HARTFORD, Conn – Alex Beach of Stamford, 2012 Connecticut Open champion Jason Caron and frequent State Open contender Danny Balin are among 10 club professionals who will comprise the United States team against Great Britain-Ireland in the 29th PGA Cup on Sept. 27-29 at the Omni Barton Creek Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas.
PGA Professional Championship winner Beach (Westchester CC-Rye, N.Y.), Caron (Mill River Club-Oyster Bay, N.Y.), Balin (Fresh Meadow CC-Lake Success, N.Y.) and five others qualified for the 10-man team in the PGA Professional Championship on April 28-May 1 at Belfair’s West Course in Bluffton, S.C.
Beach and Caron will be two of six players who will make his tournament debut. Caron is the husband of the former Liz Janangelo, an assistant pro at the Mill River Club who won a record five Connecticut State Women’s Amateur Championships, four Connecticut Women’s Open titles and was the NCAA Division I Player of the Year and won two national championships while at Duke before playing on the Duramed and LPGA Tours. Other U.S. PGA Cup qualifiers were former PGA Tour player Ben Kern (Georgetown CC-Georgetown, Texas), Ben Cook (Yankee Springs GC-Wayland, Mich.), Stuart Deane (Texas Star GC-Euless, Texas), Bob Sowards (Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club-Powell, Ohio) and Ryan Vermeer (Happy Hollow Club-Omaha, Neb.).
The final two players – 2016 PGA Professional champion Rich Berberian Jr. of Hooksett, N.H. (Vesper CC-Tynsborough, Mass.) and Sean McCarthy (Brown Deer GC-Coralville, Iowa) – clinched berths after final points were tabulated through the PGA Championship at the Bethpage State Park Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y.
The United States will attempt to win back the Llandudno International Trophy after losing on home soil for the first time in 2015 at CordeValle in San Martin, Calif., and the G&B retained the trophy in 2017 with a victory in England. The U.S. team in the biennial international showcase for PGA club professionals was determined through a two-year points system that includes the past two PGA Professional Championships and two PGA Championships.
The PGA Cup began in 1973 at Pinehurst (N.C.) Country Club as an outgrowth of the PGA Professional Championship. Structured after the format of the Ryder Cup, the event features the top club pros from both sides of the Atlantic. Although the U.S. team dominated early, GB&I has made a resurgence. The U.S. is 17-7-4 overall but hasn’t won the trophy since 2011 at CordeValle.
IAN MARSHALL WINS WALTER LOWELL TOURNAMENT
Ian Marshall made five birdies while accumulating 40 points to win the $1,500 first prize in the Connecticut Section PGA Walter Lowell PGA Tournament at Twin Hills Country Club in East Longmeadow, Mass. Marshall, the Section president from Watertown Golf Club, finished 10 points ahead of Jan Wivestad of Crestbrook GC in Watertown and 13 in front of Jeff DelRosso of Prospect Golf Range.
During the day’s activities, Fairview Farm Golf Course in Harwinton received the Section’s 2019 Walter Lowell Public Golf Course Distinguished Service Award. Since 2001, the award has honored a public golf course in the Section in recognition of their dedication to the promotion of the game of golf. The award was inaugurated in honor of Canton Golf Course, which was owned by the Lowell family, for the standards set towards a public course’s responsibility to its community to provide playing opportunities for all those who want to play and learn the game.
Lowell is an honorary president of the Section after holding numerous positions in the organization, including president. He was a member of the PGA of America board of directors for years and its Professional of the Year in 1978. He also was instrumental in women being eligible to join the PGA of America in 1977.
HUSSEY, ROSENGRANT WIN BY ONE
Their eighth birdie of the day on the difficult 18th hole gave Brian Hussey and Matthew Rosengrant a bogey-free 8-under 64 and a one-stroke victory in the Connecticut Section PGA Pro-Assistant Pro Championship at Ellington Ridge CC. The duo from Rock Ridge CC in Newtown edged Tim Gavronski and James Giampaolo of Shuttle Meadow CC in Kensington.
Richard Dowling made a 5-foot par putt on the fifth playoff to give him and Nick Taylor a second consecutive victory in the Connecticut State Golf Association Two-Man Championship at the Black Hall Club in Old Lyme. Dowling, the 2017 CSGA Amateur champion, and Taylor, who play out of the Golf Performance Center, combined to shoot a 2-under-par 140 and then beat David Giuletti (GC of Avon) and Steve Gettings (Orange Hills CC), who also finished second last year. Eric Bleile (Sterling Farms CC-Stamford) and David Marseglia (Framingham, Mass., CC) also shot 140 but were eliminated on the first playoff hole.
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