By GEOFF CONVERSE
Trimble and Higgins Capture Seagulls Four-Ball Again
It is amazing that no two winters are exactly alike.
In 2011-2012, there was the early snowstorm before Christmas, warm up that lasted all winter and spring and by the time the competitive golf season got under way, most New Englanders were in mid-season form.
Rounds of golf in January and February resembled late spring numbers and you had to be on your “A” game in early competitions rather than easing into the competitive golf season.
Fast forward to the current winter season we are experiencing –here it is in late April and early May and dressing up to resemble the Michelin Man with ski hats, multiple layers and winter gloves – and most of us who stayed north this winter are just starting to remember what it is like to have a five iron in our hands, much less hit it properly.
In spite of all that, the annual survival test in April known as the Seagulls Four-Ball Championship that is always contested at the seaside, windblown Hyannisport layout, manages to bring out some spectacular golf.
This year’s 62nd edition of the storied event was successfully defended by Whitney Trimble (Oyster Harbors) and two-time Massachusetts Golf Association Player of the Year Brian Higgins of Franklin CC.
That tandem held off all challenges to make it three wins in three tries. Three years ago they failed to qualify for the Championship Flight and played in the first flight, which they managed to win.
In the finals, the 35-year-old Trimble and the 38-year-old Higgins held off a staunch challenge by 65-year-old Jim Horvath (Dennis Pines) and 60-year-old Carter Fasick (Indian Meadow) to win on the 18th hole when Horvath’s bid for a birdie to send the match to extra holes barely slid by the cup.
The Seagulls has had the honor of being the “unofficial” start of the Massachusetts competitive golf season as tournaments are now beginning to pile up on the calendar. If this year’s Seagulls is an indicator, it should be a highly competitive golf season in the Bay State and, in particular on Cape Cod.
Speaking of Cape Cod Tournaments, the 22nd edition of the Cape Cod Open is slated for May 29-30 at Olde Barnstable Fairgrounds Golf Course and Hyannis Golf Club.
This year, the only directors this event has ever had, garnered some additional sponsorship that means the total purse is $30,000 with $5,000 going to the winner.
Keller Company, Inc. and Morgan-Stanley/Smith Barney each contributed to add $5,000 to the total purse making the CCO one of the better payouts among regional events.
The 54-hole tournament plays day one at Olde Barnstable. The low 80 pros and amateurs move on to the second round the next morning at Hyannis Golf Club. The low 50 scores and ties then play that afternoon to determine the champion.
Marshfield’s Geoff Sisk, a veteran of both the Nationwide and PGA Tours, won his third CCO title last year shooting a record-breaking 12-under-par 201 to win by five shots. He is expected back to defend his title. Also expected to return were both runners-up, Dustin Cone of Bennington, Ver., and Andrew Giuliani (yes, the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani) of Westchester, NY.
Other players who play in the event and who have fared well include former URI standout Mike Carbone, who tied for seventh last year, and the 2012 low amateur in the tournament, former Cape Cod resident Garren Poirier, who now resides in Vermont.
Applications are available online at CCOpen.com.
It’s new look for the Cape Cod Junior Golf Association after John and Cathy Flynn stepped down after 20 years as directors of the highly successful local group. Accolades for the couple continue to pour in and they have some big shoes to fill
Conducted under the auspices of the Cape Cod Chapter of the New England PGA, the CCJGA has been a model for a number of junior groups throughout the region.
Its new director is Mike Serijan, who is also the director of the New England Intercollegiate Golf Championship played in the fall on Cape Cod at The Captains Golf Course in Brewster.
For the first time, registration is now done online and it is still open. Interested parties should go to www.capecodpga.com/junior.php to register. One of the beauties of the CCJGA is its affordability and that will continue under Serijan’s watch. Weekly tournaments are run each summer as Cape Courses donate the tee times. Also, there are special events for beginners including skills competitions, etc.
There are two new head professionals at Cape Cod area golf courses. Taking over the director of golf position at the Willowbend Club is Mike Vidal, who comes to the high-end club from Creighton Farms in Aldie, Va. (near Leesburg). Creighton Farms is one of the properties owned by the new owners of Willowbend, Southworth Development LLC of Newton, Mass. The 30-year-old Vidal is making his first venture into New England and has been on the job since March.
Another new face among the Cape pros is Eric Steindel, who now has the reigns as the head professional at the venerable Wianno Club. Steindel was hired after an exhaustive search took the hiring committee to Lake Wales, Fla. where they plucked Steindel away from the exclusive Mountain Lakes Golf Club, a classic Seth Raynor designed gem in Central Florida. He goes from one gem to another, as he now will be touting the stylings of Donald Ross at Wianno.
Geoff Converse is the former golf writer for the Cape Cod Times and a long-time member of the Golf Writers Assn. of America and the International Network of Golf.
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