Great River to host New England Am
Connecticut will have a strong contingent on hand when the New England Amateur returns to Connecticut this week.
Great River Golf Club in Milford will host the 92nd New England Amateur Tuesday through Thursday. This will be the first time Connecticut has hosted the event since Hartford GC in 2016.
“Great River has always had a great reputation as a long, challenging championship layout,” said Mike Moraghan, the executive director of the Connecticut State Golf Association. “It has a fabulous clubhouse, a great facility and the staff is great to work with. So it has all of the ingredients to be able to host something as significant as the New England Amateur.”
Moraghan said he got his first look at Great River when the course hosted local U.S. Open qualifying a few years back.
“Great River is a big-time golf course,” Moraghan said. “Any place that is good enough for U.S. Open local qualifying is a place you want to consider for a major championship and the New England Amateur is something we consider to be a major championship.”
Mark Appelberg, the executive director at Great River, said Sacred Heart University, the club’s owner, has invested plenty into the facility and has been looking forward to hosting such a huge event.
“This is extremely important for Sacred Heart University and it is extremely important to have our best foot forward,” Appelberg said. “This we think is by far the biggest thing we’ve done.”
Jason Loomis, now in his third year as the head pro at Great River GC, said he first spoke with Ryan Hoffman, director of operations, rules and competitions for the CSGA, in November about the possibility of hosting this championship.
The course can play to over 7,000 yards. It is still to be determined how the New England Golf Association will set up the course for the three-round championship beginning Tuesday.
“The golf course is a great test of golf, with plenty of difficulty and various options for course setup that should help us create some excitement for the championship. We’ll be able to be really flexible with tee and hole locations to change things up from day to day,” said Greh Howell, the manager of operations for the NEGA.
J.P. MacPherson, the course superintendent, previously worked at Oakmont CC in Pennsylvania, which hosted the U.S. Open in 2016. He had to prepare the course for the annual member-guest tournament this weekend prior to the New England Amateur.
“It is definitely a course that challenges you off the tee. Being precise off the tee would be your best bet. The rough is like U.S. Open rough,” Loomis said.
Said Appelberg: “If the wind picks up, it makes the course a monster.”
There will be 34 golfers from Connecticut teeing it up in the 144-player field. The field will be cut to 60 and ties for Thursday’s final round.
Up until last year, the New England Championship was a four-round event with 36 holes being held the final day. A consensus was needed among the New England states to decide to shorten the event to 54 holes.
Howell said this had been discussed for awhile and was done in part because it “helps us complete the championship as scheduled in the event of inclement weather during the week.” Moraghan said he was one of the last to come around to the idea.
Among those trying to become the first state New England champion since John VanDerLaan in 2014 include: reigning twotime Connecticut Amateur champion Chris Fosdick, past two-time Amateur champ Rich Dowling, former Connecticut Amateur and Connecticut Open winner Cody Paladino and Chris Durocher and Connor Anstis representing the home course, Great River GC.
CONNECTICUT WOMEN’S AMATEUR
Sophia Sarrazin will be looking to become the first golfer to win consecutive Connecticut Women’s Amateur championships in seven years when the 56th edition of the championship begins at Race Brook CC on Tuesday.
Kelly Whaley was the last player to repeat, doing so in 2014. Sarrazin, a rising junior at Hamden Hall Country Day, won the Amateur in 2020 at Fairview Farm GC by four strokes. She was 15 at the time, playing in her first Amateur.
Race Brook will play to approximately 5,600 yards and a par 71. There will be no cut in the 36-hole event.
U.S. JUNIOR
Former Hamden Hall teammates Ben James and Jackson Roman will be competing in the U.S. Junior Amateur this week at The Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Roman, from Kensington, was the medalist at Quinnatisset CC on June 28, firing a
68. Roman will play at Loyola (Md.). James was exempt from qualifying due to his World Amateur ranking, The Milford resident advanced to the round of 32 in 2018.
James is coming off a tie for second in the Boys Junior PGA Championship last week in Lexington, Kentucky. He is in line to claim one of the spots on the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team to face Team Europe in September.
The 264 competitors will be reduced to 64 after two rounds of stroke play Monday and Tuesday. Win five rounds of matches Wednesday through Friday gets you into the 36-hole final on Saturday.
Also representing Connecticut at the U.S. Junior is Jack Murphy of New Canaan. Murphy earned one of the spots out of the Bonnie Briar CC site on June 23, shooting a 74.