Brent Paladino Wins the Connecticut PGA Match Play Championship

Earns the 2017 OMEGA Section Player of the Year Title in doing so

MANCHESTER, Conn. (October 19, 2017) – A season of close finishes ended with a championship win for Brent Paladino, and the PGA Section Player of the Year title to go along with it. Paladino, the director of competitions and communications for the Connecticut State Golf Association, defeated Jantzen Vargas of Lake of Isles three up with one hole to play in the final match this afternoon at Manchester Country Club in the 27th Connecticut PGA Match Play Championship.

Paladino’s 2017 season in the Connecticut Section’s major championships included a third place finish in the Spring PGA Stroke Play and a runner up finish earlier this month at Race Brook Country Club in the Connecticut PGA Professional Championship.

But this week and today, Paladino was not to be denied.

It was in this morning’s decisive semi-final match versus Billy Downes of GREATHORSE where Paladino clinched the player of the year title. Going into the championship, Paladino, Downes, and William Street of Whitney Farms Golf Course were atop the OMEGA points standing and separated by less than one point. When Vargas defeated Street 2 and 1 in the quarter finals, it meant that the Paladino versus Downes match was not only to advance to the finals, but also to earn the Bob Shea Trophy as the section’s top player for the year.

William Street Wins 2017 Connecticut PGA Professional Championship

Edges Runner up Brent Paladino by one stroke

By Bruce Berlet

ORANGE, Conn. (October 3, 2017) – William Street and Brent Paladino are the best of buddies. Until June, they lived together for five years and have been partners in the Connecticut Section PGA Professional Golf League for three years, winning the title in 2015.

So it’s not surprising that they gave each other two hearty hugs after Street sank a 50-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and then made a par from the front fringe on No. 18 for a one-stroke victory over Paladino in the Connecticut PGA Professional Championship  at Race Brook Country Club on Tuesday.

“Brent and I are very close, talk about every day,” said Street, the second-year pro at Whitney Farms Golf Club in Monroe who closed with an even-par 71 for a 36-hole total of 141, the only sub-par number in the tournament. “Brent is going to be one of my best men in my wedding (on Sept. 8, 2018).”

Paladino, who is in his fifth year as the director of competitions and communications for the Connecticut State Golf Association, took a one-stroke lead when he made an 8-foot birdie putt at No. 14. He nearly doubled his advantage at the 16th hole, where he hit his drive into the right trees but made a brilliant 4-iron second shot under the limbs, his ball stopping 10 feet from the green. His 60-foot chip then rattled the flagstick and spun out.

Team New England Holds on to REMY Cup Trophy

Bloomfield, Conn. (September 23, 2017)

The sixth annual Remy Cup Matches were played this past Saturday at the beautiful Tumble Brook Country Club in Bloomfield, Conn. Eight girls and four boys from the Connecticut Section PGA Junior TOUR and the New England Section PGA Junior TOUR competed in a nine hole four-ball contest, a nine hole foursome contest and an overall match contest. Team New England needed nine points to hold the cup for the second year in a row.

QUILTER CAPTURES NATIONAL CAR RENTAL CONNECTICUT SECTION ASSISTANT PGA PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Jordan Gosler Joins Quilter at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (September 21, 2017) –

Brian Quilter of Black Hall Club won the National Car Rental Connecticut Section Assistant PGA Professional Championship Thursday, September 21, at Twin Hills Country Club in Longmeadow, MA. 

Quilter is following in the footsteps of the former Black Hall Assistant Professional Adam Rainaud, who won this same Championship six times, including the past four years. 

          “The second round was a matter of putting”, said Quilter, who started the second round with four birdies. “The first round I had only one birdie and that’s because it was a chip in. It all comes down to the putter.” 

          By winning, Quilter qualified for the 41^st National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, November 9-12, at PGA Golf Club (Wanamaker Course) in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The facility will be hosting its twenty-first consecutive Assistant PGA Professional Championship.

          Quilter, 24, posted a final-round 66 for a tournament total of 138 and a one-stroke victory over Jordan Gosler of Manchester Country Club. Quilter pockets $1,350 with the victory, while Gosler earns $1,100 as runner up.

“I hit it well, I can’t complain”, Gosler said. “Brian played a great round and I tip my hat to him.”

Gosler will join Quilter at the National championship, garnering the second qualifying spot.

Joe Mentz of Goodwin Park G.C. and Geno Giancola of Timberlin G.C. tied for third at one-over par 143 for the championship. Mentz chipped in on the second hole of sudden death to clinch the first alternate spot to go to nationals.