Lantz/MacDonald In 14

DJ Lantz and Nick MacDonald (green) and Zack Pollard and Tyler Silver on the last hole of their match.

HANOVER – Score one for the guys in green.

Steady DJ Lantz and Nick MacDonald won four holes in a five-hole span on the front nine before going on to clinch the 37th annual Tommy Keane Invitational championship match on the 14th green.

Lantz and MacDonald, former University of Hartford golfers who made a fashion statement with their coordinated green-on-black outfits, didn’t lose a hole in the championship final against Tyler Silver and Zach Pollard, recent Lebanon High graduates.

“It was pretty low stress,” said Lantz. “One of us was usually close on a hole, or in a good spot, so the other guy had a run at it. No one was ever really in trouble. It was just a matter of getting putts to go in.”

Lantz and MacDonald, who won the 2010 title with his father, Shane, advanced to afternoon play with a win over Mike Pollard and Doug Daniels in their morning round.

“We played pretty well all day,” MacDonald said. “We hit a lot of greens and didn’t make any bogeys, which is what we did all tournament. We just played solid.”

Silver and Pollard made it to the finals of their inaugural Keane with a win over Jake Obar and Billy Vielleux in their morning match.

After halving the first two holes of the afternoon final, MacDonald and Lantz won No. 3, moved to 2-up when both Silver and Pollard found the sand on No. 5, and then claimed No. 6 with a par.

When Lantz drained the longest putt of the match to date to win No. 7 and put his team 4-up, he and his teammate agreed it was a dagger.

“We were talking about that,” said MacDonald. “It was a key point in the match, getting up four that early. It really put them behind the eight-ball.

“That was big all week. We got two up or three up through five all week. Once you get up that quick it puts a lot of pressure on the other team to hit good shots. And with as tough as these pins were, it’s tough to make putts.”

Silver did make a 10-footer to halve next hole but when an 8-footer on No. 9 wouldn’t go, MacDonald and Lantz were comfortably in the driver’s seat.

“They had a couple good chances,” said MacDonald. “Tyler made a nice putt on 8. If he had made that one on 9 it would have totally changed the match I’m sure.”

It was pretty much all over but for the final accounting when Lantz canned a bomb on 10 to put his team 5-up.

“It’s super helpful having Nicky around because he knows this place like the back of his hand,” said Lantz, who was playing in his first Keane. “He can look up from the fairway and tell you what the slopes are doing from 150 yards. He has them memorized. I’ve always had trouble reading greens here, but he was helpful with it all week.”

After MacDonald couldn’t make a short putt on 13 to sew up the match, a par on 14 was all the team with the matching red University of Hartford golf bags and green shirts needed to end the festivities.

“It was Nicky’s idea,” Lantz said of the somewhat gaudy shirts.

“We both had the shirt from working TaylorMade demo days, so I said to wear them,” explained MacDonald, who has cut back his golf schedule since going to work for Claremont’s Red River Computer Company. “Then DJ called me back before the first round and said, ‘Hey, bring your Hartford bag.’ “

Lantz, who has tentative plans to return to Hartford to work on his MBA and help out with the Hawk golf team this fall, thoroughly enjoyed his first experience in the venerable Tommy Keane clambake.

“This has been in the works for a few years,” he said. “In the past I worked at Lake Sunapee Country Club and this is the member-guest weekend there. This year I’ve been working for TaylorMade and because Nicky knew I’d be available he called me up and said let’s play this.

“It’s a big weekend at Sunapee but this is much more fun. I had a blast, and I’ll definitely be back.”

The bigger question might be whether the coordinated outfits will make a reappearance.

Lantz is confident they will, if not on he and MacDonald, then on someone else. “Next year you’ll see a lot of matching shirts,” he said with a laugh. “I guarantee it.”