Florence's Folly

Assistants' Championship rained out, Bruso crowned Champion

-Haverhill, MA

Bob Bruso, PGA (Blackstone National) was crowned the champion of the NEPGA Assistant's Championship after his 18-hole performance of two-under par, 70. He stopped by the New England PGA's Section office on Tuesday to accept his award.

The remnants of Hurricane Florence were too strong for the last NEPGA Championship event of the year to continue. Constant overnight heavy rains rendered the course unplayable, as several areas in Northern Mass, and Southern New Hampshire received over four and a half inches of rain. 

This marks Bruso's first championship victory in the New England PGA. In this year's Section Championship at Quidnessett and Warwick CC, he finished T9. The last time he played in the 2016 Assistant's Championship at The Cape Club of Sharon, he finished fifth.

"It's been an awesome year, I've thought I've played pretty well. in the past I've had a hard time finishing tournaments and finishing rounds whenI was new to the section and now playing more and understanding how to finish a round and control my game that's really helped me, so to win a couple of big tournaments shows me I'm getting better at that," said Bruso.

Bruso, along with C.J. Konkowski, PGA; Zack Temple, PGA; Liam Friedman, PGA;  Jake Leech, PGA; and Brian Owens, PGA have qualified and will play in the National Car Rental Assistant's Championship at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL in November. 

Thank you to all of the partners in the event: National Car Rental, Cleveland/ Srixon/ XXIO, John Deere, and Golf Advisor.

Bring the Boom

Bruso leads Assistant's Championship after Round 1

-Haverhill, MA

Bob Bruso, PGA (Blackstone National) shot an opening round 70 (-2) at Renaissance Golf Club in Haverhill to lead the Assistant’s Championship on Monday. He was the only player in the round to shoot an under par score.

Bruso’s day was highlighted by consistent performance. After a few pars, he made two birdies on the fourth and fifth holes, but bogeyed the sixth. He made the turn at one-under-par. On the back, he got off to some early trouble with a bogey on the tenth. However, he avenged his mistake by making a birdie on the challenging par-4 12^th hole and on the 14^th. He came into the clubhouse with a stretch of pars to finish at 70.

The rest of the field did not fare as well on the course. Brian Silva’s first design, the Renaissance GC gave some PGA Professionals more of a challenge than expected. Even though most players had competed in the 2017 NEPGA Section Championship held between Turner Hill GC and Renaissance, and had experienced the course before, Monday’s scoring average was an 81 (+9). Even with a field as talented as the one in New England, the golf course came out on top to hold scores on the higher side.

C.J. Konkowski, PGA (Keene GC) put up a strong performance on Monday as well. The Assistant PGA Professional hit the ball well and made two birdies on the first and second holes to jump out to a two-under-par start. He hit the ball so well that the combined distance between his first two putts was about five feet.