LONGMEADOW – It’s not everyday that a nationally renowned golf tournament arrives at your town’s country club, but such is the case this week for the Longmeadow Country Club, who will serve as the host to the 105 Annual Massachusetts Amateur Championship.
Despite the arid heat Hampden County has been experiencing of late, over 100 competitors have shined their shoes, grabbed their visors and Pings, and made the trek to Shaker Road in hopes of claiming the lowest score and earning the coveted title of Massachusetts Amateur Champion.
After qualifying in June at numerous country clubs all over the Bay State, including courses in Great Barrington and Belchertown, a plethora of contenders have emerged from the sandtraps looking to dethrone 2012 Champion Mike Calef of Brockton Country Club, who was seated in a three-way tie for eighth place at press time with a +2 on his scorecard.
Numerous western Mass. clubsmen are looking to lay claim to the state amateur trophy, including Andy Drohen of The Ranch Country Club in Southwick and Michael Ryan of Longmeadow Country Club, who were seated in a two-way tie for second with a par score on the first tee yesterday, and in a four-way tie for fourth place with a +1 on the 10th tee respectively.
Colin Brennan of Indian Ridge Country Club in Andover was atop the leaderboard at press time with a -1 score on the ninth hole yesterday.
A unique tournament which combines rounds of match and stroke play, the field will be cut to 32 golfers today, and the potential for a western Mass. champion appears to be a possibility, despite two strong rounds from Brennan atop the leaderboard thus far.
According to the Massachusetts Golf Association’s website, the Massachusetts Amateur Championship is the oldest and “most venerated” event conducted by the MGA.
Arthur G. Lockwood was the inaugural champion in 1903, and the tournament’s championship trophy now bears his name, along with Commonwealth golf luminaries such as Francis Ouimet, Jesse Guilford, Frederick Wright and Ted Bishop.
Entrants to the tournament are restricted to amateur golfers who hold a membership at a MGA member club and an updated Massachusetts Golf Association/United States Golf Association GHIN Handicap Index not exceeding 4.4, as determined by a May 1 Handicap Revision by the MGA.
Competitors may have also completed a handicap certification as defined on the tournament’s entry form.
Longmeadow Country Club itself is looking to have it’s first champion in over 20 years, when Trevor Gliwski was crowned as the Commonwealth’s Amateur Champion in 1992.
The Country Club, built in 1922 and designed by Donald Ross is considered by area golf aficionados as one of the finest private courses in all of the Bay State, and has hosted several major events in the past few years, most notably the 2010 U.S. Mid-Amateur Sectional Qualifying Tournament and the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur Sectional Qualifying Tournaments.
Longmeadow is also set to host the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amatuer Sectional Qualifying Tournament on August 26.
The tournament is set to conclude on Friday.
