WESTON, Mass. – The New England PGA Head Professional and Teaching Professional Championships were both won on Weston Golf Club’s 18th hole, with Matt Baran, PGA (The Ridge Club) winning the Head Professional Championship and Kirk Hanefeld, PGA (Salem CC) winning the Teaching Professional Championship on Monday.
Baran used a birdie-eagle finish to post a 2-under par 70 and win the Head Professional Championship.
“Coming off a couple bogeys, I actually three-putted 16, I kind of felt like I had shot myself out of it,” Baran said. “On 18 I hit a really good drive and good second shot, and made a pretty good slider for eagle that probably, if it didn’t hit the hole, was going to go a good few feet by.”
Baran carded 11 pars during his round, all on the first 14 holes, and added back-to-back birdies on the 6th and 7th with just three bogeys on the day.
“I had never been here before, never seen the place, and that probably ended up helping me out because I didn’t get too risky,” Baran added. “I kept the driver in the bag on a few holes that I probably would have taken it out if I had seen the golf course. All-in-all I just played well.”
Matt Zdon, PGA (Belmont CC) shot 1-under par 71 after a three-hole birdie run on the 15th, 16th, and 17th holes highlighted a 2-under par 34 on the back-nine. Zdon made two birdies on the front and carded four bogeys on the day.
Greg Farland, PGA (Marlborough CC) made four birdies and was 2-under par on the back-nine to match Zdon at 1-under par and tie for second in the Head Professional Championship.
In the Teaching Professional Championship, Hanefeld shot 1-under par 71 to win despite making just one par on the back-nine. Birdies on the 10th and 11th holes got him to 4-under par for the round, but he gave them back with bogeys on the 12th and 13th. He birdied the par-5 14th but gave it back once again with a bogey on the 15th to move back to 2-under par for the round. The roller-coaster round continued for Hanefeld with a double-bogey on the 16th before he made his only par of the back-nine on the 17th. Hanefeld closed with a birdie on the 18th, his seventh of the round, to get into red figures for the day and take what proved to be the decisive advantage.
“I’ve been struggling with my back for the last six weeks or so and I actually hadn’t played in 10 days, so that was the reason for the inconsistency,” Hanefeld said. “I was surprised to make seven birdies, that was a surprise, but I was not surprised to be making a bunch of bogeys.”
Eric Barlow, PGA (Winchester CC) and Jason Sedan, PGA (Lake Winnipesaukee GC) finished one stroke behind Hanefeld at even-par 72 in the Teaching Pro Championship. Barlow tallied five birdies and five bogies Monday, while Sedan’s round was highlighted by an eagle on the Par-5 6th hole to go with four birdies, offset by two bogeys and two double-bogeys.
Thank you to NEPGA partners Earth Networks, Fairway & Greene, MedTerra, New Era and the PGA Tour for supporting the Head Professional and Teaching Professional Championships. A special thank you also goes to Weston Golf Club and head PGA Professional Adam Hemeon for hosting the Championship.