Peters-Hydorn Grind Way To Title

Teammates congratulate each other after the final putt on the 18th hole.

QUECHEE – The Tommy Keane Invitational began Friday in a torrential downpour and, fittingly in its successful first run at The Quechee Club, ended Sunday with a rainbow over the heads of the winning team of Scott Peters and Andy Hydorn.

Three holes up on Craig Steckowych and Brett Wilson with six to go, Peters-Hydorn saw the veterans from the New Hampshire seacoast charge back and with a birdie on 18 have a chance to extend the match. But Hydorn answered the challenge with a birdie putt of his own to sew up the championship.

“They hit some great shots to get us down in a hole,” said Wilson. “But my partner came through and made a couple clutch birdies. We made them have to earn it on 18, and they answered the call.”

The Keane title is the eighth for Peters and his second with Hydorn, who has won the annual event three other times with a different partner.

“It was a great,” said Hydorn, who makes the trip up from Houston each year for the tournament. “Scott was awesome early on when I wasn’t so sharp. We pretty much had each other’s back the whole time. Brett and Craig are really good players and we knew it would be a tough match.”

Peters and Hydorn birdied the first hole on the Lakeland course to take an early lead that they never relinquished. After Hydorn’s three-foot birdie putt on 12 put his team three up with a chance to stretch the lead Wilson cozied a critical tricky downhill putt close on 13 to halve the hole with a par.

Then it was Steckowych winning 14 with a birdie and Wilson knocking in a putt on 15 to pull within one hole with three to play.

An excellent chip by Peters held off Steckowych and Wilson on 16 and after the 17th was halved it all came down to the matching birdies on the 18th green.

“They are two of the best players in New Hampshire and great friends,” said Peters. “We were hoping to play each other. You have to play good to beat those guys. You just have to.

“We ham-and-egged it. I didn’t play good some holes and he didn’t play good on some, but as a team we were a bunch under and managed to win.”

The championship flight finalists were the two top-seeded teams after shooting matching 66s during Friday’s qualifying. Peters-Hydorn also got the measure of the other pair in a one-hole playoff Friday for medalist honors.

“This was so much fun,” said Wilson. “All four of us are friends. We go on the road together. We were jovial. It just felt like four friends playing golf together, although obviously there was a little more on the line.”

The tournament, a staple at the now closed Hanover Country club from 1975  until 2019, was held at Quechee for the first time and for the first time in fall instead of its usual end-of-July date.

“The move here was seamless,” said Peters, who heads up the Keane committee. “The people at Quechee were wonderful and everyone loved it. I don’t think the tournament could have been better.”

Brett Wilson follows his putt on 18 under the rainbow.

(Check back Monday for a selection of photos from the championship flight final.)