It was a brutally cold and windy day on Saturday at Newport National. Snow showers mixed with temperatures in the 40s all morning made for a challenging day. Even so, Matthew Broome of Barrington, RI (2007) played an incredible round of golf and if a few short putts had fallen, he would have been under par in round one. Broome, who carded a solid round of one over par 73 led Michael Gunderson of Duxbury, MA (2007), Trevor Carle of Santa Rosa, CA (2006) and Evan Harmeling of North Reading, MA (2007) by 3 strokes going into Sunday's final round. On Sunday, the weather improved and Michael Gunderson made a charge at Broome, but came up just one stroke short of the title. Gunderson's charge included an ACE on the par 3 4th hole, but his two rounds of 76 fell just short of Broome's 151. Broome, who could not make a birdie in the final round, kept his head and made no worse than bogey on any hole leaving him a one stroke advantage at the end of 36 holes of play. Trevor Carle of Santa Rosa, CA came in third at 154. Justin Hughes of Simsbury, CT (2006) finished 4th after leading this division in birdies with 5. Finishing in a tie for 5th place were: Kento Mizumaki, Windermere, FL, 2007 and John Kelly, East Longmeadow, MA, 2007.
In the boys 13-15 division, Antonio Grillo of Vineyard Haven, MA, 2008, broke away from the pack to win his first event of the season and second career FCWT win. Grillo led this division in pars with 24 which was what he needed to finish 5 shots ahead of 3 players who finished T2. Taylor Bowen, Bradenton, FL, 2009, Johnny Hayes, Cape Elizabeth, ME, 2008, and Max Campion, Brookline, MA, 2009 all finished at 159, 5 shots back of Grillo. Jeff Hatten of Farmington, CT, 2008, who led this division in birdies with 6 for the event, finished T5 with Sam Weiss of Rye, NY (2008).
Michael Werenski kept the title in the family by winning the Boys 11-12 division. Last season his brother Richard won this division. Werenski built on his opening round 8 shot lead to win by 13 strokes over and Noah Walker, Norwell, MA, 2011. Alexander Kane, of Topsfield, MA, 2012 finished in 3rd place.
Natalie Sheary of West Hartford, CT (2007), posted a round of 76 on Saturday at the New England Junior Golf Classic to take the first round lead. Sheary, who won the FCWT Bear Creek East event last season and was named an FCWT 2nd Team All-American, braved the bitter cold and made 14 pars on the day to enter the final round 7 strokes ahead of Sara Whitney of Hingham, MA (2007). Sara carded the only birdie in the girls division on Saturday. On Sunday, Sara was able to card 2 birdies and cut 4 strokes off of Natalie's lead, but it wasn't enough to give her the win this time. Whitney, who finished 3rd in this event last year, earned both 2nd place and Low Round honors for this event. Kerri Connelly of Duxbury, MA (2007) finished in 3rd place in this her first FCWT event. |
