2017 Senior Amateur Championship

 
  Montaup CC
  September 25-26


Final Results

Gross Scores    -    Super Seniors    -    Legends

Net Scores    -    Super Seniors    -    Legends 

Final Recap

By Paul Kenyon

 PORTSMOUTH _ Mike Kubik introduced himself to Rhode Island Golf Association competition in a very special way on Tuesday.
           He said thank you as he accepted the trophy for winning the 59th Senior Amateur Championship. He then let everyone know it likely will be his first and last RIGA crown.
         ``It feels a little weird,’’ Kubik related. ``I just got a new job. I’m moving to New Jersey.’’
          As it is, Kubic rarely has competed at the state level. He has played in the Father-Son with his son, Mitch, but for the most part just plays club golf at Metacomet.
        ``I don’t play state tournaments. I have a job. I work,’’ he said. ``But I was playing pretty well this summer so I decided to play in this one.’’
       He put together a methodical even-par 71 at Montaup in the second round to give him a 1-under 141 total. That was one shot better than another relative newcomer, Valley’s Dan Najarian and two better than Paul Quigley, the defending champion and seven-time winner of the event.  Najarian had a second-round 72, Quigley a 71.
        The event was a terrific contest to the end with all kinds of twists and turns, made more difficult to follow because the RIGA had fewer workers than usual on hand because it was running two other events at other courses.
          As the players made the turned and headed to the final nine, Quigley appeared to have control. The Hall of Famer had gone out in 3-under 33 to surge out of the pack and take the lead.  Quigley was still 3-under for the day when he reached the par-4 15th.
         ``I got a bad break on 15,’’ he related, ``but it was the result of a bad shot.’’ He hit a drive near a tree.
         ``I had to punch it out. I was going to just hit it down in front of the green. I hit it out and it nicked the last branch and deflected straight out of bounds,’’ he said. ``So I dropped and hit the next one into the front bunker. I had to get up and down from the bunker for six.’’
        He also bogeyed the last hole when he took three from the fringe.  His 71 bettered his age by one stroke, marking the fifth time, in four different tournaments, in which he has done that this summer alone.
       He had to sit and wait until the two groups behind him came in. Much of the attention in that group was on Najarian because he was in second place, one behind Quigley through 27. Kubik had started with a double-bogey six on the first hole and then bogeyed the third hole, as well. But he was terrific from there, going 3-under over the final 15 holes, including a bird on 15 that turned out to be the winner.
        Kubik’s performance also made a winner of George Pirie. The periodontist tied for eighth at 147. He began the tournament with a 90-point lead on Quigley for player of the year. The only way Pirie could lose the player-of-the-year honor was if Quigley won the tournament.
       The title is the fifth for Pirie as player of the year. Quigley also has won it five times.
        Kirkbrae’s  Joe Calabro had a hole in one with a six-iron on the 169-yard third hole. It was the first ace ever for Calabro who joked that he’s been playing golf ``every day for the last 30 years.’’  The ace came after Calabro made an eagle on 404-yrd second hole in the first round when he holed out from the fairway. Calabro also had a deuce on the eighth, the other par-3 on the front side, on Tuesday.

Round 1 Recap

By Paul Kenyon

PORTSMOUTH _ All of the 109 players who took part in the first round of the 59th RIGA Senior Championship on Monday at Montaup are at least 55 years old, so they know well how playing golf in Rhode Island means dealing with many different types of weather conditions.
Rarely, though, has there been a better example of how dramatically conditions can change than over the last few days on Aquidneck Island.
Monday was the good side. The early fall weather was superb, more like mid-summer with bright sun, no wind and temperatures that reached into the mid 80s. It led to some good scoring.
Don Wright, the 2015 champion, overcame a slow start and posted a 1-under 70 to tie for the lead. Valley’s Dan Najarian and Mike Kubik of Metacomet were the only players to match Wright. But there were plenty of others who came close.
Gary Palmer, who is still in the running for Senior Player of the Year, came in at even-par 71. Paul Quigley, who has won the event seven times, including last year, had 72 despite a bogey because of tree trouble on the final hole. Herb Stevens, Peter Sangermano and Dave McNally also had 72.
In all, 16 players were within four strokes of the lead, including George Pirie, who is the leader in the race for Senior Player of the Year. Pirie settled for a 74 with only one birdie on the day. Others at 74 included baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, the 2013 champion of this event.
Wright was 3-under over his last 14 holes with birds at 6, 7 and 13. Najarian had four birdies on the way to his 70, including three in a four-hole stretch on the back side (12, 13, 15), while Kubik birdied the 18th, his fourth of the day, to get under par for the round.
As much as the contest for the lead, though, much the day’s discussion focused on the weather. After a season that has caused all kinds of scheduling problems _ the RIGA has had 19 rainouts, creating all kinds of re-scheduling issues _ Monday was simply beautiful.
``You did not have to figure in the wind on one shot all day,’’ said former State Amateur champion Kevin Clary, who had a 76 after being 2-under through seven.
What made it more special was that it followed a week of cool, rainy and most importantly, windy weather on the island. Several of the participants played in the annual Havemeyer Championship at Newport Country Club. There the weather was memorable, too, because it was so tough.
``The winds were steady at about 30 and there were gusts up to 50,’’ said Herb Stevens, a meteorologist by trade who shot a 72 on Monday. ``The wind was coming out of the north. There were holes, like 5, 7 and 9 where no one in the field could get home.
``In one of our matches, one of the guys we were playing lipped out a putt. It rolled about eight inches past the hole. Before he could get to it, a gust came up and it blew the ball into the cup. And it was back uphill. It’s the first time I ever told a guy nice putt after he missed the putt,’’ Stevens said.
There was none of that needed on Monday. Nice was the order of the day. Titles will be awarded in three divisions, Seniors, Super Seniors (62-67) and Legends (68 and older).

General Information

Food & Beverage: Lunch for day 1 was included in the entry fee.  Food
will be available day 2 on a cash basis.

Carts & Range: Cart fees were included in the entry fee.  Montaup CC does
not have a range, please make other arrangements to warm up.

Directions toMontaup CC