A MESSAGE FROM CSGA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MIKE MORAGHAN
IT’S A TEAM GAME
You are completely on your own out there—unless you have a partner,
a captain and some really good teammates.
W
e witnessed some wonderful celebrations
in 2018. The VanDerLaan brothers,
Michael and John hugging after John
won the Connecticut Open. Jay Conroy
in full embrace with son Ben after Ben won the Con-
necticut Mid-Amateur. And it wasn’t just the winners.
Every player who shot their personal best, or just had a
really good day, felt that satisfaction, that private sense
of accomplishment.
Golf can seem cruel at times, but also enormously re-
warding as an individual sport. And sometimes, when it
is a team game, it is even more exhilarating. Just ask our
seven junior players who won the team title at the New
England Junior, or the amateurs who prevailed over the
pros in the Julius Boros Challenge Cup, or any pair who
captured a two-player tournament, be it a member guest
or a statewide four-ball.
For all those private and public celebrations this year,
nothing quite matched the euphoria around the score-
board when Team Connecticut secured its Tri-State vic-
tory at Oyster Harbors Club on the last day of the 2018
season.
Led by Team Captain Roger Everin, 16 of Connecti-
cut’s best players traveled to Massachusetts for the two-
day competition against teams from the host state and
Rhode Island. The first day featured 36 holes of Four-
somes matches with 144 points at stake. Captain Everin’s
message that morning was simple: Trust Your Partner.
After falling behind in the morning session, Con-
necticut rallied in the afternoon to produce the rarest of
results: Each team had 48 points.
The following morning, with 16 singles matches to
decide the title, Captain Everin had another simple mes-
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sage: Trust Yourselves.
As the day unfolded and results began to trickle in,
Mass opened up a slim lead over Connecticut while
Rhode Island fell back. As each Connecticut player
arrived at the scorer’s table teammates quickly asked,
“How did you do?” or simply inquired with a nod or a
pointed finger. Every response was met with enthusiasm.
Pat Griffin earned 5 points out of a possible 6...Mike
Kennedy 5.5...James Sheltman 5...Rob Neaton...Ben
Conroy...Dan Murphy each with 4.5.
These were individual battles fought on behalf of an
entire team. Players kept asking, “How are we doing?
How do we stand? Can we catch Massachusetts?”
With only Glen Boggini’s match still to report, a Con-
necticut victory appeared out of reach. Boggini would
need 3.5 points just to forge a tie with Massachusetts.
He’d need more than that for a Connecticut victory.
As he approached the scorer’s table Boggini turned to
his teammates and grinned. With the scorecard secure in
his right hand, Boggini raised his left, tucked his thumb
against his palm, and presented four fingers to his team.
Suddenly there were hugs and back slaps and fist pumps
all around. Captain Everin had tears in his eyes:
Connecticut 103
Massachusetts 102
Rhode Island 83
Sixteen individuals and their emotional team captain
each made an invaluable contribution that day. And the
result was the sweetest of victories, a team title for Con-
necticut.
www.csgalinks.org
12/19/18 4:24 PM