Still coming down from TCC tourney

The Connecticut Women’s Open ended Wednesday in sunshine and I’m still coming down from it because it is a unique event, an eye-opener and just a treat for anyone who enjoys the Auld Scotsgame. Torrington Country Club did a fine job as host and the competition among young women from all around the country and state was keen.

Golf is a sport I thoroughly enjoy, even though I no longer tread the fairways. Anyone can play it, or try to, and I’ve been around the game since the age of 10, when I began caddying at Green Woods Country Club in Winsted.

Committee chairman Dick Weigold made it easy for those of us who were covering the event for newspapers – namely Tom Yantz of The Hartford and myself – and for all the TCC members who were working the tournament with “Wiggy.” They were fun to be around.

TCC member Danielle “Crash” Lendl, who seemed to be everywhere at once representing the CWGA, deserves a rousing hand too. Seldom seen without her high-powered camera, she had all the answers. As pointed out in this column some time ago, she might have been a threat to win the thing, had she entered, but declined to enter because of her responsibilities with the CSGA.

One of the successful innovations at this year’s tournament was the providing of living accommodations for the players, some of whom traveled far distances. Crash, before the tournament, asked the membership for volunteers to house the athletes for the several days of the event, and volunteers stepped forward.

Ray Underwood received four grateful players into his home, a generous gesture indeed. Ray is Greens chair at TCC. It is usually a more comfortable situation, if you’re a traveling young pro, to live in a private home than in a hotel or motel.

Sabrina Sapone, a member of the Country Club of Montreal, and Caroline Ciot of Brossard, Ontario, travel together, taking turns driving. They stayed in the Day’s Inn in Torrington, as did many others among the young travelers.

Bruce Berlet, for three decades the Hartford Courant’s golf writer, is retired and freelances for a golf publication. On the second day, he enjoyed lunch in the clubhouse with Anne Ballard Somaro and yours truly. Bruce and Anne are both Litchfield natives, having grown up there, are around the same age and had many entertaining memories to recall. I, a Torringtonian and a little older than the two, sat listening and enjoying the exchange.

Anne is a member at TCC, and for a while Wednesday, pulled a shift as official scorer at the ninth green. She and husband John of Somero Insurance and Investments, advertised on one of the tees. A loyal member is she and by the way she is also a member at Watertown CC, as is John.

It would be ideal if I could name all the members who volunteered and made the event the high success that it was. But it was terrific and they did it.

I’m wearing my Lincoln Motor Co. cap as I type this. Lincoln was a presenting sponsor and everyone connected, including sports writers, got a hat and a gift certificate to Glenn Carlson’s pro shop. Cool.

Charlotte Hungerford Hospital Women’s Health Fund was another sponsor, and had tents set up, medics on hand and an ambulance at the ready.