By Richard Rapp
rrapp@massgolf.org
FALL RIVER, Massachusetts (May 14, 2024) – After taking a commanding lead on day one at Country Club of New Bedford, Dean Godek (Agawam Municipal GC) and Ed Garbacik (Westover GC) kept it going at Fall River Country Club on Tuesday, securing the 27th Massachusetts Senior Four-Ball Championship title. Their two day total of 8-under par 132, was a comfortable four shots clear of second place finishers David Pierce (Thorny Lea GC) and Randy Millen (Pine Oaks GC).
“It’s my first ever state title, so it means a great deal to me,” said Garbacik. “I’m just glad we could grind it out and make it happen. It’s one thing to play well, but it’s another to have the greatest partner ever.”
Carter Fasick (Westborough GC) and Jon Fasick (New England CC) took home Super Senior Division honors, continuing a long legacy of success in the format. The twin brothers won the Mass Four-Ball four times (1986, 1991, 1997, 1998) and the Mass Senior Four-Ball in 2018. This marks the third time they’ve claimed the Super Senior Division (2018, 2019).
Godek and Garbacik slept soundly on a three-shot lead and entered Tuesday morning’s final round motivated to keep pushing ahead as pace setters, well aware that teams can gain a lot of ground in a hurry in this format. Though their six-under performance on Monday at CC of New Bedford rendered the pair confident, they were still facing a good deal of uncertainty, as neither had played Fall River CC before.
They were held birdieless through the first 10 holes, and surrendered two shots back to the field with bogeys on 6 and 7, shrinking their lead to one tenuous stroke.
“We actually played good on the front. We both three-putted 7 and then we both had a couple birdies on the edge. It’s just like, once we got the lid off the hole, all of the sudden they started to go in on the back nine. And we knew that, you know, every hole’s a birdie hole,” said Godek.
Godek got them back to even on the day with birdies on 11 and 14. While the putts were indeed falling, it appeared to be precise iron play that really set them up for success. Asked if they were firing at pins down the stretch, Garbacik said, “That’s all we had left. We wanted to get it back to red, and we got it back red. It’s tough to be patient out there, it was a tough day out there.”
If there was any stress about essentially playing blind against a field that would have its crack at them later in the day, it didn’t show in their clinical finishing stretch of holes.
The 14th is a dramatic par-4 that plays up and over a severely crested fairway. The extra long flagstick was situated in a welcoming bowl towards the back of the green. Unbeknownst to him, Godek’s blind iron shot found the funnel, leaving him a 5-footer for birdie, which he buried.
They moved on to the downhill 180-yard par-3 15th, framed by the Taunton River in the distance. A freshening wind mirrored the river’s swift current, moving from the players’ left to right. Godek judged the breeze perfectly, and for the second consecutive hole, left himself a 5-foot birdie putt, which he confidently brushed in.
Playing straight into the wind on the 16th, Godek and Garbacik drove it within a yard of each other in the center of the fairway. Both found the green, and they walked away with par when Godek laid his tricky downhill, downwind putt stone-dead, an inch beyond the cup.
On the 90° dogleg right par-4 17th, Garbacik faced a difficult approach. With the ball below his feet, trees hanging in his line on the left, and a hybrid in hand, he hit a laser. The ball pierced through the freshly sprouted leaves, climbed up the slope toward the perched green, took one hop in the rough, and scooted all the way to the back of the putting surface, where the pin was set on a small tier. His birdie bid just missed on the right edge.
Garbacik hit another beauty from the rough on the 18th. With about 160 yards up the hill, into a stiffening wind, he struck his iron true. The ball started at the left side of the green and gently faded towards the flag, before landing and kicking even further right, directly on line. The pair couldn’t make out where the ball finished from the fairway. As their cart approached the green, some yelps of approval fluttered in the wind. Another 5 foot birdie putt upcoming.
Garbacik struck his putt with a deft touch. As it trundled over the front lip, he fell into a low squat, as if gravity was pulling him down to earth along with his ball. Godek, meanwhile, let out a whoop, pleased to witness the team’s fourth birdie of the back nine, which brought them to -8 for the championship.
What was on Garbacik’s mind over that putt? “I just said to myself, look, this is my last chance to really contribute today, meaningfully. And it stayed on the line and went in.”
“It feels good to be done, because it was challenging out there,” said Godek. “You gotta trust your partner. I mean, that’s the thing is playing with somebody that you trust and you can’t get down on each other and you’ve just got to trust, you know, to say, okay, let it go. Like he was saying, you never look back. We just looked forward.”
Done before two o’clock, they were left looking at the leaderboard, waiting to see if any challengers would rise up the ranks.
As afternoon ushered in evening, it became clear that no one was catching these two. Not even close.
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1. Dean Godeck & Ed Garbacik (-8)
2. David Pierce & Randy Millen (-4)
T3. Gregory Badger & Kevin Daly (-1)
T3. Alex McCallum & Stephen Larson (-1)
T3. Brian Kelley & Frank Depiano (-1)
T3. Carter Fasick & Jon Fasick (-1)
As the city’s once-booming whaling industry began to decline around the end of the 18th century, William Campbell was brought in to lay out nine holes for the Hawthorn Club. The course was immensely popular, which prompted several members to seek land for an alternative option. Hawthorn’s professional David Findlay designed a new nine hole routing in nearby Dartmouth, which officially became Country Club of New Bedford in 1902.
In 1922, the club secured the services of two-time Open champion and renowned Scottish architect (Sunningdale, Maidstone, Olympia Fields(don’t mind if I do)) Willie Park Jr.. He completely redesigned the original and nine, and expanded the course to 18 holes.
CC of New Bedford is a fitting venue for the Massachusetts Senior Four-Ball, as the club’s own “August Fourball” is the longest running competition in the format, dating back to 1931.
A missed putt at the club in 1930 had global ramifications for the game of golf. A member of the club, Phil Young, swore that his putt veered off line due to a ball that wasn’t round, and implored his playing partner, head of the x-ray department at a nearby hospital, to investigate the matter. The core of the ball was indeed off-center.
Young enlisted fellow MIT grad Fred Bommer, a rubber specialist, to join him on a venture to produce better golf balls. Together, they developed the Titleist.
To this day, all Titleist golf balls are x-rayed before they leave the factory, so spare us your geometric excuses after that next missed putt, at least if you’re rolling a Titleist.
Visit MassGolf.org and follow @PlayMassGolf on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest information on the Massachusetts Four-Ball Championship at The Club at New Seabury.
