TALLMAN LEADS CONNECTICUT PGA PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
By Bruce Berlet
ELLINGTON, Conn. (Oct. 3, 2023) – Chris Tallman says he’s “pretty comfortable” playing Ellington Ridge Country Club, and he certainly demonstrated that sentiment again Tuesday.
Tallman birdied three of the first four holes and the first three holes on the back nine in shooting a 6-under-par 66 for a two-stroke lead over Andrew Svoboda after the first round of the Connecticut PGA Professional Championship.
“I hit it really well for the most part,” said Tallman, of GreatHorse-Hampden, Mass. “I was a little squirrely with the driver but hit 15 greens in regulation.”
And a big bonus for Tallman was putting an old putter, Odyssey No. 7, in his bag.
“I needed something new to look at and my speed was really good,” Tallman said.
Tallman, who won the tournament in 2018 and 2020, made birdie putts of 12 and 18 feet on the first two holes, missed from 3 feet on No. 3 and then hit a 5-iron tee shot to 2 feet at the par-3 fourth. He saved par at the difficult ninth hole to turn in 33 and then made birdie putts of 12, 8 and 18 feet on No. 10-12. His 210-yard 4-iron approach at the par-5 13th hole hit a bank and went into the water, leading to a bogey. But he made a 12-foot birdie putt at the 16th hole and saved par on the difficult 18th.
Tallman and Svoboda (Great River GC-Milford) are the runaway leaders in the Section Player of the Year (POY) race. Svoboda, who beat Tallman in the semifinals on the way to winning the Match Play Championship, had a 44.5-point lead entering the tournament, with the winner earning 100 points and the runner-up 75 points. Tallman, who tied for 34th in the PGA of America Professional Championship, is going for four consecutive POY titles, having won in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Svoboda, who played on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour for eight years, won the Connecticut PGA Championship in May to qualify for the Travelers Championship, the PGA Pro-Veteran and the Match Play Championship. He needs to finish third or better to clinch Player of the Year and become one of two eligible players to qualify for the 2024 PGA of America PGA Professional Championship on April 28-May 1 at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas. If the POY finishes in the top two, the first alternate in the tournament will earn an exemption to the national championship.
Svoboda immediately made a strong move toward the national when he hit a 4-iron shot from 210 yards to 25 feet and made the putt for eagle 3 at the second hole. After turning in 1-under 35 on the front nine, he made an 8-foot birdie putt at the 10th hole, two-putted No. 13 for 4 and converted a 20-foot putt for his final birdie at the 15th.
“I hit it OK, had a lot of long two-putts, so there was a lot of grinding,” Svoboda said. “If I’d made a few more putts, it would have been a great day, but I hit it good coming in so that was nice.”
Svoboda, who made the cut in the Travelers Championship and U.S. Open, said “it should be interesting tomorrow” in the final round. He could clinch Player of the Year in his first season in the Connecticut Section PGA after being the Metropolitan (N.Y.) Assistant Player of the Year in 2020.
Adam D’Amario, the founder and director of instruction of New Level Golf Academy in New Britain, is third at 69, one ahead of Michael Jezierski (Raceway GC-Thompson).
D’Amario, the 2011 champion, hit 14 greens in regulation but had a rather Harry Houdini round while hitting five drives into the woods and making three saving pars from bunkers.
“I hit it very erratically off the tee, but everything else was solid,” said D’Amario, who qualified for the national championship twice and for the Travelers Championship in 2018 and 2022. “I made a lot of smart decisions to get it up and down.”
D’Amario said the best of his smart decisions were at the par-4 10th hole and par-5 11th. At No. 10, he drove it right into the trees, ran his approach into a greenside bunker and made a 5-foot putt for par. At No. 11, he drove it right into the trees, punched out to 105 yards from the green and made a 5-foot putt for birdie. A two-putt birdie at the 13th hole, a 22-foot birdie putt at No. 15 and three closing pars gave D’Amario a 33 on the back nine.
Jezierski had four birdies and two bogeys in his 70, which was one better than Milton Torres (Crestview CC-Agawam, Mass.), Brian Hussey (Rock Ridge CC-Newtown) and 2021 champion Bob Mucha (Edgewood GC-Southwick, Mass.).
Torres nearly didn’t make it to the first tee after he tweaked his back getting his clubs out of the trunk of his car.
“I almost withdrew,” Torres said. “I could hardly swing on the range and took some Advil and massaged my back. I was able to swing about 70 percent on the front nine but was kind of back to normal on the back. I hit seven of nine greens but couldn’t convert any putts.”
Despite the discomfort, Torres birdied three of the first seven holes in turning the front nine in 33 but had two bogeys in a back-nine 38.
“I had one bad swing (second at the 10th into a bunker) and one bad putt (missed 3-footer at No. 14),” Torres said. “But it’s only my third tournament of the year because I’ve been really busy at the club. But for me, it’s more mind over matter, just focus.”
Hussey shot 2-under 34 on the front nine and got to 4-under when he made eagle 3 at the 13th hole. But he bogeyed the 14th, 15th and 16th holes before two closing pars gave him 71. Mucha started with 11 pars and birdies at the 12th and 15th holes before a lone bogey at No. 17.
In the Player of the Year Senior Division, Fran Marrello (PGA Life Member and a member of the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame and Connecticut Section PGA Professional Hall of Fame) was only .17 points ahead of Jan Wivestad (Chris Cote’s School of Golf) and 10 points ahead of Jason Gobleck (Golf Center at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield) in the senior POY race. The tournament is the only major section championship not won by Marrello, who has a record 25 titles. He and Gobleck each opened with 73 to tie for 10th, and Wivestad had 75 and is in a five-way tie for 15th with four other players, including defending champion C.J. Konkowski (Hartford GC).
The final round on Wednesday begins at 8 a.m., with Tallman, Svoboda and D’Amario in the final group at 10:33 a.m. The winner receives $4,000 from a $20,000 purse in a tournament, and most of the Section team will be determined for the 2024 Julius Boros Challenge Cup Matches against the Connecticut State Golf Association at New Haven Country Club in May. The presenting sponsors for the event are Club Car, Corebridge Financial and Rolex, and the final tournament of the year with POY points is the twice-delayed Manchester Open on Oct. 12, at Manchester Country Club, with 25 points going to the winner.
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Round 1 results
1 Christopher Tallman GreatHorse33-33--66 -6
2 Andy Svoboda Great River Golf Club 35-33--68 -4
3 Adam D'Amario Next Level Golf Academy 36-33--69 -3
4 Michael Jezierski Raceway Golf Club 34-36--70 -2
T5 Brian Hussey Rock Ridge Country Club 34-37--71 -1
T5 Bob Mucha Edgewood Golf Course 36-35--71 -1
T5 Milton Torres Crestview Country Club 33-38--71 -1
T8 Terry Slater Race Brook Country Club 37-35--72 E
T8 William Street Whitney Farms Golf Club 36-36--72 E
T10 Jason Gobleck Golf Center at Lyman Orchards 34-39--73 +1
T10 Fran Marrello PGA Life Member 36-37--73 +1
T12 Brad Lusenhop Country Club of Waterbury 35-39--74 +2
T12 Mike Martin Tashua Knolls Golf Course 37-37--74 +2
T12 Scott Vroman Ellington Ridge Country Club 36-38--74 +2
T15 Jordan Gosler Manchester Country Club 36-39--75 +3
T15 C.J. Konkowski Hartford Golf Club 36-39--75 +3
T15 Joe Mentz Mohegan Sun Golf Club 36-39--75 +3
T15 Ed Slattery Torrington Country Club 39-36--75 +3
T15 Jan Wivestad Chris Cote's School of Golf 38-37--75 +3
T20 Bob Bigonette H. Smith Richardson Golf Course 37-39--76 +4
T20 William Burns Hartford Golf Club 40-36--76 +4
T22 Marc Bayram Timberlin Golf Club 41-36--77 +5
T22 Josh Detmer Go Golf Academy 41-36--77 +5
T22 Brian Keiser Longmeadow Country Club 37-40--77 +5
T22 Kevin Mahaffy Pequabuck Golf Club 38-39--77 +5
T26 Alex Bardani Black Hawk Country Club 40-38--78 +6
T26 Bart McCarthy Gillette Ridge Golf Club 38-40--78 +6
T26 Ronnie Pfaefflin Norfolk Country Club 40-38--78 +6
T26 William Wallis New Haven Country Club 39-39--78 +6
T30 Joe Cordani Hop Meadow Country Club 42-37--79 +7
T30 Ron Dellostritto Fairways Golf Range and Pro Shop 40-39--79 +7
T30 Jim Hanlon The Farms Country Club 41-38--79 +7
T30 Nicholas Tamburini The Ranch Golf Club 37-42--79 +7
T34 Jeff DelRosso Prospect Golf 42-38--80 +8
T34 Philip Krick Mohegan Sun Golf Club 41-39--80 +8
T34 Ted Perez East Mountain Country Club 38-42--80 +8
T34 John Riordan Longmeadow Country Club 40-40--80 +8
T34 Nicholas Segaline PGA Member 38-42--80 +8
T39 E.J. Altobello Springfield Country Club 40-41--81 +9
T39 Steven Carle Ludlow Country Club 41-40--81 +9
T39 Joseph Carlone Litchfield Country Club 40-41--81 +9
T39 John Vitale Full Circle Golf 41-40--81 +9
T43 Andrew Maslar X-Golf Stratford 42-40--82 +10
T43 Jack McConachie PGA Life Member 39-43--82 +10
45 Bryan Truszkowski Candlewood Lake Club 41-43--84 +12
46 Jim Bedus PGA Life Member 45-41--86 +14
47 Andy Treen Quinnatisset Country Club 43-45--88 +16
48 Bobby Powell The First Tee of Connecticut 48-41--89 +17