Baltic, Connecticut (July 2, 2026) – Under a sweltering sun at Mohegan Sun Golf Club, Kurtis Babczenko took an early lead and never looked back on his way to winning the 20th Connecticut Senior Match Play.
“It’s great,” Kurtis Babczenko said of the victory in his first career CSGA event. “It’s a little validation that the work I’m putting in is paying off.”
Matching pars tied the opening hole with Ronald Soccoli (New Haven CC), but a par for Babczenko (The Stanwich Club) won him the second hole to give him a lead that was never threatened.
Following two more ties, Babczenko won the par-5 fifth with a birdie, and then, after Soccoli found some trouble off the tee on the par-4 sixth, he won the hole with a conceded birdie after sticking his approach to five feet.
Now 3 up, Babczenko kept pushing, and on the par-4 seventh he converted another par to move his advantage to 4 up.
Soccoli tried to flip the momentum on Nos. 8 and 9, but Babczenko hung tough. On the par-3 eighth, Soccoli had a chance to win the hole with an eight-foot birdie try but missed, resulting in matching pars.
One hole later, on the par-4 ninth, Soccoli knocked his approach to 12 feet. Meanwhile, Babczenko was on the green but 45 feet away. Playing eight feet of break, Babczenko drilled the birdie putt. Soccoli would make his birdie putt, but it only salvaged a tie that sent the match to the back nine with Babczenko ahead 4 up.
The back nine began with three ties in a row as Babczenko maintained his 4-up lead. With the holes dwindling, Babczenko increased his lead to 5 up with a par to capture the par-5 13th and then closed out the match 5&4 with a par one hole later.
“I got off to a solid start,” said Babczenko, the 2025 Westchester Senior Amateur winner. “I made a good birdie on No. 5 that got me going. Then I just hit good shots after that. I was solid and played from the middle of the fairway to greens. Then I made a few putts.”
About the Connecticut State Golf Association
The Connecticut Senior Match Play 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.
