Weekend play new wrinkle for the Connecticut Open

TORRINGTON — The 85th Connecticut Open will add a new wrinkle: the tournament is being held on a weekend for the first time.

This move is almost six years in the making. Mike Moraghan, the executive director of the Connecticut State Golf Association, and Torrington Country Club mutually agreed a few years back to host the event this coming weekend.

“In 2013, Torrington (CC) did a wonderful job (hosting the Connecticut Open). Our hope and Torrington (CCs) hope is with the event being played on a weekend, it will draw more people (spectators),” Moraghan said. “We hope it will be a serious crowd out here to follow these guys around. That’s appealing to us and appealing to Torrington (CC) in particular.”

A large number of members came out to watch the 54hole event in 2013, which went to a fourman playoff won by Jeff Curl.

“2013 was so exciting. Everyone enjoyed the event. We got great reviews from the players,” Torrington CC head pro Glenn Carlson said. “We had a good turnout in the final round. We hope there will be more people around to watch on a daily basis instead of coming that one day. We hope the community comes out and supports this event.”

Said Moraghan: “We didn’t strongarm Torrington into having it on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If they didn’t want it on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we wouldn’t have forced their hands.”

The Open is normally held Monday throughWednesday either at the end of July or the beginning of August. Since this year’s tournament has been moved up over a week, and being played on a weekend, it has led to a number of golfers not entering. Moraghan admitted that the number entries are down this year.

This starts with the club professionals. Some couldn’t give up the entire weekend to play. But others have entered, including Jim Hanlon (Farms CC), Ian Marshall (Watertown GC), William Street (Whitney Farms CC), WilliamWallis (New Haven CC) and Carlson.

“As far as our club pros, yes it is a problem for some. We do have quite a few club pros entered. I told all of them if we could be of help for starting times on Friday and Saturday, we would do that,” Moraghan said. “I do want to look and see how many club pros are impacted and the strength of their games. We want this to be a championship for championship players.”

There are also a couple of tournament conflicts. The 93rd Norwich Invitational — the longest running amateur golf event in the state — are the same dates as the Open. And the New York State Open is this Tuesday through Thursday at Bethpage Black. That would be six straight days of competition if golfers are playing both tournaments.

Former Connecticut Open winners Frank Bensel (three times), Jason Caron and Adam Rainaud (New Canaan CC head pro) all compete in the Met Section. All are not competing at the Open.

“I would like to play, however, I can’t miss work on the weekends in the summer,” Rainaud said in a text message. “Sad I am missing it this year.”

Then there are other absentees no matter when the tournament was played. Defending champion John VanDerLaan is playing in a Korn Ferry Tour event this weekend in Nebraska. Fourtime winner Kyle Gallo said he has played only a handful of times since last year’s Open and is now workingWells Fargo Advisors Essex. He is also considering getting his amateur status back.

C.J. Swift, last year’s runnerup, is competing, along with Jason Thresher, the threetime Massachusetts Open champion and Ben Conroy, one of the playoff participants in the 2013 Open as a pro. He has since regained his amateur status.

“That was my first professional event. I’m happy to play in it as an amateur, to see if I can hang with some of the pros here,” Conroy said.

Other former champions looking to add to their resumes are Curl, Jeff Evanier, Cody Paladino and Ken Green.

The low 40 players and ties on Friday and Saturday will advance to Sunday’s final round.

The 2020 Open at Ridgewood CC in Danbury will return to its normal dates. Moraghan said the only club that has considered the idea of holding the Open on a weekend is Shuttle Meadow CC in 2023.

How will the CSGA deem it a success?

“Maybe the field is not quite as strong. We might not push the idea, but if it is an enormous success…,” Moraghan said. “This is an experiment, something not every club will embrace and that is perfectly fine. But we feel good about the quality of our field. It’s still a very strong field at the top in part because some of our best players are the journeymen pros.”