MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – As the New England PGA Section Championship looms, Troy Pare, PGA (Ledgemont CC) is at the top of his game.
After a second-place finish in last week’s Stroke Play Series event at Manchester Country Club, home of the aforementioned Section Championship, Pare turned in another top-notch performance on Monday at the Wanumetonomy Pro + 1 Am Invitational, shooting 5-under-par 65 individually and 6-under in the better-ball competition with amateur partner Jeff Kilday, to take home top individual professional honors and tie for the low-gross team honor.
“I pretty much know where it’s going right now, which feels pretty good. I’m keeping it in front of me, not really hitting it out of play too often,” Pare said after his round, which featured eight birdies and three bogeys. “Today I got on a couple runs, I made three birdies in a row twice out there, including three to finish which was good. When I hit quality shots out there today I pretty much capitalized on all of them.”
Despite Pare’s birdiefest, it was Brian Smith, PGA (Nashawtuc CC) and partner Garth McGee who took home the championship hardware, supplied by Prize Possessions, matching Pare and Kilday at 6-under par and winning the card-off for the tournament title.
“My partner played great,” Smith said of McGee. “We had a lot of fun, it was a good pairing and he played lights out. I just kind of hung on and tried to help him when I could.”
“I’ve been on a pretty good roll the last couple weeks,” McGee added. “I won the Club Championship, I won the Member-Guest a couple days ago, I just really like the course. I had a lot of really good wedge numbers and the greens were pretty smooth.”
Dan Gillis, PGA (Nabnaset Lake CC), Nick Jagoe (Allendale CC) and Thomas Tobey (Sandwich Hollows GC), along with their amateur partners, tied for third in the Pro-Am competition at 4-under par 66.
Tobey made five birdies on the back-9 and shot 4-under on his own ball to finish second in the individual professional competition, one stroke behind Pare. Shawn Warren, PGA (Falmouth CC) shot even-par 70 to finish third, and Gillis shot 71 to finish fourth.
In addition to supplying championship hardware for the winners, Prize Possessions was on-site to make sure every participant left with New England PGA engraved stemless wine glasses. Titleist was also on hand to offer every player a sampling of balls of their choice. A big thank you goes to both Prize Possessions and Titleist for their support. And of course, thank you to Wanumetonomy Golf & Country Club for hosting the tournament at their pristine facility.
“Wanumetonomy did a great job for us today,” Pare added of the host facility. “The golf course was really in great shape today so kudos to everybody for getting it like that for us to have the ability to make some putts.”