielle Shieh.
Ouimet Fund. The Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund’s annual Memorial Tournament will kick off at The International GC’s Pines and The Oaks courses (Bolton, Mass.) and end at Woodland GC (West Newton, Mass.). The 54-hole, stroke-play event will be July 28-July 30….The Fund’s Annual Marathon is set for August 11 at Stow (Mass.) Acres CC. Forty Bay State clubs will gather at sunrise to play 100 holes of golf, or more, to raise money for the Ouimet Fund’s scholarships. The goal: Raise $300,00 for the pool, which annually awards scholarships to more than 300 students who work in the game of golf in Massachusetts. For information about either event, call 774-430-9090.
Women’s state am deadline. Registration for WGAM’s Amateur Championship and President’s Cup ends Thursday. The August 2-August 6 competition, open to any WGAM member with a GHIN handicap index no higher than 14.0, will be at Charles River CC (Newton). Golfers play 18-hole stroke play to qualify for two flights. Click here for more information.
Senior deadline. You have until July 22 at 5 p.m. to register for the Senior Amateur Championship. Any MGA member at least 55 years old with a GHIN handicap index no higher than 6.0 is eligible for the September 13-September 14 tourney at Plymouth (Mass.) CC. Click here for more information, including qualifying sites.
Opens. The award-winning Crumpin-Fox Club (Bernardston) is the site of the July 22 Western Mass. Open….The CC of Fairfield will host the July 26-July 28 Connecticut Open….Atkinson Resort & CC is the site of the July 28-July 29 New Hampshire Open….The Rhode Island Open will take place July 28-July 29 at Quidnessett CC.
Aces! Wyckoff CC (Holyoke, Mass.) will reportedly bid on putting a casino on the 100-acre site of its 18-hole golf course. Owner Diane Wojtowicz’s late husband, Clarky Wojtowicz, dreamed of making the private course into a resort and entertainment destination, according to Boston.com. There is a competing proposal to develop a casino in the western Massachusetts towns of Palmer or Charleton. Wyckoff’s claim to fame is its Donald Ross-designed, par-3 16th hole that plays uphill to a small, two-tiered green, according to its website. Wojtowicz did not return a request for comment.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Kay also writes the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner blogs.)
Related posts:
- Massachusetts Golf News Fall 2009
- New England golfers win spots in U.S. Open championships
- Curtis Cup kicks off Massachusetts 2010 summer golf competition
- Connecticut Golf News/March 2010
- New England golfers wary of speedy greens at U.S. Women's Open
