Dad Jim Jankowski tends the flag and Adam Pippin looks on as Andrew Jankowski's winning birdie putt heads for the hole in the 2019 championship match. (More photos tomorrow)
HANOVER – If weddings and family were indeed the themes of the week for the Tommy Keane Invitational the eventual champions had no reason to worry even after falling three holes behind in the blink of an eye.
Jim and Andrew Jankowski, who roared back for a 2&1 win over Pat Pelletier and Adam Pippin, had both themes covered.
The family piece? Jim played in his first Keane in 1979 and by 1989 had seven-month-old Andrew following along in a backpack on his mom’s shoulders. Father and son have played together ever since Andrew turned 18 and he’s 29 now.
The wedding piece? Andrew had little time to linger in Hanover after the match because he had to hop in a car and drive to Boston to catch a 10:10 transatlantic flight to join his girlfriend at a wedding in Nice, France. Correction: He was flying out to join his girlfriend at the wedding reception. He had to miss the ceremony because of a certain family obligation.
That would be the 44th annual Tommy Keane.
“This is the first thing I put on my calendar every year,” said the younger Jankowski, who flew in for the tournament from his home in Santa Monica, Calif. “It was already scheduled before I found out about the wedding so there was no chance I was missing this.”
While teaming up with his father to win the Keane for the first time made his hectic travel schedule worthwhile the start looked anything but promising.
After the teams traded pars on the first hole Pelletier won the second with a 15-foot-birdie. He followed with a six-foot birdie on the third before Pippin knocked home a bomb on No. 4. That quickly Pelletier and Pippin were up three.
At that point the Jankowski’s made a change Jim had suggested a hole earlier.
“We switched our batting order,” he said. “I wanted to switch on the fourth tee and he didn’t want to. He said, ‘We are both playing well. Why switch?’
“I said, ‘We are playing well but let’s just change our mojo a little bit.’ ”
It worked.
The Jankowskis immediately won their first hole, putting both tee balls on the green on 5 and winning with a par when Pelletier went into the woods behind the hole and Pippin couldn’t get up and down.
The difference was three holes again after Pelletier hit to three feet and birdied nine, but the Jankowskis answered by winning 11 and 12 to pull within a hole.
It stayed that way until 15 when Jim, the only one not to reach the green in regulation, chipped in for a birdie that leveled the match.
The Jankowskis went in front for the first time on 16 when Andrew drained the longest putt he or his father would make all day.
Pelletier and both Jankowskis had birdie putts on 17. After Pelletier ran his tricky downhiller well by and Jim narrowly missed, Andrew stepped up and trickled in a six-footer to win the match and give himself a little more breathing room to catch his flight.
Pelletier, who will find out Wednesday if he is in the U.S. Mid-Amateur, gave credit where it was due.
“We had it going early and when we were up three after nine going into holes that I feel suit my game really well I thought we were good,” he said. “But we had a couple we should have won and they never gave any holes away. I knew it was only a matter of time until they went on a run and started making birdies.
“You can just tell they are both tournament tough. I see Jim’s name all the time in tournaments. Andrew obviously played at Dartmouth. Usually the key to this tournament isn’t necessarily making a ton of birdies but keeping pressure on your opponents to force them to make a mistake and they were never in trouble.”
That, according to Andrew, was critical.
“Pat is so tough out here,” he said. “You know he can go out and shoot a 64 on his own ball here so we just had to stick to our gameplan, hit solid shots and avoid making mistakes.”
Because they did that Jim has his first Tommy Keane championship in more appearances than he can count and Andrew has a pretty good story to share at that wedding reception in France.
“This has been part of my life forever,” he said. “It’s a major in the Jankowski family.”
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