80 TH CONNECTICUT OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
Rolling Hills Country Club Wilton, Conn. July 28 - 30
HAT TRICK!
Twice a past champion, Frank Bensel showed everyone why he’s still the man to beat,
shooting a final-round 66 to score his third Connecticut Open title.
T
HE LAW OF AVERAGES - A simple, yet complete
explanation of why major golf tournaments are
contested over multiple rounds and multiple days.
Simply put, skills are tested, weaknesses are exposed, and the
best player eventually rises to the top.
Take the Connecticut Open for example, a grueling
54-hole stroke play championship that is played on some of
Connecticut’s most difficult courses, dominated by thick
rough, lightning-fast greens and stiff competition. There
were plenty of story lines to be written - amateurs. juniors,
and aspiring professionals all in contention After the first
round of the 80th Connecticut Open at Rolling Hills
Country Club, the scoring average was a staggering 77.1 and
only four players broke par. . Missing from that group? Frank
Bensel, the 2009 and 2011 Connecticut Open Champion
from Century Country Club, who has competed at every
www.csgalinks.org
level, including the PGA Championship and United States
Open.
As the saying goes, a player can’t win a tournament
on the first day, but he can lose it. Bensel did his job, shooting
an even-par round of 70 to stand in a tie for fifth after day
one. With a cold front passing through Monday night that
brought rain, cool temperatures and calm winds, the course
began to yield some low scores.
Bensel took advantage, shooting a round of 67 to
move into a tie for second. By the start of the final round,
many of the storylines we were so eager to write after day
one had begun to dissappear and familiar names like Caron,
Gallo, Ballo and of course, Bensel began to float to the top of
the leaderboard.
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Connecticut State Golf Association 2014
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