By BRUCE BERLET Szewczul Wins Big in 2011 Just when it appeared things couldn’t get any better for Dave Szewczul along came 2011. Szewczul was the runaway Connecticut State Golf Association Senior Player of the Year and finished third in the Player of the Year race in 2010, when he capped his season with induction into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame. The standout from Tunxis Plantation Country Club in Farmington went one better on the competitive front in 2011. Szewczul again was the runaway winner of a third consecutive Dick Siderowf Senior Player of the Year Award and finished second to Tom McCarthy of Twin Hills C.C. in Coventry in his bid for the Dick Tettelbach Award. And Szewczul ended with a flourish when he became the first player in the modern era to win three consecutive major tournaments in successive weeks – the New England Senior Amateur, Connecticut Senior Amateur and CSGA Public Links Championship for a record fourth time, all in a span of 13 days. “I don’t know if this was my best year, but it was my most consistent,” said Szewczul, who turned 58 on Dec. 16. “My stroke average was the lowest ever, I’m a better ball-striker and didn’t have as many highs and lows. It sounds funny, but over the years I’m just maturing and playing a more mature type of golf. Whether it’s my wrist injury or not, I’m just hitting more quality shots because I can’t attack the ball as well as I used to.” Seven years ago, doctors told Szewczul that he might never play golf again because of an ailing left wrist that underwent three extensive surgeries and left his left arm immobilized in a cast from his wrist to his shoulder for 30 weeks. He couldn’t shave, tie a tie or turn a doorknob. He needed wife Lisa to help dress him. He couldn’t have the fun he wanted with son David because of a hunk of plaster that had seemingly become part of his anatomy. Golf? Forget it. A thing of the past. Miniature golf, maybe, but not the real deal. Only in his dreams. Well, Szewczul defied the odds again last year and is proud to say he has remained highly competitive, as he is about to enter his fifth decade of high-level competition. “The injury changed my game to the point where I’m a more consistent player because I can’t drive through the ball the way I used,” Szewczul said. “I’m taking more club and not intimidated by players who hit if farther and use two less clubs than I do. The name of the game is the score that you put up, and it doesn’t matter how you get there. And that’s all I’ve tried 30
CT NOTEBOOK to do, just maintain and keep myself in position to win. “The year was going along OK until the last month, when it became a memorable year. Winning three tournaments in a row like that was pretty special. People have asked which one meant the most, and I really can’t say any one had any more significance than the other. The Public Links was special because it had been 16 years since I won the last one. The Senior Amateur was wonderful because it was my first one, and the New England Senior Amateur was special because I was able to repeat in my home state at Race Brook amongst all my friends and to be able to share the spotlight with my good friend Bill Lee. He won the Super Seniors, and I think it was pretty neat. We first locked heads in 1975 (in the CSGA Amateur final), and here we were 36 years later able to share a victory together. “And if you take that one step and you have Jeff Hedden winning the New England Amateur, I think it’s pretty awesome that you’ve got the New England Amateur champion, the Senior Amateur champion and the Super Senior Amateur champion all from the same state in the same year. I don’t know if there’s any other sport where you can say that. And that pretty much sends a message to all of New England that Connecticut golf is strong and healthy. Szewczul won more than ever in 2011, as he made the unprecedented threetournament run late in the year after he tied for second in the Russell C. Palmer Cup, the state’s stroke-play championship, and was low amateur in the Connecticut Senior Open, which he won in 2010, fourth overall and second low amateur to McCarthy in the Connecticut Open, a semifinalist in the CSGA Senior Match Play Championship and reached the Round of 16 in the CSGA Amateur Championship. Szewczul’s 525 points were 95 less than McCarthy, but he played in only four events, two less than the champion. The difference was McCarthy’s 100 points for finishing second to 2009-10 Player of the Year Jeff Hedden of the Black Hall Club in Old Lyme in the New England Amateur Championship, which Szewczul didn’t play. Meanwhile, Szewczul’s 1,425 points in the Senior Player of the Year race were nearly four times that of runner-up Lee (365) and more than the next FIVE players combined. He also is the leader for the three-man Connecticut team for the 2012 USGA Men’s State Team Championship Sept. 9-12 at Galloway National G.C. in Galloway, N.J.
Szewczul was especially proud of his win in the New England Senior Amateur where he was three shots back with four holes to go but pulled out a second straight victory over Andy Congdon and Jim Hosey of Massachusetts at Race Brook C.C. But the big question was: Did winning a second runaway senior player of the year title, nearly winning the regular player of the year title or his son receiving the Connecticut Section PGA Boys Sportsmanship Award for 2011 mean more to him? “There’s no question it’s Dave,” dad said without hesitation of his son, a threesport athlete and top student at Avon Old Farms. “I play for the love of the game, and I tear up and can’t think of anything more important to me that what my son did. His peers nominated him, and that to me is more important than shooting 65. Reputation means everything. My dad told me once you lose your reputation, you can’t get it back, so I just tell (my son) to play with the utmost respect.”
CT Notes...
The Connecticut Section PGA Players of the Year were familiar names. Kevin Giancola of Golf Quest in Southington won the Player of the Year Award for the sixth time since 2003, and Fran Marrello of Canaan C.C. won the Senior Player of the Year for the fifth time in the seven years he has been eligible. He also has been Player of the Year six times, the last in 2007 when he became the only player to win both in the same year. Abbey Doski of Sandy Hook and Patrick Albanesi of Avon were the Connecticut Section PGA Junior Golf Association Girls and Boys Player of the Year. The 2012 Connecticut golf schedule again will be highlighted by the $6 million Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell on June 21-24, when Fredrik Jacobsen will be defending champion. Other notable events will be the Connecticut Open July 30-Aug. 1 at Wee Burn C.C. at Darien, the Connecticut Women’s Open May 2930 at C.C. of Waterbury, the Connecticut PGA Championship Sept. 24-26 at Ellington Ridge C.C., the CSGA Amateur Championship June 25-29 at Race Brook C.C. in Orange, the Connecticut Women’s Golf Association Championship June 1114 at Rolling Hills C.C. in Wilton, the Southern New England Women’s Golf Association Championship July 23-24 at Cedar Knob G.C. in Somers and the Connecticut State Women’s Amateur Championship Aug. 14-16 at Ridgewood C.C. in Danbury.
Dave Szewczul The new year also brought a new CSGA executive director as Ron Drapeau retired after six years and was succeeded by former University of Virginia men’s golf coach Mike Moraghan, whose players included PGA Tour player James Driscoll of Brookline, Mass. Moraghan’s late father, Marty, was a longtime CSGA tournament director and USGA rules official who is in the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame. “During my tenure at the CSGA, the scope of our activities as the association of member clubs broadened significantly to include legislative issues and grow the game initiatives at a time when the general economy stumbled and discretionary income was reduced,” Drapeau said. “I feel good that we were able to provide quality leadership on the new issues while maintaining the base mission. We completed and publicized a study reflecting the golf industry that delivers $1.1 billion to the State of Connecticut’s economy while employing 11,500 with a payroll of $340 million. “Working through the Connecticut Golf Alliance in concert with the Superintendents’ Association, we were able to influence pragmatic, sensible regulation from the Department of Environmental Protection regarding ground water use. The creation of the Connecticut Clubs for Schools program has started to reap benefits with two CSGA champions in 2011 coming from these clubs. The position has been challenging and rewarding and encompasses a great six years of my career.”
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SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND GOLFER / Winter 2012 / 401-464-8445 / www.snegolfer.com