Just a hazy, lazy day of summer
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Bill Van Liew leans on the flagstick as partner John Donnelly waits to putt at the L.D. Pierce Invitational at Rutland Country Club on Thursday. The duo, who are the defending champions, took the automatic No. 2 seed. CASSANDRA HOTALING / RUTLAND HERALD |
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By Bob Fredette Herald Staff - Published: July 31, 2009
Thursday was just one of those days. Swing the putter, rake in the birdies, shrug your shoulders. Smile. That's golf. Outrageous golf.
Rutland Country Club's Butch Paul made seven birdies on the way to a 3-under par 67 for himself and Butch Plimpton in the qualifying round of the L.D. Pierce Invitational at Rutland on Thursday.
Seven birdies for one guy, on these greens? What could be better than that?
How about the 7-under par 63 posted by Garren Poirier and Brian Albertazzi to grab the medal with an iron fist? No one else even came close to one of the most outrageous numbers posted in this event's qualifying round, one off the record in the match-play format.
Poirier had six birdies and his teammate/clubmate from Green Mountain National added two more, including a 20-footer on the 18th hole.
So, who's really the Vermont Amateur champion here?
Poirier laughed. "Oh, it's him," he said, motioning toward Albertazzi as the latter sat sipping a beer on a bench near the scoreboard.
"He's been carrying me for three years. I just thought I'd jump in."
Of course, Albertazzi is the man on the Vermont Am circuit these days with back-to-back state championships, but both players are enjoying stellar summers.
Poirier recently returned from the USGA Public Links, where he survived qualifying to make the 64-man match-play field. He lost his opening match but the magic has not left this year's Vermont Am runner-up.
Poirier knocked in a 6-footer on the second hole and went on to make four birdies in six holes as his team turned at 5-under 30. Only a mishap on the 13th, where Poirier's tee shot got buried in a bunker, and Albertazzi hit his approach above the pin on the harshly sloping green, caused the friends to make a bogey. Then Albertazzi, a University of Hartford team member, closed out the round in style.
That's what they would like to do in this tournament; they went to the finals last year before losing to Bill Van Liew and John Donnelly Jr. in 20 holes.
"Last year was just a lot of fun, a great experience, to be down here with so many good players," Poirier said. "But we were pretty upset. Billy and John played well and they deserved it, but we battled back at the end and we felt like we missed two easy birdies on the last hole to win the match.
"For Billy to make that (clinching) putt on the second playoff hole was awesome. It was good for them. But we came into this weekend thinking we were going to take it back. We're not going to guarantee anything, but that's our goal."
Since Poirier and Albertazzi set 62 as their qualifying target, their wishes might be considered far more than fancy. They've got the game to back it up.
Paul, a Rutland member who has gotten deep into Pierce championship flight play, made birdie on Nos. 2, 3, 6, 10, 13, 14 and 15. Had it not been for bogey on No. 1 and a surprising double on the easy 9th hole, the team would have been in a race for medal honors.
But that's golf. Paul missed a short birdie putt on No. 8, this coming after he drained a pipe-snake putt of 50-plus feet on No. 6.
He hit his approach short just short of the green and a back-right pin placement, then dialed long distance and connected.
"I hate to say it but as soon as it left the club I said it has a chance to go it if it just gets there," Paul said. "It was just one of those days. You've got to make those sometimes to get low. Today was a lot of fun."
On a day when the 6,100-yard course played long and greens were soft because of heavy overnight rain, Paul guided his approach shots to lots of positions below the pins, which is the only safe place to be on these quick greens. Plimpton did the reading and Paul followed instructions to the letter, and lots of darkness at the bottom of the hole.
Otherwise, there were very few fireworks on the lush layout on Thursday. The next-best scores were 1-under 69s by Todd Rainville and Jon Lussier, Kirk Emmons and Dennis Gosier, and Jody Larson and Mike Dukette.
Bob and Tim Davidson, Matt Gammons and Jeff King, Kevin Mee and Rob DelBianco, and Jeff Stark and Dave Goodrich shot 70s while Don Costantino and Justin Bemis, Andy Motroni and Bob Aronson, Ron Yacawych and Kris Vassallo, and Joey Bizzarro and Vic Shappy had 71s to stake claim to championship-flight play.
Defending champions Van Liew of Neshobe and Donnelly of The Quechee Club exercised their option to take the No. 2 seed without having to qualify, instead using Thursday's round to sharpen up for today's match play. They scored a comfortable 70.
Ten teams that tied at 72 would have played off for the two remaining spots in the 16-team championship flight, but Terry Campney and Fred DiPietro, and Peter Mittendorf and Justin Cash, were absent when the marathon began. That left Seth Anderson and John Madden, Brian Casey and Travis Luck, Dustin Huff and Lewis Soffield, Kevin and Nate Thompson, Greg Spiro and Kevin Visi, Art Shields and Lou Rozzi, Bob and Taylor Wetherby, and Bill Crossmon and Chris Trapeni to fight it out for those positions.
Crossmon and Trapeni, and Wetherby and Wetherby survived the playoff and earned the right to face Poirier and Albertazzi, and Van Liew and Donnelly, respectively, when match play begins at 9:42 a.m. today.
Some reward. But it's a brand-new day.
And that's golf.
For a complete list of today's tee times and championship flight matches, see the Scoreboard section.
bob.fredette@rutlandherald.com
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