HANOVER – Scott Peters won his sixth Tommy Keane Invitational 14 years ago and after advancing past the opening day of match play just one more time since 2007 he was beginning to think perhaps the sand had run out of his championship hourglass.
“Absolutely I was wondering if it would ever happen again,” he said Sunday after teaming up with Andy Hydorn for a 4&3 victory over Dean Cashman and Chris Hynes. “When I play well I can still play as well as I used to but I just don’t do it as often. My good is still good, but my bad is worse.
“No question I wasn’t sure it would happen again. My boys have been riding me saying, ‘Dad, you can still win.’ but I wasn’t sure I would.”
Credit a fast start and heady play by Peters and Hydorn, a three-year letterwinner for Sun Belt conference champion University of South Florida teams in the late ’80s – for helping him finally make it happen.
Peters’ seventh championship breaks a tie with his brother and longtime partner Mike, well-regarded New Hampshire amateur standout Brian Doyle, and Shane MacDonald for most titles in the 42-year history of the Keane.
Peters and Hydorn didn’t win with a display of spectacular golf but with stolid play, exactly what the team they were facing expected.
“Going into a match with Scott and Andy you know they are not going to beat themselves,” said Hynes. “In some matches you can just hang in there and wait for the other guys to make a mistake. You don’t necessarily have to go out there and make a birdie and take it.
“You can plod along but you can’t do that with these guys. They are in every hole. They are solid. They know how to win.”
Peters-Hydorn took the early lead with a par on 2 and a mid-range birdie putt by Hydorn on 3.
Down early, Hynes and Cashman – former Providence College golf teammates and roommates – tried to answer but a Hynes birdie putt to win 4 lipped out. Then it was Cashman’s putt from the fringe giving them a chance to win 5 only to see Peters make his own putt on top of it to maintain the two-hole difference.
Peters and Hydorn went up three when Hynes and Cashman made bogey on 7, a fate the winners dodged all afternoon.
“We got up early and didn’t give them any openings,” said Peters. “We didn’t make a bogey all day.”
Needing something to get his team jump-started, Cashman hit a big drive on 8 and drained a twisting 18-footer for birdie to win the hole.
A Hydorn birdie on 12 stretched the difference back to three only to see Hynes reel the leaders in with a birdie of his own on 13.
After a Hynes birdie putt on 14 burned the cup and a Cashman bid changed its mind at the last minute Peters put the former Providence Friars’ backs against the wall with a short birdie putt to go back up three.
The match ended on 15 when Hynes and Cashman each had trouble with the trees down the left side. Peters and Hydorn, meanwhile, both striped their drives and followed with textbook second shots as they went on to win the hole.
“When we had the honor we hit two good drives in the fairway,” said Peters. “When you do that it makes it hard for them. We did that all afternoon.”
Peters, who won his first Keane 30 years ago in 1987, also claimed the 1994 , 1995, 2000, 2002 and 2003 championships with Mike.
Hydorn teamed with Shane MacDonald to share the ’02 title with the Peters and repeated it with MacDonald in 2009. Hydorn and Peters have been teaming up since 2014.
“In the past we have struggled on the greens,” said Hydorn. “This year we made our fair share of putts and that made the difference today.”
DIVOTS
Cashman and Hynes won the Keane in 2011 but missed last year when Hynes took the tournament off because of the July birth of his son. Hynes and his wife celebrated baby JJ’s first birthday a week early this year, he said, so the new dad could reunite with his three-year roommate in the Keane. He said that’s the plan for the foreseeable future. … Peters and Hydorn met when the former was the Callaway equipment rep who Peters dealt with at Golf & Ski Warehouse. … Hydorn, who founded the golf lifestyle brand Back 9, comes up each year from Houston and said he had to borrow a windbreaker from Peters when the morning temperatures dropped into the low 50’s and he had nothing heavier than a golf shirt in his suitcase.
Peters and Hydorn were medalists in Friday’s qualifying with a 64. … The champions advanced to the final match with a 3&2 win over Jim and Andrew Jankowski. … Cashman and Hynes took a 2&1 win over Jake Obar and Billy Vielleux in the semis. … Mike Hathorn and Ben Gardner defeated Shane Wolter and Travis Mulvihill to win the first flight. … Matt Spruck and Nick Stern took a 7&6 win over Charlier Carr and Mike Schafer to win the second flight and Keith Pattison teamed with Paul Vandenheuvel for a 5&4 win over Jim and Chris Keane in the third flight championship. Tournament veterans Bob Jacobs and Dan Fitzgerald edged Cody Danford and Mike Rice in points, 8-7, to take the fourth flight.
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