OSTERVILLE, Massachusetts – Needing a strong day to break a three-way tie after two rounds at the 85th Tri-State Matches held at Oyster Harbors Club, Team Connecticut collected 55 points in Wednesday’s singles matches to defeat their opponents from Rhode Island and host Massachusetts en route to claiming their record 40th Tri-State matches tournament title. With their victory, Connecticut snapped the Bay State’s 14-year winning streak that dated back to 2004. The victory marked Connecticut first win since 2003.
After tallying a combined 48 points in two rounds of foursome match play on Tuesday, including an afternoon best 26-point effort, the Connecticut squad saw Mike Kennedy (New Haven CC) record a team-best 5 ½ points in the Nassau style scoring format on Wednesday, while Patrick Griffin (Blue Fox Run GC), James Sheltman (Alling Memorial GC) and John Abbott (Timberlin GC) each added five points apiece in the team’s total to edge host Massachusetts by one point, 103 to 102. Rhode Island, with 35 points Wednesday and 83 total points for their three-round total, placed third.
For the Bay State, 2018 Massachusetts Amateur Championship runner-up Herbie Aikens (Old Sandwich GC) and Sean Fitzpatrick (George Wright GC) tallied six points apiece in their mid-amateur matches, while Boxford resident and the all-time winningest player in state history, Frank Vana, Jr., also collected six points in his senior amateur match. Six points were the most points scored by any competitor in Wednesday’s round and no competitor from either Connecticut or Rhode Island was able to collect that maximum point total.
Both Jason Cook (Pine Oaks GC) and Steve Tasho (Thorny Lea GC) added 5 ½ points each in the Bay State effort, while Nick Maccario (Bradford CC) recorded 4 ½ points in his match with Connecticut’s Rob Neaton (4 ½) and Rhode Island’s Glenn Dufault (0).
Prior to its win Wednesday, the last time Connecticut won the Tri-State Matches Tournament was in 2003, when the tournament was hosted by Massachusetts at The Kittansett Club in Marion. That year marked the fifth victory in a six year span for Connecticut.
Next year’s Tri-State matches will be held in Rhode Island.
