North Shore Golf Summer 2020 V2

16 >>> SUMMER 2020
A state amateur final for the ages
Fifty years ago,
Barbara Thorner and
Paula Brophy battled
it out at Tedesco
BY ANNE MARIE TOBIN
Fifty years ago this month, one of the
biggest upsets in Massachusetts golf
history took place at Tedesco
Country Club. The event
was the 70th Women's Golf
Association of Massachusetts
state amateur championship.
The star-studded field
included some of the biggest
names in women's golf,
including defending champion
Pat O'Brien of Pittsfield and
four-time champion and
former Curtis Cup team
member Joanne Goodwin
of Haverhill. Long-hitting
17-year-old junior champion
Ruthann Donahue of Andover
and former U.S. Amateur
champion Grace Lenzyk Cronin
of Foxboro rounded out the
group of heavy favorites.
But in the end, it was Tedesco's own
Barbara Thorner, a 10-handicapper
and soft-spoken physical education
teacher at Lynn English High School,
who beat them all, holding off a late
surge by United Shoe's Paula Brophy
to capture her first — and only — state
title in a match that went down to the
very last putt.
With a 1-up lead on 18, Thorner,
wearing her trademark white sneakers
and long-sleeved cardigan sweater,
could only watch as Brophy's 50-foot
birdie putt to extend the match to extra
holes was dead on track only to lip out.
Thorner lagged her own 50-footer to
within eight inches to clinch.
"I just shut my eyes and prayed, I
thought 'please good Lord don't leave me
another four-footer to twist in,'" Thorner
told Herald Traveler sports writer Bill
Abramson after the match. "I felt that
Paula's putt only could have popped out
because this was my lucky day."
The match was a contrast in styles
between Thorner, a methodical,
steady-as-she goes strategist, and
Brophy, a swashbuckling, go-forbroke
gambler.
Other than their North Shore home
bases, both players had only one
other thing in common — they had
golf pundits' heads spinning all week
as they knocked off one favorite after
another to grab the daily headlines.
Fifty years ago, Tedesco's Barbara Thorner,
left, and Beverly's Paula Brophy competed in
a memorable state amateur championship.
Both players qualified easily
for the 16-player match play field,
with Brophy, age 27, posting 83
and Thorner, age 42, posting 85.
Brophy knocked off O'Brien in the
quarterfinals and Cronin in the
semifinals, while Thorner defeated
Goodwin in the quarterfinals and
Donahue in the semifinals to set up
the all-North Shore final.
Brophy got off to a slow start, allowing
Thorner to take a 4-up lead after 12
holes. Wayward tee shots by Thorner on
the next three holes opened the door for
Brophy to slice the deficit to just 1-down
with three holes to go. Thorner bumped
the lead to 2-up with an up-and-down
par on the tricky 16th. Brophy, however,
wasn't done yet. She drained a 50-foot
putt for birdie on 17 to extend the match
to 18. Needing to win the hole to force
extra holes, Brophy settled for a halve to
come up short.
Longtime Globe correspondent
Kitte Desmond wrote, "From 'Barbara
Who?' to a state champion in four
days was a genuine surprise to the
10-handicapper."
Even Thorner seemed surprised,
years later telling Gary Larrabee,
author of The Green and Gold Coast:
The History of Golf on Boston's North
Shore, "I was lucky… nine times out of
10 Paula would have beaten me, but I
got off to a good start that day and was
able to hold on. Paula made a great
comeback and deserved to win."
While neither player would
reach another final, each
continued to enjoy success
on the competitive circuit.
Thorner, a Marblehead
resident, went on to win the
Tedesco club championship a
record 20 times. She also won
the New England Senior and
New England Senior Legend
titles, several invitational
titles, including two with
Cronin. Thorner also served
as Tedesco's historian and
was a key contributor to the
club's centennial book and
celebration in 2003. She died
at age 76 in 2004.
Brophy, a Salem native and
registered nurse, now lives in
Franconia, N.H., with Peter
Ainsworth, her husband of 49 years.
She has 35 club championships to her
credit: 14 at Bethlehem CC, eight at
Charles River CC, three at Sharon GC,
four at Norfolk GC and six at United
Shoe, now Beverly Golf and Tennis.
With brother Jack, she won the 1970
Stone Cup and also won numerous
Mother-Son titles with sons Todd
and Andrew as well as a slew of New
Hampshire senior titles.
Brophy said playing the crowd
favorite on her own turf was tough
and that Thorner's home-course
knowledge was a factor.
"It was a little scary being her
hometown, but I knew my family would
be there, and I had just met Peter that