By Bob Fredette
[email protected]
RUTLAND, Vt. — Bombs away, boys.
The two lowest scores at Thursday’s L.D. Pierce Invitational came with the help of electrifying shots.
Collin Fingon holed out an approach shot for an eagle 2 on the first hole, his team’s 10th in the split-tee qualifying format. That sparked a 6-under par 64 for the Rutland Country Club member and partner Peter Christenson. They made six birdies, the eagle and two bogeys.
A little later in the day, Rutland’s Garren Poirier and Champlain’s Bryan Smith came in at 8-under 62 with each scoring big shots; Smith rapped in a 60-foot putt for birdie on the opening first and Poirier mashed a 262-yard 3-metal to the par-5 13th green and made his 10-foot putt for eagle.
It was a day for low scores at Rutland Country Club, where greens were receptive but not yet at their fastest and the wind that came up mid-morning did not wreak havoc on top players navigating the 6,200-yard track from the tips.
Defending champions Drake Hull and Jared Nelson posted a 65 that was more than sufficient but not up to that duo’s lofty standards. They had passed up an exemption and an automatic second seed with hopes of winning medal honors.
The Country Club of Barre’s Eric Lajeunesse and Bryson Richards, a first-time team, shot 67 and were safely ushered into the 16-team top flight, with the same number as Ted Salerni and Jeff Brown and seven-time winners Jody Larson and Mike Dukette.
The Brattleboro Country Club team of Jeff Houle and Jared Barber, and Will Banfield and Matt Albertazzi, a former Pierce finalist, shot 69s.
Poirier has a career-low round of 62 at Rutland and Smith a 65 so Thursday’s round was not surprising, nor was the way they clicked in their first appearance as a team. They’ve played plenty of competitive golf against one another, including the 2018 Mid-Am finals, which Poirier won.
“It’s almost second nature,” Smith said of the moving parts of their playing relationship. “We were on the same page all day.”
“We play off each other very well,” said Poirier, who won this event in 2017 with Herbie Aikens.
The 13th was one good example; Smith had already made his birdie putt, which gave Poirier a free run at the hole. They hit lots of greens together and were faced with just one troubling hole but Smith took care of that with a 5-foot par-saver on 9.
They did not make a bogey.
“It could have been lower,” Poirier said.
Lajeunesse and Richards were facing bogey on 16 and the threat of falling to 1 under. That’s a little too close for comfort in this tournament, where 69 sometimes pays off for a championship flight spot. But Lajeunesse rescued par with a 6-foot curler from above the cup and Richards birdied the 17th to get them to 3 under coming to the tough finishing hole.
Lajeunesse, who has had three Pierce partners turn professional, likes his union with Richards and hopes it lasts awhile. He gives Richards, a recent high school graduate, credit for being very physically and mentally strong but Lajeunesse has the benefit of years of experience on this track. He’s been to three Pierce finals.
“He’s aggressive and I’m more conservative,” Lajeunesse said. “I try to stay out of his way because he’s playing well but there are places where he wants my opinion.”
Nelson had one big save and he and Hull did not have a bogey.
Their senior clubmate, Larson, now 64, birdied three of his first four holes and Dukette made two more. They last won this event in 2004 but still make regular runs at the title flight, making it two years ago.
The day’s final 69 was a consolation of sorts, with a bit of Pierce history attached. Greg Taylor, who was aiming to play his 50th Pierce with Art Bemis, developed water on his lungs and had to be admitted to Rutland Regional Medical Center so that historic anniversary was put on hold.
But Bemis found a last-minute partner in Taconic’s Bill Hadden, who captained the 1-under par score, making Bemis, at 77, the oldest player in Pierce history to qualify for championship flight play. Hadden is 61 so they might also be the most senior team ever in the title flight.
Corey Taylor and Dan Cole came to their final hole, the ninth, needing birdie to get back to even and Taylor went out and got it to finish at 70. {span}Other teams at 70 were Matt Gammons and Logan Markie,{/span} Stephen Carknard and Jeff Bushee, Taylor Bellemare and Matt Wilkinson, and EJ Czajkowski and Scott McCue.
A two-team playoff at 71 for one spot filled rounded out the championship flight; RCC’s Vic Shappy, who played early and had gone home to mow his lawn, returned with partner Tim McAuliffe and defeated Dale Stegner and John Ruby.
The championship flight will play one match Friday and Saturday, with the semifinals and finals set for Sunday.
NOTES: Neshobe Golf Club has applied to host the 2020 Vermont Amateur, joining Stowe and Vermont National (the latter two according to the sponsoring Vermont Golf Association) as possible sites next summer. Players really enjoyed the 2011 Am when Neshobe hosted for the first time. Devin Komline won at 12-under par 276.
FRIDAY’S MATCHES
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
10:50 a.m. — Smith and Poirier vs. Shappy and McAuliffe
11 a.m. — Albertazzi and Banfield vs. Bemis and Hadden
11:10 — Larson and Dukette vs. Gammons and Markie
11:20 — Brown and Salerni vs. Wilkinson and Bellemare
11:30 — Fingon and Christenson vs. Canavan and Flanigan
11:40 — Houle and Barber vs. Bushee and Carknard
11:50 — Hull and Nelson vs. Cole and Taylor
Noon — Lajeunesse and Richards vs. Czajkowski and McCue
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.