27 TH CONNECTICUT MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Hop Meadow Country Club Simsbury, Conn. August 19 - 20
TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
In search of capturing his first CSGA championship in sixteen years, Kevin Foster used his home
course knowledge and support to come out on top.
S
Counter-Clockwise from Top: Kevin Foster’s precise iron
play helped him make his move up the leaderboard;
Philip Perry finished Runner-Up at the Mid-Amateur for
the second consecutive year; Kevin Foster proudly hoists
the Champions trophy for the second time in his career.
TANDING ON the 16th tee in the final
round of the 27th Connecticut MidAmateur, Kevin foster had plenty of good
memories to help ease his mind. After all, he had
won the Connecticut Mid-Amateur in 1998, and
was on a course that he has played countless times.
But there is something to be said for trying to win
in front of the home crowd.
Foster entered the final day just two
strokes off the lead after an opening round of two
under-par 70. The grueling 54-hole stroke play
championship tests competitors with 36-holes in
the final day.
Playing in the final group with overnight
leader David Olender of Ellington Ridge Country
Club and Chris Maxwell of Tunxis Plantation
Country Club, Foster shot 74 in the morning
round and trailed Philip Perry of Black Hall Club
by two heading into the final round. After a quick
break, Foster jumped out to an fast start in his
final round, making birdies on holes 3, 5 and 6.
Paired with a pair of back-to-back bogies by Perry
on holes 4 and 5, Foster quickly moved from a tie
for second to a three shot lead over the field.
Holes 7-11 played statistically as the
hardest stretch of holes on the course, and despite
a home course advantage, Foster stumbled with a
pair of bogies on the difficult par-4 8th and par-4
11th. After Perry made birdie on the par-5 17th,
his lead was down to a single stroke.
“I didn’t quite know where I stood
until I reached the 16th green and saw I had a
one-shot lead going into the last two holes,” said
Foster. “Making birdie on the 17th hole was huge,
because it made playing the last hole that much
easier with a two shot cushion.”
After driving it in the fairway and safely
hitting the green in regulation on the closing par5 18th, a two-putt par was all that was needed to
secure his second Mid-Amateur title.
For Foster, the win marked his first
CSGA championship win in sixteen years, dating
back to his first Mid-Amateur victory in 1998
at Hartford Golf Club. Since that time, he has
captured a pair of Connecticut Senior Open
titles in 2004 and 2013, and finished second
in the 2011 Connecticut Senior Amateur, but
winning at his home club is perhaps Foster’s most
memorable victory of his extensive career.
“It’s really exciting for me,” said Foster.
“It’s been a few years since I won by first MidAmateur back in 1998, and I’ve won a couple
of [Connecticut] Senior Open’s since then, but
winning at your home club is re