SOUTHWICK – The 14th Annual Owl Club Golf Tournament brought together Westfield State athletics alumni, parents, coaches and sponsors for a day of fundraising and fun at the Ranch Golf Club on Mon., Aug. 3.
Westfield Bank served as the lead sponsor of the event, joined by Whalley Computer Associates, Barnes and Noble College Bookstores, and Real Dry Waterproofing.
A group that included football alumni Wayne McGillicuddy, Eric Washburn, Dan Letteriello and friend Corey Nevins won the tournament with a 13-under par 59. The group eagled the first hole after McGillicuddy hit an approach shot two inches from the cup, and never looked back en route to the standout round of the day.
The 2020 Owl Club Golf Tournament champions – Erik Washburn, Corey Nevins, Wayne McGillicuddy, and Dan Letteriello. (WESTFIELD STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS PHOTO)
Women’s lacrosse coach Jeff Pechulis’ group took second with a score of 60, partnering with Peter Clark, and lacrosse parents Paul Barrett and Sean Gearin. They won a match of cards with a group featuring alumni Jack Mosko, Matt Barry and Richard Joseph.
Current Owls’ baseball player Sean Moorhouse topped the men’s long drive competition on 16, and Katie Sylvain won the women’s long drive. Don Cretella and Jack Sheerin won the closest to the pin contests.
A total of 22 groups and 88 player registered for the event, which was held in a slightly different format in order to make concessions to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“We moved to a tee-time format to avoid a big crowd at registration, so that the players streamed through in 1’s and 2’s, and many of the players took advantage of our online registration, which helped to limit contact and cash handling at the event itself,” said Dave Caspole, Associate Director of Athletics. “Each player had an individual cart, all the staff and players wore masks at registration, and we served lunch on the course so that we could avoid having a crowd in any one area. The staff at the Ranch did a great job in helping us set up safe protocols that still let our players come out and enjoy a day on the course.”
“It was great to have a chance to see so many alumni and friends come out to support Owls’ athletics,” said Caspole. “We will total about $14,000 raised to support our varsity athletic teams today, which is great considering we had to reduce the field due to the pandemic, and some of our regular participants were not able to travel this year, but we look forward to having a full field again next year if we are back to a more normal mode of operations. We were also excited to see some new faces and some of our more recent alumni join in this year.”
The Owl Club Tournament is annually played on the first Monday in August. – Courtesy of Westfield State University Sports
