7th Senior Match Play Championship
Szewczul Successfully Defends Title at Connecticut Golf Club
Dave Szewczul of Tunxis Plantation Country Club defeated Bill Torza of Timberlin Golf Course , 2 and 1 , to capture the 7th Senior Match Play Championship , presented by Johnson Brunetti . Szewczul , the twotime defending champion , held off a late charge from Torza in the final match at Connecticut Golf Club to win the title on the 17th hole .
Szewczul trailed Torza early in the match and was 1-down heading to the 9th tee , but quickly turned things around . He won five of the next six holes , which statistically were the hardest stretch of holes for the week . The key moment in the match occured on Hole # 14 , a difficult par-5 , where Torza narrowly missed a par putt to fall to 3-down with four holes to play .
However , the match was far from over , as Torza would make birdie on Hole # 16 to cut the margin to two . Needing a birdie on Hole # 17 to extend the match , he hit his approach shot to within 8 feet from the hole , but barely missed the birdie putt . A matching par from Szewczul was all that was needed to claim the title .
With his win , Szewczul captured his third Senior Match Play Title and became the first player in championship history to successfully defend his title . Szewczul , who also claimed medalist honors with an even par round of 72 , played remarkably well the entire week . Until the final match , he had won all of his matches by a margin of at least five and never made it past the 16th hole . Torza proved to be the toughest opponent for Szewczul , but his steady ball striking and impressive short game would eventually prevail .
16 Connecticut State Golf Association