Becker wins Connecticut Senior Open
“I said, ‘This is what I've always dreamed about my whole life. I'm making this putt.' ... And that's what I did.”
JAMES BECKER, CONNECTICUT SENIOR OPEN WINNER
Groton — James Becker, a veteran of the New England golf circuit, found himself in an unfamiliar position on Tuesday.
For the first time that Becker could remember, he had a chance to sink a championship clinching putt on the final hole.
Becker, who's from Bloomfield, calmly drained a six-foot birdie putt to seal his third Connecticut Senior Open title at Shennecossett Golf Course.
"I've had a couple of close matches here but to come down the stretch and do it, it's so gratifying," Becker said. "I've 60 or 70 tournaments in New England. I probably never have hit a putt like that six-footer that I knew if I make it, I win the tournament.
"I said, 'This is what I've always dreamed about my whole life. I'm making this putt.' ... And that's what I did."
Becker outlasted defending champion Robin Byrd in a tight final round battle that started with the pair sharing the lead. He won by two strokes, finishing with a two-day total of 6-under 136. He fired a 3-under 68 for the second straight day on Tuesday.
Byrd had rounds of 68 and 70 for a total of 4-under 138.
"I'm the only one that's won the Connecticut Open twice and this (tournament) three times," Becker said. "I'm just trying to accumulate as many as I can. Maybe someday they'll vote me into the Hall of Fame even though I'm not a PGA member. I get passed all the time."
"... I think my record stands for itself.''
Neither golfer could establish a safe lead all throughout the final round. Becker saw his one-shot lead erased when Byrd converted a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 14.
The pair stood deadlocked through 15 holes.
Becker moved ahead by sinking an eight-foot birdie putt on the No. 16. But he didn't feel comfortable.
"It gives me the lead, but 17 and 18 are both birdie holes," Becker said. "I needed to birdie one of them, I knew that."
So he did, the hard way.
When Becker's second shot landed in the front green-side bunker on the 18th hole, it appeared that Byrd still had a shot to force a playoff.
But Becker, a teaching pro at Blue Fox Run in Avon, never blinked.
He blasted out of the bunker to within six feet of the pin and then made the clutch birdie putt.
"The bunker wasn't a bad place as far as I was concerned, as long as I could get up into it, which I did," Becker said. "But it was in a little divot which made it a little harder. Thankfully, my bunker game is a lot better than it used to be.
"... If my bunker game wasn't good, I wouldn't have won this tournament because I got up and down four times out of bunkers."
Nothing Byrd could do about that. He played well overall.
"I hit 17 greens, what can you do?" said Byrd, who's from Satellite Beach, Fla. "I just didn't hit it close enough. He scrambled well and held on to it. That's what you've got to do."
In a weird coincidence, every time Becker has won the Connecticut Senior Open, Dave Jones of Norwich has earned low amateur honors.
It happened in 2012 and 2015. And it happened again in this year's event.
Jones fired a two-round total of 2-over, 144 (72-72) to claim the amateur crown. He finished tied for 8th overall.
In Tuesday's final round, Jones moved within striking distance of the leaders after draining a 13-foot eagle putt on the par 5, eighth hole. He fired a 2-under on the front nine and continued the momentum to start the back nine.
Then golfers had to endure a roughly 30-minute weather delay.
When play resumed, Jones bogeyed three of the last five holes. He's making a comeback from cancer that forced him to the sidelines last year for all but one event. He missed the 2019 Connecticut Senior Open.
"It's good to be back out competing again after a couple of years," Jones said. "I'm starting to get my strength back."
Norwich Free Academy graduate John Elliott hoped to make a run after entering the final round three shots off the lead.
But, for the second straight day, he opened with a bogey on the first hole. On the back nine, he had consecutive birdies on No. 15 and No. 16 before bogeying 17 to finish with a two-day total of even par 142 (71-71).
Elliott tied for fifth overall.
"I couldn't get anything going," Elliott said. "I didn't do as well as I could do and only four guys beat me, so that's not so bad."
Other local golfers competing on Tuesday included Old Saybrook's Archie Cart (74-80--154), Westerly's Mark Toscano (77-79--156) and Groton's Jay Dempsey (77-85--162).