NORTON, Massachusetts – Players from across the state are happy to be hitting the road again for the Fall Cup, a statewide tournament featuring women’s golfers from Mass Golf Member Clubs. The new season began Wednesday, September 9 with 480 women playing at 20 different courses from around the state.
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“Our players have been playing a lot at home,” said Elaine Gebhardt, team captain of the William J. Devine Team and the Executive Director of the New England Golf Course Owners Association. “Despite having two courses to choose from, we are eager to play elsewhere.”
The Fall Cup features three regular-season matches played in September between Member Club teams in their divisions, which are sorted by the clubs’ proximity to one another. Each team consists of six female players competing in a Four-Ball match play format.
After the matches on September 17 and September 24, the top teams will compete in the Fall Cup Championship on October 13 at The Ridge Club in Sandwich. The Fall Cup Championship field will consist of each region’s winning team sending 6 players to compete in a Four-Ball (best ball) stroke play format. TPC Boston is the defending champion.
“This event was a momentous step for golf in the Bay State,” said Naomi Nessenoff, Mass Golf’s Manager of Women’s Events & Player Development.
Fall Cup is an inclusive event that is open to any player with a Mass Golf Handicap Index (max 54.0). Players with a Handicap Index of higher than 36.0 will be limited to a player, whose index does not exceed 36.0.
Gebhardt said these events help club players get more comfortable with statewide competition.
“Playing as part of a team and playing with a partner in their first state golf tournament helps calm the nerves,” Gebhardt said.
Among the highlights from the first week of matches, Annette Mallen made her first hole-in-one Wednesday during her match at The Country Club of New Bedford.
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The start of the season is especially a relief after the Spring Cup Matches were canceled due to COVID-19. The Spring Team matches offer a similar competition to Fall Cup, except Spring Cup is five regular season matches with no final event.
“We really missed Spring Teams,” Gebhardt said. “We typically have 2-3 teams competing, but we completely understand that it wasn’t meant to be given where we were in the pandemic.”
Added Nesenoff: “I’ve had numerous calls and e-mails from excited Fall Cup participants throughout the summer hoping Fall Cup would happen. It has, and we had a beautiful day to start the Fall Cup matches.”
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For the latest updates on all Mass Golf events, visit MassGolf.org or follow Mass Golf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @PlayMassGolf.
