Rhode Island Golf Association
Rhode Island Golf Association 2017 Senior Four-Ball Gross
2017 Senior Four-Ball Gross
| Green Valley CC May 30-31 | ||
| | Final Results Final Recap By Paul Kenyon PORTSMOUTH _ Dean Parziale chipped in for birdie on the second playoff hole to give him and his partner, Eugene DiSarro, the title in the 24th RIGA Senior Four-Ball at Green Valley CC. Parziale’s shot capped one of the wilder days in RIGA history. It came more than 12 hours after play began. The day included a 2:45 minute rain delay, fog and chilly temperatures toward the end and a scramble at the top of the standings that saw a dozen teams pull within two strokes of the lead. In the end it came down to Parziale and DiSarro in a playoff with the oldest team in the event, Paul Quigley and Mike Soucy. DiSarro, a rookie who just became eligible when he turned 55, combined with Parziale to post a 5-under 66, the best round of the tournament. That had the team alone at the top for a while until multi-time champions Quigley and Soucy came in with a 67 to match Parziale and DiSarro at 5-under 137. At the time no other team on the course was better than 5-under, although Norm Levesque and Don Wright and the team of Chris Hurd and Allen Sayles also were at that number. Three other teams still on the course were one behind and two others two behind. Five teams finshed at 4-under, one stroke out of the playoff. They were Hurd-Sayles, Levesque and Wright, Joe Dias and Brad Edgerton, Paul Couture and Gary Palmer and Eric Ahlborg and Ron Amado. The four-time defending champions, George Pirie and Tom Acciardo, were still very much alive at 3-under, two off the lead at the turn. But their bid to become the first players ever in any RIGA competition to win five straight failed because of two late bogeys. The finish capped a log and at times frustrating day for everyone. While the northern part of the state received little, if any, rain the East Bay was hit hard with at least a half inch of rain. Play had to be halted at 11:45 a.m. before the leaders had even begun play. Play did not resume until 2:30, meaning it was 12 hours by the time the event finished. Round 1 Recap By Paul Kenyon PORTSMOUTH _ Tom Acciardo and George Pirie find themselves in a familiar position after the first round of the Senior-Four Championship at Green Valley. Their goal in Wednesday’s second and final round will be to continue the same pattern they have followed for the last four years. Pirie and Acciardo are bidding to become the first players ever to win the same event five years in a row in RIGA competition, not merely in this event but any men’s competition. They will have to come from behind if they are to make it five in a row since they opened with a 2-under 69. Six teams are ahead of them. Jon Fasick and Bob Hickman went out early and posted a 67. The only team to match them was the duo of Paul Couture and Gary Palmer. Both leading teams went bogey free. Four others came in at 68, including some of the top names in the event. Former Senior Amateur champion Don Wright partnered with Norm Levesque for 68 despite a bogey on the par-4 second hole. Former NBA champion and Providence College basketball Hall of Famer Joe Hassett worked with his partner, former Mid-Amateur champion Herb Stevens. For 3-under round despite a bogey on the short 11th. The teams of Chris O’Neill and James Ransford (five birds, two bogeys) and Chris Hurd and Allen Sayles (also five birds, two bogeys) also are one off the lead. Acciardo and Pirie were one of four teams at 69. They were not upset with their position. It has been their pattern to come off the pace. ``It’s OK. I don’t think I can remember us ever being ahead after the first day,’’ Acciardo said. ``I’d rather have the lead, but we didn’t play that well today,’’ Pirie offered. The defending champions, who have won the event five times in all, had only one complaint. They bogeyed the par-4 opening hole. ``It’s a birdie hole and we made bogey,’’ Pirie noted. They made four birds and on bogey (on the pr-4 14th) from there. The others tied with them at 2-under included the team of Richard Carroll and baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who spends part of his summer at Carnegie Abbey,. Schmidt won the 2013 RIGA Senior Amateur. Others in at 69 were Joe Dias and Brad Edgerton and Eric Ahlborg and his partner, Ron Amado. In all, 17 teams were at par or better within four shots of the lead. | |