Past champions headline Palmer Cup field
Wampanoag Country Club in West Hartford will play host to the 19th Russell C. Palmer Cup beginning Monday as the Connecticut State Golf Association opens its major championship schedule.
CC of Waterbury normally hosts the Palmer Cup. Wampanoag usually plays to a yardage of 6,600 and is a par 72.
All five past champions in the field helped the CSGA win its fifth consecutive Julius Boros Challenge Cup title on Thursday at New Haven CC. Among the past champs is Cody Paladino, the 2013 winner and the four-time Dick Tettlebach Player of the Year, including the last two years.
Another past champion in the field is Brian Ahern (2018), who will be competing on his home course.
The defending champion is not competing next Monday and Tuesday. Chris Fosdick’s college season is still going on at the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers are competing in the NCAA Division I East Regional at Yale GC Monday through Wednesday.
The low 39 players and ties will advance to Tuesday’s final 36 holes of play.
U.S. OPEN QUALIFYING
A number of players with state ties advanced out of local qualifying for next month’s U.S. Open in the two sites the state had.
On May 2, four state natives advanced out of Wee Burn CC in Darien. Brian Carlson, the former standout from Hand High in Madison and Purdue University, was the medalist, firing a 4-under-par 68.
There was a four-way tie for second at 73 that includes Ben James of Milford, a senior at Hamden Hall Country Day who will be playing at the University
of Virginia next fall. This is the second straight year James has advanced to sectional qualifying.
Also advancing were Jackson Fretty of Greenwich who now plays at Princeton, and Anthony Guerrera of Watertown.
Nine golfers ended up advancing to U.S. Open sectional qualifying from Wee Burn, that included Thomas McCarthy, the former Yale University standout.
Last Monday, Paladino was the medalist with a 73 at Oxford Greens. Paladino has made several trips to the sectionals, including last year.
Caleb Manuel, a standout player at UConn, also advanced last week. Manuel is one of five individual golfers attempting to advance to the NCAA Division I men’s golf championships later this month out of Yale GC this week.
Eric Dietrich of Cheshire, who qualified for the U.S. Open in 2019 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, is the first alternate in case one of the qualifiers has to withdraw.
Most, if not all of the above, will head to the 36-hole U.S. Open Sectionals at Century and Old Oaks CC in Purchase, New York on June 6. The U.S. Open will be held at The Country Club in Brookline,
Massachusetts June 16-19.
Ami Gianchandani, a junior on the Yale women’s golf team, was the medalist at Worcester CC in Massachusetts, posting a 140 two-round total (71-69) to earn a spot in the U.S. Women’s Open June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge and GC in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
LYMAN ORCHARDS EARNS AWARD
Lyman Orchards GC and Golf Center in Middlefield is this year’s recipient of the 2022 Walter Lowell Public Golf Course Distinguished Service Award. It was announced by the Connecticut Section PGA on May 5.
Lyman Orchards not only has 36 holes of championship golf — the Robert Trent Jones Course and the Gary Player Course — but it also has the Apple Nine par-29 course, which opened a decade ago, and the practice facility.
This is the second time Lyman Orchards GC has been the recipient of the Lowell Award, also receiving it in 2003. The award will be presented at the Walter Lowell PGA Tournament to be held at Manchester CC on May 31.