Hanover -- Although Mike and Scott Peters couldn’t win their record seventh Tommy Keane Invitational golf championship yesterday afternoon at Hanover Country Club, the brother pairing made sure no one else would reach the milestone this year.
Facing the team of fellow six-time winner Brian Doyle and Craig Steckowych -- Doyle’s partner for the last three of those titles -- the Peters won three holes in a four-hole span of the front nine on the way to a 1-up victory in one of the marquee matches of the 32nd renewal of the TKI.
“The funny thing is I’m a member with those guys down at Portsmouth,” Mike Peters said. “I knew the numbers but I didn’t think about them. This was just a good match against good friends and that’s what this tournament is about. There was even some good golf.”
The difference between the teams on this afternoon wasn’t as much playing good golf as avoiding a little not-so-good golf.
“You don’t want to lose to pars,” Mike Peters said. “No one minds losing to birdies; You don’t want to lose to pars.”
But that’s exactly what Doyle and Steckowych did.
After the Peters evened the afternoon match with a birdie on 4, they won the 5th, 6th and 8th holes with pars. “That, as much as anything, was the match,” Mike Peters said. “They were never able to completely recover after that.”
Not that they didn’t try. Steckowych closed the gap with birdies on 11 and 12. A big Scott Peters birdie on 14 gave his team a little breathing room again, only to see their foes from the Seacoast answer with a birdie on 16. Steckowych sent the match to the final hole with a clutch putt on 17.
“He didn’t make a real good chip by his standards and had about 10-12 feet,” Mike Peters recalled. “It was a brutal curler and he nailed it. Not that it surprised me because he’s one of the best competitors you’ll see.”
The Peters, who began the day with a 3 & 2 win over fellow 2002 co-champions Shane MacDonald and Andy Hydorn, play the team of Joe King and Sean Lacey Sunday morning. King and Lacey advanced with a 1-up win over No. 1 seed Nick MacDonald and Doug Lantz.
The other semifinal pits Dean Cashman and Chris Pollard against Ryerson Stinson and Pat Pelletier. Cashman/Pollard advanced with a 4 & 3 win over the father-son team of Duane and Billy Vielleux while Stinson and Pelletier took a 2 Up victory over Mike Hathorn and Mitch Cable.
The winners of the two morning matches will square off for the TKI championship flight title in the afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment