Rain Rain Go Away

This is the summer that doesn't seem to want to arrive. After the Bethpage weather debacle we went right into the Mass Open which battled the remnants of the the same weather system that plagued Bethpage for the week. Fortunately we were at Belmont Country Club, a great track with even greater drainage. As hard as it rained on day-1 of the tournament (June 22) on top of all the rain over the previous weeks, there was never a suspension of play. It seemed like the Belmont greens - re-done about four years ago - could take an unlimmited amount of water. The golf course superintendent, Mike Rose, and his crew did a phenomenal job keeping the course in championship shape throughout the three days. Belmont was a great site for the 100th Mass Open and Rob Oppenheim's five under-par total and four-shot victory was great scoring in brutal conditions on a very demanding course.

Matt Parziale fired the only round in the 60's on day-3. His 68 was two shots clear of the next lowest score for the day and good enough for a one-under total and a tie for second which also bagged low amateur honors. Matt continued his roll by driving to Pinehurst with his dad and making it to the quarter-finals in the North & South Amateur. Matt has to be one of the guys to beat at The Country Club next week.

After the Open ended it was straight to Wannamoisett CC for me and the Northeast Amateur. I am still on the committee for that tournament and have had involvement in the tournament (caddie, grounds crew worker, committee member) for 29 years. Long considered one of the premier men's amateur events in the country, the Northeast Amateur is special to me and I enjoy setting up the golf course which is my main duty there now. With all the rain leading up to the tournament, the hope for firm and fast conditions wasn't to be. The course played soft and slow and these great young players were firing darts on every whole. It was still an exciting tournament, but the scoring record did go down with the winner, Dan Woltman, finishing 72 holes at -11. The course was perfect, but there just wasn't any intimidation factor this year. We had four Mass players in the field: Frank Vana, Brian Higgins, John Hadges and Taylor Fontaine. Frank was the low Bay Stater with a respectable +4 total, edging Brian Higgins by a stroke. I remember years when +4 would be a top-10 finish! We also have a full complement of MGA officials who help out every year. This year there were about a dozen led by Harry McCracken and several others who gave generously of their time.

We're gearing up now for a special week in Brookline and the 101st Mass Amateur. We have a great field set and a great site in The Country Club. The folks at TCC could not be more accommodating and welcoming in preparing for the championship. We're pretty much set to go. Now if we could only get a little sun...