There are plenty of good reasons to play in the April 29 Connecticut Two Man Team Championship.
It’s the first major event of the CSGA calendar year.
It’s one of the few team competitions on the calendar.
It’s played on a great course: Black Hall Club in Old Lyme.
And it honors a Connecticut Hall of Fame member, 25-time Black Hall Club champion Bill Hermanson.
But for senior players, there’s one more reason to play this year.
In September Black Hall will also host the 74th Connecticut Senior Amateur Championship.
It all adds up to very strong 2019 field. Among those who have to be considered favorites:
—2018 champions Nick Taylor of Country Club of Waterbury and Richard Dowling, the 2017 Connecticut Amateur Champion of the eClub of Connecticut, will defend. Last year Taylor and Dowling combined rounds of 69 (four-ball) and 70 (alternate shot) to win by 2 shots in cold, wet weather.
—Hermanson, who has won the Two Man twice with longtime friend and partner Dave Szewczul (2015, 2016) and who will be considered a favorite in the Senior Amateur, this year will partner with Kevin Foster of Hop Meadow, the 2013 Connecticut Mid-Amateur Champion.
—Glen Boggini of Manchester C.C. and John Sawka of Ellington Ridge, who won in a playoff in 2017 and were runners-up last year, are back.
—Dave Giuletti and Steve Gettings, also runners-up last year, return.
—A strong new team from New Haven C.C. will compete: Mike Kennedy, who won the Mid-Amateur Championship at Black Hall in 2017, joins 2018 Player of the Year Ben Conroy, the defending Amateur and Mid-Amateur champion.
—Kyle Nolin, 2016 Connecticut Public Links Champion from Tallwood Country Club, will team with Eric Briggs of Stonington Country Club.
—Three players who qualified for last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship are in the field: Boggini, Kennedy and Patrick Griffin of Blue Fox Run, who will partner with John Annear, a member of the winning 2018 Connecticut Tri-State team.
—Max Adler of Norwalk and David Zeid of Great River Golf Club, who have twice come within a shot of winning. Adler, who plays at Winged Foot Golf Club, is the Golf Digest editor who’s stories on Valentino Dixon, a man wrongly incarcerated, helped free him last year.
Black Hall, one of Robert Trent Jones’ most highly regarded designs, dates to 1965. On its 50th anniversary in 2015, it hosted the Connecticut Amateur Championship. It will host the Connecticut Women’s Open in 2021 and the Connecticut Open in 2025.
In short, a great site plays host to a great field, and, weather cooperating, we have the best possible start to the 2019 season.
