Brian Ahern sunk a thirty foot putt from off the fringe on the second playoff hole for birdie and a victory in the 25th Connecticut Mid-Amateur Championship held at Hop Meadow Country Club in Simsbury. Ahern, of Wampanoag Country Club, and Dave Szewczul, who plays out of Tunxis Plantation Country Club, finished the regulation 54 holes tied at 219.
In the final round, Ahern shot 2 over par 74 with an eagle on the sixth hole, birdie on the seventeenth and five bogies. He nearly sunk a sixty-footer on the eighteenth hole for the win. Szewczul was plagued by an erratic putter on his front nine, three-putting the third and fourth holes, and missing a six-footer for birdie at the ninth. But he seemed to regain his touch at the turn, nearly holing a 60-foot birdie attempt at the tenth, and then burying a twelve-footer for par at number eleven. Over the remaining seven holes, Szewczul lipped out four times for birdie, but in stringing together ten straight pars over his final ten holes secured a tie with Ahern.
Ahern adds this year’s Mid-Amateur victory to previous victories at the 1999 Connecticut Amateur at Waterbury Country Club and the 2010 Connecticut Mid-Amateur Championship at Rockrimmon Country Club. Ahern will join Matt Smith, Quinnatisset Country Club and Ray Floyd, Jr., Innis Arden Golf Club in representing Connecticut at the USGA Men’s State Team Championship to be held September 19th – 21st at Galloway National Golf Club in Galloway, NJ.
