QUECHEE – Three days and 300-or-so miles removed from winning the Tommy Keane Invitational championship at The Quechee Club, Shane Wolter apologized for the emotion coming over the phone.
For Wolter, who learned to love the game of golf at Hanover Country Club and now lives and works in Manhattan, having his name etched on the champions plaque – along with those of the Peters and the MacDonalds and others he watched win the invitational four-ball competition as a young boy – was the culmination of a dream.
“It was special,” said Wolter, now 32. “I grew up with this tournament. I can remember when I was like 12 running around watching the Tommy Keane Invitational. For all the guys of my generation it was the ultimate prize, and to finally get it done and to get my name on the board, it's remarkable. It's an honor to join such a great list of champs.”
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| Chris Troy (left) and Shane Wolter |
That feeling was even more pronounced after last year’s tournament was canceled because of flooding that caused so much damage at Quechee.
“The Tommy Keane is a special event, and for it to have fallen off the calendar the way it did last year was devastating,” Wolter said. “This is an important weekend for so many of us, and even to the community. It’s a family reunion. It’s a celebration of golf in New Hampshire and golf in the Upper Valley. Coming back this year, it just made it all that much more special.”
Wolter teamed up this time around with former Cornell University golfer Chris Troy to win the event Sunday with a 2&1 victory over defending champions Craig Steckowych and Brett Wilson. The powerhouse team from New Hampshire’s Seacoast region was seeded second after shooting 8-under 64 in qualifying while Wolter and Troy shot 67 on Quechee’s Lakeland course to earn the eighth seed in the Championship flight.
“I've known of Brett and Steck for years through the New Hampshire golf circuit and from the fact that they're very good friends with Scott Peters, and he's a close mentor of mine. We knew we had to play great golf to beat them.”
Wolter, who figures he’s played in the tournament all but a couple of years or so since he turned 19, had won the first and second flight in the past but never the championship flight. He was quick to credit his teammate for helping him get over the hump.
“Chris, is a great golfer, a great person and a great partner,” he said. “He knew what buttons to push all weekend, when to laugh, when to make it light, when to talk me out of frustration, when to let me kind of battle myself. He's just so level-headed and a great competitor.”
The Wolter/Troy team opened with a 5&4 win on Saturday morning before squeaking past the team of Dillon Sass and Luke Marrinan, 1-up, when Wolter escaped jail with what he termed “either a lucky shot or a great chip,” for a tap-in four on the decisive hole that moved his team on.
“That was a great end to a great match,” he said. “It epitomized the spirit of the Tommy Keane. Dillon and I have known each other for so long. He's from the Hartford area, played for Hartford. I'm a Hanover guy. It felt like the old days of the Upper Valley at Hanover. There was something unique about it which I won't soon forget, outside the quality of the match.”
A 4&2 win on Sunday morning sent Wolter/Troy into the championship against Wilson and Steckowych, the latter seeking his fourth Keane title.
“I think many people probably thought we were the underdogs but we didn't feel that way despite the quality of player we were up against,” said Wolter. “I think if you go into a match with that mentality, it's just one extra hurdle you have to get over.”
Winning the first hole helped their cause.
“We got off to a great start with a birdie on one,” Wolter recalled. “That kind of settled the nerves. Brett then made a 30-footer up the hill for a birdie on two and from there, it was game on.”
To Wolter’s way of thinking, the par-3 eighth hole was one of the turning points of the match. On seven, he’d found the water on the left and Steckowych had hit it tight for a birdie that squared the match.
“On eight, all three of the guys who hit ahead of me, Brett, Steck and Chris, found themselves kind of pin high but right at the base of a severe slope. So it was going to be quite hard to get it in there for an easy two putt.
“I hit last and hit it to about 15 feet, short left of the hole. I had a nice look at birdie that I was able to jar for a 1-up lead.”
Another Wolter birdie on 10 had his team 2-up before the 11th, which he called pivotal.
“Chris was probably 100 yards short to kind of a tricky pin in the back corner of the green with water deep. Everyone probably thought he was in the water only to realize when we got back there it hit a wooden fence, which kept it dry. Then he hit the flop shot of all flop shots from the deep rough behind the green to a tucked pin and knocked it in for the half.
“That kept the momentum going. I think had we lost 11 it would have really swung the last seven holes in the match.”
Wolter had a chance to close out the match with a two-putt par from 25 feet on 16 but his long sought-after Keane championship wouldn’t come that easily.
“I decided to nuke the putt past the pin,” he said. “That left a nice four-footer coming back for the win and that doesn’t go in, so we marched to 17.”
There Troy hit a punch under trees that avoided the water, leaving a delicate chip out of the rough that he canned on the way to a nifty up-and-down par. When Steckowych’s 25-footer for birdie just missed Wolter could finally claim a championship he’ll cherish for a long time.
“Winning is great, but the weekend was about more than winning,” he said. “The best memory was the hug that Scott Peters gave me. He was the first person to say congratulations. I'll savor that one forever.
“To be able to share that moment with Scott and my friends and family, and with so many other people from around the Upper Valley made it a perfect afternoon.”
SEAVER PETERS AWARD
Presented in recognition of a TKI player or team that embodies the spirit of Seaver - his love of golf, good fellowship, incredible sportsmanship and the devotion he had for this unique event, the Seaver Peters Award for 2024 went to Charlie Carr.
