Talwar in lead before storm Isaias halts play

DANBURY — There was going to be an opportunity to get some of Tuesday’s second round of the Connecticut Open in at Ridgewood Country Club before Tropical Storm Isaias arrived.

The Connecticut State Golf Association (CSGA) got a little more than 5 1⁄2 hours of golf in before the horn blew at 12:32 p.m. Saptak Talwar is still sitting atop the leaderboard.

Talwar stands at 3-underpar through 10 holes. He leads Jason Thresher by two shots. They are the only two players currently under par in the 86th edition of this championship.

“We didn’t really have much wind or anything going on until near the end of the round,” Thresher said after shooting 3-under-par 69.

Mike Moraghan, the executive director of the CSGA, said the second round will resume at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Just 21 golfers were able to finish their rounds. Thirteen groups of threesomes never got started.

Once the second round is completed, the cut will be made to the low 40 players and ties. Then the final round will begin late Wednesday afternoon.

If play cannot finish Wednesday evening, the tournament will finish on Thursday morning.

Four-time champion Kyle Gallo shot his second straight even-par 71 and stands 3 shots behind Talwar, the rising senior at Sacred Heart University.

“Yes (it is nice) to have things done, sitting at even par, the fact that all I wanted to do was be in contention,” said Gallo, 45, who last won the Connecticut Open in 2010 at CC of Fairfield.

Also tied for third at even par are Blake Morris and Peter Ballo, who have 16 and 14 holes completed, respectively, and Mark Gertsen, who has yet to tee off.

Seven more golfers are another shot back at 1-over, none of whom have finished.

Thresher was in the last group to finish. The horn actually blew when he and his playing partners — Dave Szewczul and Iam Illing — were approaching their second shots on 18.

All golfers were allowed to finish the holes that they were on before coming off the course.

“We were all very thankful,” said Thresher, who finished in the top seven each of the last three years at the Connecticut Open. “Even still, I felt like a little rushed coming in because I didn’t want them to blow another horn and have us stop (immediately).”

Thresher, 31, birdied holes 4, 12 and 16 to finish at 1-under. “I didn’t know what position I was in until I finished,” Thresher said.

He is commuting back and forth to his home in Suffield, some 90 minutes from Ridgewood CC.

“I am exhausted right now,” said Thresher, who won the Massachusetts Open three straight years.

Gallo bogeyed his first two holes, but offset that slow start with birdies at 5 and 15.

“I have a game plan for the golf course. Just play very boring golf, just hit the fairways, kind of hit it in the right spot on some of the greens so I have relatively good looks at it (for birdie) and I had a ton of good looks,” Gallo said. “We didn’t get (the weather) bad at all. It was fine except the last three holes when the wind started to pick up a little bit. We really got away with the luck of the draw.”

Gallo has a target number in mind for three rounds.

“Four-under would be a really good number. That’s what I want to get to,” Gallo said. “I have no idea if that will win or not.”

CWGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Leslie Li from Tumble Brook CC won the Connecticut Women’s Golf Association Championship match Wednesday, defeating Priscilla Wargo (Heritage Village CC) 4 and 3 at CC of Farmington.

Pam Burt (CC of Farmington) won the Founder’s Cup final 5 and 4 over Christine Sullivan (New Haven CC).