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10 >>> SUMMER 2020
Calendar
The spotlight’s
on Myopia,
Tedesco, Essex
The North Shore will host several
major amateur and professional
championships this summer,
including two of the oldest events ever
played in Massachusetts.
The crown jewel on the men’s
side, no doubt, is the 100th annual
NEPGA Championship, which
will be co-hosted by Myopia Hunt
Club and Tedesco Country Club Aug.
17-19. The field will be split over the
first 36 holes with 18 holes at each
site. Players who survive the 36-hole
cut will return to Myopia for the final
round Aug. 19.
Defending champion is Shawn
Warren of Falmouth CC.
In 1921, Gil Nichols shot 78-78 at
Myopia in the chapter’s inaugural
one-day, 36-hole to claim the Donald
Ross Trophy and a hundred bucks.
Modern fields typically boast nearly
150 players with purses hovering
around the six-figure neighborhood.
Winners shoot scores 10 strokes lower
MYOPIA
HUNT CLUB
than a century ago,
and are rewarded
with the Tom Mahan
Sr. Trophy and a fivefigure
payday.
The championship
has not returned
to Myopia since
that inaugural
tournament. Dan
Venezio, PGA pro at
Portland CC, spent
eight years as an
assistant professional
at Myopia from
2007-15, and
anticipates the course
will demand disciplined golf.
“Playing well at Myopia boils
down to two things: Fairways and
patience,” said Venezio, who qualified
for the 2015 PGA Championship at
Whistling Straits. “The golf course
is not long, and on almost every
par-4, you have a scoring iron in
your hand. But miss the fairway
and find the fescue or one of the
devilish bunker complexes, you will
be fighting an uphill battle the entire
day. Aggressive play can be rewarded
with a lot of birdies, but those same
aggressive choices tend to narrow
your landing areas and make your
margin for error shrink.”
Tedesco Country Club, which
has hosted several Massachusetts
Opens, Stage I of PGA TOUR
qualifying and LPGA
tournaments, will be
hosting the NEPGA
Championship for the
first time.
“The two clubs have
similar traditional
characteristics which
put a premium on
accuracy off the tee
with great touch
needed around fast
undulating greens,”
said Jake Leech,
Tedesco’s head
golf professional.
TEDESCO
COUNTRY CLUB
“It’s unique to see how the Section
Championship sites vary, some
being big modern golf courses
where distance is an advantage,
to the traditional style courses in
which precision and accuracy play
of more importance. Traditionally
Peter Hasak, our golf course
superintendent, has the golf course
firm and fast with high fescue in
August and throughout the fall.”
The 117th Women’s Amateur
Championship, the oldest of all
Mass Golf tournaments and one of
the oldest in the United States, will
be staged at famed Essex County
Club in Manchester by the Sea Aug.
11-14. Essex is the home of the Curtis
sisters (Harriot and Margaret) and
site of the 2010 Curtis Cup won by
the United States over Great Britain.
Woburn native Noreen Friel Mohler, a
former Curtis team member, served as
captain of that U.S. squad.
The Amateur features 36 holes of
qualifying, with the top 16 advancing
to the championship match play
bracket and the next 16 advancing to
the President’s Cup bracket. Angela
Garvin (The Ranch Club) won last
year’s event at Weston.
This will be just the third Amateur
hosted at Essex. Joanne Goodwin won
in 1954, while Anne Marie Tobin won
in 1991.