(Click photos to enlarge.)
Monday, July 30, 2018
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Championship Result: MacDonald Redux
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| Nick MacDonald (facing camera) is congratulated by Andy Hydorn while Shane MacDonald (red hat) accepts congratulations from Scott Peters. (More photos tomorrow.) |
Peters was right.
Unfortunately for the defending champions, the father-son team (son-father team?) of Nick and Shane MacDonald did them one better.
They played some really [italics] great [end italics] golf.
With Nick hammering the ball down the middle and Shane playing his usual steady game the MacDonalds registered an eagle and five birdies without a bogey to post a 2-up victory in the 43rd annual TKI at Hanover Country Club.
The Keane title was the fourth for the MacDonalds in five years, fifth overall as a team, and seventh for Shane, who won also won twice teamed with Hydorn.
Coming off a disappointing state amateur, Nick MacDonald said he “kind of found my swing a little bit last weekend.”
He’ll get no argument on that count from his opponents.
“Nick played as good a round of golf as I have seen in a long time,” said Hydorn. “He struck the ball wonderfully today. I don’t think I looked up one time and saw his ball going off-line. It was a terrific round of golf.”
Added Peters: “We had three or four birdies and an eagle, but Nick played the way Nick can play. That’s really the story.”
Just ask Shane MacDonald, who had a front-row seat to the show his son put on.
“Nick didn’t have to putt on 18 but he probably would have made birdie,” the dad said. “So he was six-under without putting out on 18. He would’ve shot a 64 or 65 on his own ball.”
In front of an appreciative gallery that grew with each hole the MacDonalds had little margin for error because the Peters-Hydorn team refused to go away.
Down two holes after Nick chipped in for eagle on 15, Hydorn and Peters both missed makable birdie putts on 16, sending them to 17 needing to win the hole or go home. That didn’t figure to be easy because, given Nick MacDonald’s length and the way he was playing, he was almost certain to birdie the 517-yard par-5.
On a day of good golf it was time for the best shot of the match.
Needing a little magic to prolong the match, Hydorn hit a low gap wedge on 17 from 94 yards out that he knew was on line. But because he could see only the top third of the pin he wasn’t sure how close the shot really was.
His first hint that something special might be happening was the noise coming from the gallery assembled on the bank overlooking the green. It started as a polite cheer and morphed into a roar heard all the way back at the clubhouse as the ball dropped into the cup for the eagle that extended the match.
“I could hear them start to get loud,” Hydorn said, “and then I heard them get really loud, which is the coolest feeling.”
Given a life, Peters and Hydorn now needed to win the 18th hole to square the match. They would catch a break when long-hitting Nick’s second shot came up short, but when his subsequent pitch left him just five feet for birdie the match was over.
Shane MacDonald gave credit where credit was due.
“Nick didn’t miss a shot,” he said. “He did everything he wanted to do. It was great to see him play as good as I know he can play after the Am.
“I told him, ‘Just keep it fun.’ It was a good ride and a lot of good golf. You don’t want to win a hole by mistake and I think there was only one mistake all day, on their seventh hole. Other than that, there weren’t any holes that were giveaways. It was just good golf.”
By both teams.
“I was actually very happy for Nick because he had a tough State Am,” said Peters. “I was his opponent and you don’t necessarily love seeing it, but that was really impressive. The only bad shots he hit were when he spun it too much, which isn’t bad.
“I was fighting my swing and had some bad holes but when I had a bad hole Andy was there. We did a good job of ham-and-egging it as teammates, working every shot and putt. We knew we had to because of the way they were playing. There was no expectation of winning a hole with a par because we both knew we had to make birdies to win.
“Nobody likes losing but we lost to two great guys in a great match.”
DIVOTS
Peters and Shane MacDonald are now tied for the all-time lead with seven Keane titles each. Nick MacDonald has six. … Shane Wolter and Travis Mulvihill took the first flight with a 3&2 win over Doug Daniels and Mike Pollard. Joe Yukica Jr., and son Mike put together a 6&5 win over Mike Kelly and Don Weisburger in the second flight and Dave and Ron Cioffi claimed the third flight with a 2&1 win over Mark McCaddin and Rick Wetmore.
Quick Hit: MacDonald's Win Title 2 UP
Brackets, story, photos coming tonight after I file with the newspaper. Stay tuned.
Final Set
It will be Nick and Shane MacDonald against Scott Peters and Andy Hydorn in the Championship final. The Peters team defeated the Jankowskis, 5&4 and the MacDonalds held off the Choukas brothers, 2&1.
Sunday Note
I'll be out on the course trying to get some insights and grab photos of the Championship Flight match so there won't be hourly updates today. Check in tonight for final brackets, a story about the championship and those photos I'll be snapping. Catch you then.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Choukas Brothers Look Sharp
HANOVER – The brothers were in South Carolina when they both zeroed in on the sweet golf shirt with alternating horizontal stripes of navy, a light royal and Columbia blue.
Although they are five years apart and Nate Choukas used to tower over Phin, a growth spurt has the younger brother looking almost eye-to-eye with the older and at first glance these days you might almost think they are twins. Of course, while there was a time when wandering around doing the twin thing might have been cute – if they really were twins, that is – it would be guaranteed to draw stares if the newly minted Trinity College grad and the brother on the cusp of his freshman year at Middlebury happened to be wandering down Main Street wearing identical golf shirts.
And so it seemed that only one of the Hanover brothers would be getting the coveted shirt until ding-ding-ding they came up with the perfect excuse to each buy their own.
“We were like, ‘Hey, maybe we can do a little matching thing at the Tommy Keane,’ ” Phin ex- plained.
Which is exactly what the brothers were doing Saturday while advancing to the semifinals of the invitational golf tournament, dressed smartly in matching shirts, shorts and Hanover Country Club hats with the signature ski jump logo.
Ah yes, the hats.
Phin, who used to pull a bucket hat over his head when he caddied for his brother in the TKI a few years back, pushed for that as well. But if you’ll excuse the pun, cooler heads prevailed when the brothers made their Keane debut as teammates.
The brothers Choukas have been talking about playing together in the event almost since Phin picked up the game at 6- or 7-years-old. But since becoming eligible Nate has played with former Hanover High School teammate Benny Hayes, who has has flown home from the Pacific Northwest several times to play in the TKI. Two summers ago the pair made it all the way to the championship match.
“Ben and I have had some pretty good runs in this tournament and we always wanted to win one together,” Nate said. “I obviously love to play with my brother but if Ben makes the effort to come from the West Coast, I have to honor that. He couldn’t come this year, and it’s Phin’s first year of being eligible to play so it all worked out.”
And it worked out pretty well.
After qualifying for the Championship fight with a 70 Friday they won their morning match Saturday 2&1 over former Dartmouth captains Jamie Wallace and Rob Henley, who had carded a 66 in qualifying. They followed with a 6&5 win over Jay Leonard and Tom Monahan in the afternoon.
Despite their age difference, the brothers have been playing together ever since the precocious Phin was identifying birdie pin placements when he was not much taller than his golf bag.
“It’s always been fun playing with him,” Nate said. “We’ve been playing golf together for a very long time. Like any kid who has game at that young an age he would get a little frustrated, but so would I. We had some times when we would get mad on the course, but playing with my brother? There’s nothing better.”
While friends teaming up in the Keane or another golf tournament sometimes have to feel each other out regarding strategy or how they react when one is struggling, that’s hardly the case with the Choukases.
“I realized at one point we were telling each other sorry after hitting bad shots,” Phin said. “But then it was, ‘Wait, there is no need to do that.’ ”
Added Nate: “There’s less of a filter with what you say with us playing together. But it’s never anything negative about the other person. It’s more like negative self talk, which I’m more comfortable doing in front of Phin than someone else. But at the same time, he is so good at talking me down that I think it is an advantage, honestly. No one is as good at putting me in a good frame of mind as Phin.”
If you were putting together a golf team, those around Hanover Country Club will tell you, it’s a tough call which brother you would pick first.
“I think it’s more of what do you need,” Nate suggested.
“If you need birdies,” Phin offered, “pick him. If you need pars, maybe you don’t pick him.”
And then both brothers laughed.
Nate, who who captained the Trinity golf team last year and is an alternative to the upcoming U.S. Amateur, is expecting to move to Florida in November to continue playing.
Phin, meanwhile, will be following his brother into the NESCAC golf ranks at Midd.
“Seeing the level of competition at his tournaments and getting to know the guys on his team, I knew it would be a good fit,” he said.
But don’t expect big brother to be rooting for Middlebury when his alma mater is on the other tee.
“I think in a few years maybe, but it will be hard to ever root against Trinity,” he said. “So I will never do that. But I will root for Phin.”
DIVOTS
The Choukas brothers will face the father-son team of Shane and Nick MacDonald in one semifinal after the MacDonald’s defeated qualifying medalists Tyler Silver and Matt Paradis, 1-up Saturday afternoon.
The other semifinal will pit the father-son team of Jim and Andrew Jankowski, 2-up winners over Torrey Viger and Matt Wood, against defending champions Scott Peters and Andy Hydorn. They moved on with a 2&1 win over Mak Lyford and Pat Pelletier.
5 P.M. Update (Not)
No match results from the afternoon have gone up yet although it shouldn't be long since some are in.
The sky is starting to threaten, a little later than forecast, but not in a scary kind of way. More to come when there's more to report.
The sky is starting to threaten, a little later than forecast, but not in a scary kind of way. More to come when there's more to report.
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