Danbury, Connecticut (June 24, 2022) – On a hot and sunny Friday at Ridgewood Country Club 36-holes wasn’t enough to determine the 120th Connecticut Amateur champion. Ben Carpenter and Rick Dowling had punched and counterpunched and punched again for a better part of nine hours yet after matching pars on the par-5 18th, the 36h hole of the title match, there still wasn’t a winner.
Playing the 380 yard par-4 first for the third time Dowling (Golf Performance Center) pulled his drive left under a tree while Carpenter unleashed a 330 yard drive past the trees lining the right side of the fairway. Facing an overhanging branch Dowling’s second shot clipped the branch and bounded a short way away into the fairway. Dowling’s third shot came to rest 15 feet behind the hole.
With the door cracked open Carpenter (CC of Darien) lofted his approach shot from the right side rough high into the air and watched as it came to rest 10 feet to the right of the cup. Dowling putted first but when his par putt slid by Carpenter had two putts to win the match. Two putts later Carpenter was a Connecticut Amateur champion.
“Winning the Connecticut Amateur means so much,” Carpenter said. “I have put in a lot of hard work these past three years. My goal as a junior was to play college golf and now that I am a collegiate golfer my goal is to be the best amateur golfer that I can be.”
The match began at 7:30 a.m. in chilly foggy conditions and neither player was sharp throughout the first 18 holes. Dowling took a quick 2 up lead after three holes and again with a birdie on the par-5 sixth but the lead was short-lived as Carpenter won Nos. 7 and 8 to tie the match. The match remained tied for the next seven holes until hole victories were traded on Nos. 16 and 17. Matching pars on the 18th closed out the first round with the match tied.
“To be honest there wasn’t a lot of good golf being played in the morning,” said Carpenter a sophomore on the Yale golf team. “It was a pillow fight between us. One of us would hit it in a bad spot or a worse spot and we were just grinding.”
If the morning round was a pillow fight the afternoon round was a heavy weight bout.
Carpenter busted out of the gates swinging winning No. 2 with a par, No. 3 with a birdie, and No. 4 with another birdie to jump out to a 3 up lead. For a moment it looked like Carpenter was on cruise control but Dowling, a two-time Connecticut Amateur winner, answered right back birdieing Nos. 5-7 to tie the match once again.
“I wasn’t feeling great golf wise in the morning. I just wasn’t hitting golf shots and I didn’t feel comfortable,” said Dowling who was looking to become the 11th three-time Connecticut Amateur winner. “Then in the afternoon I found a groove and after being three down it kind of kicked me in the butt and I started making birdies. Then we all started making birdies.”
After combining for only two birdies in the first round Carpenter and Dowling combined for five birdies in the first seven holes of the second round. Matching birdies tied the par-4 ninth and as play headed for the back nine the match was deadlocked.
Following pars on the par-3 10th Carpenter rolled in a 15 footer for birdie on the par-4 11th only to watch as Dowling jarred a matching birdie from 10 feet to keep the match tied with seven holes remaining.
Dowling briefly took the lead with a par on the par-4 12th but the lead didn’t last long as Carpenter converted a remarkable up and down to win the par-3 13th and once again tie the match. With the intensity increasing, Carpenter and Dowling tied the next five holes sending the match to extra holes.
However, the closing stretch wasn’t without plenty of drama. “The last four holes were intense for sure, I don’t think my heart has pumped faster while playing golf,” Carpenter said.
On the par-5 15th Dowling found the green with his second shot while Carpenter got potentially the break of the day. Facing a 210 yard approach shot Carpenter immediately lost his shot right towards out of bounds. That is when the unthinkable happened. Instead of slamming off the cart path and bounding into the woods, the ball hit the cart path and then bounced off a fence post and into the right greenside rough. A chip and a putt later Carpenter matched Dowling’s birdie.
Pars tied the difficult par-4 16th and par-3 17th sending the match to the 36th hole still tied. Dowling found the fairway while Carpenter lost his drive to the right. Carpenter went for broke with his second shot and ended up in a flower bed. Entitled to relief Carpenter dropped behind a large rock and needed to club up from 153 yards to ensure that he could clear the boulder. He did and he found the green with his third shot.
While all the excitement was happening around Carpenter, Dowling’s third shot came to rest just off the backside of the green. A few minutes later after both players cleaned up for par the championship match was ticketed for extra holes for the first time since 2006.
About the Connecticut State Golf Association
The Connecticut Amateur is one of 20 championships conducted by the Connecticut State Golf Association. The CSGA functions as an extension of the USGA and provides stewardship for amateur golf in Connecticut. Founded in 1899, it is the country’s oldest state golf association and conducts over 60 Championships, Qualifiers, and One Day Tournaments throughout the year.
