left him far from the top of the leaderboard.
“I didn’t get off to a great start today, but I
just stuck with it and tried to play solid golf for the
final fifteen holes,” said Szewczul. “I let the drive
slip away on #7 and I was definitely disappointed to
not give myself a decent chance at birdie there. But
after that, I started hitting some quality shots and
was able to get some momentum going.”
Indeed, he did. With the back nine playing
nearly three strokes harder than the front nine,
Szewczul managed three birdies and no bogies
on the inward stretch. The newly designed green
complexes were no match for Szewczul’s nearperfect ball striking – in fact, he missed just one
fairway and one green all day.
“I just tried to go out and play well today,”
said Szewczul. “I knew that I’ve been playing well
and striking the ball well, so it was just a matter of
making a few putts. I made a couple of great parsaving putts on the back nine that kept me going,
and those are almost as good as making birdies.”
But it wasn’t until the very end that Szewczul
could lay claim on the Senior Amateur trophy, as six
different players held a share of the lead throughout
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the day at even-par. As bogies began to pile up, it
was Szewczul’s consistency that brought him to the
top. His birdies on #10, #12 and #14 boosted him
into sole possession of the lead with just six holes to
play, and a string of two-putt par’s was all that was
needed to secure the four-stroke victory.
The six-time CSGA Senior Player of the
Year has already written his place among the greats
in Connecticut golf, but a string of close calls and
near missed had left him on the outside looking
in. Szewczul’s last CSGA win came in 2014 at the
Senior Match Play Championship.
The win marks his third Senior Amateur
Championship and seventh CSGA senior title, and
he becomes just the third player in CSGA history to
win three or more Senior Amateur titles. Finishing
runner-up was Randy Keleher of Sterling Farms
Golf Course and Robert Murphy, Jr. of Brownson
Country Club, both of whom finished at three overpar for the championship. Overnight leader and
defending champion Bill Hermanson finished in
fourth place after a closing round of 74.
CSGA Links // October, 2016 | 19