GBCC: Host club takes team quota tourney
The golf season finally got under way this past Thursday afternoon. Gardiner’s Bay hosted four clubs from the East End on a beautiful day in May on Long Island.
Players from Gardiner’s Bay, South Fork Country Club, North Fork Country Club and Baiting Hollow Country Club assembled at 1 p.m. for the opening tournament of the season. Each foursome included a player from each club. The four pros and four assistant pros played together too.
The event was played in a team quota format, in which each member had to make a certain number of points. The points a person had to make depended on his handicap.
For instance, if the handicap was 20, the player had to deduct that from 36, making the quota 16 points. Points were compiled as follows: 1 point for a bogey, 2 for a par, 3 for a birdie and 4 for an eagle. To find a winner, we used the 10 best scores for each club and added up the points.
The boys from Gardiner’s Bay showed how to play their home course, easily winning with 46 points. North Fork took second place with 56, Baiting Hollow was third with 61 and the defending champions from South Fork finished fourth with 63.
We were proud of our golf course, which was in superb condition. The hole locations were as difficult, but fair, as we could make them. However, it seems the course won since only one man, Steve Flurry from North Fork, could equal his allowance and no one got more than the fixed amount.
John Babinski and Kirk Ressler were the best GBCC could produce, with both of them missing their allotment by only one point. Of the 80 or so players, sharp shooting Steve Lemberg was the closest to the pin on the 4th hole by hitting one 22 feet from the hole. John Collins from North Fork was closest on the 11th hole, with his shot finishing only 14 feet from the hole.
Dinner and cocktails were served in the clubhouse and the number of people hanging around after dinner proved the true success of this format. We are off to a great start!
Kudos to Jay Sessa this week for his fine play while competing in the popular Richardson tournament at the Seawane Club.
Sessa was not only low qualifier in the senior division and second low qualifier for the entire championship but he also won his first two matches and lost only on the final hole in his final match.
The Richardson, named after New York Times golf writer William Richardson, has been played since 1948 at the Seawane Club and is run by the Long Island Golf Association. It happens to be the oldest tournament to be run continuously at the same club in the nation.
Sessa’s final round loss on the last hole came as the only down moment in a wonderful tournament featuring the best amateur players in the New York area. Sessa, seeded number one, defeated Tom Yellen from the Stanwich Club in his first match, eliminated Matt Corrigan from Nassau Country Club in his second match and was defeated by Steve Rose from Fresh Meadow in the finals. That was no disgrace as Rose is a three-time LIGA player of the year and a four-time winner of the Richardson. Great golf, Jay Sessa!
