FIRST SHOT
Message from the CSGA Executive Director - Mike Moraghan
Young Men of Character
I
continue to be impressed with the maturity
level of today’s typical junior golfer. We
weren’t all a bunch of club throwers back in
the day, and it’s not like we acted like cavemen (all
the time), but I know for a fact that as a whole we
weren’t as well behaved as today’s teenage golfers.
Of course, we also predated the mind-
numbing effects of video games and omnipresent
electronic devices. Maybe some of that sensory
overload has tamped down the young human
tendency to ride an emotional roller coaster.
Whatever.
At Watertown Golf Club a couple of
weeks ago in the Connecticut Junior Amateur
Championship we got to see more than one hundred
strong of this young, 18-and-under generation going
through the trials and tribulations of tournament
golf. As a group they were quite impressive.
In Monday’s 18-hole stroke play qualifier it
4 | CSGA Links // July, 2017
looked for the longest time like 77 would be the
number to determine the final spots for match play.
With one group still to finish, and 30 scores of 76
or better in the clubhouse, thirteen boys tied at 77
were hanging around the scoreboard hoping for
what would be a massive playoff, something like a
13 for 2 shootout.
The disappointment among that group of
thirteen was obvious when the final threesome
produced a 75 (Jack Mcguire) and a 76 (Brendan
Fagan), and we hit the magic 32 number for match
play at exactly 76 and below. Each of those thirteen
accepted their fate stoically and with no whining
or histrionics. For one of the 77s, Nate Fierston,
who had missed match play in a playoff each of
the past two years, missing by 1 shot was especially
disappointing.
“Man, I was really hoping this would be the
year I could get into match play,” Nate said quietly
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