NORTON, MA — The 2026 New England PGA season officially got underway on April 6th with the Massachusetts Chapter 6-6-6 tournament held at the pristine TPC Boston. The unique format, which tests the versatility of every team through six holes of selected drive/alternate shot, six holes of scramble, and six holes of fourball, provided a challenging, yet fun start to the competitive year as two teams climbed to the top of the leaderboard to share the overall title.
Eric Barlow of Winchester Country Club and Liam Friedman of Wollaston Golf Club combined for a stellar round of 7-under par 66. Their balanced performance was matched by the duo of Andrew Stolze and Frank Leja from the Club at New Seabury, who also fired a 66 to join them at the top of the podium. It was a tightly contested event, with the teams of Kevin Franey and Trey Hoepner, James Scales and Rich Berberian, and Cory Yudkin and Josh Brickley all finishing just two strokes back in a tie for third place at 5-under par.
While the leaderboard was packed with great play, the shot of the tournament belonged to Host Professional Don Baldassare. Playing on his home turf, Baldassare got home in two for an albatross on the 18th hole. Baldassare and partner Mark Nowosielski leveraged that albatross to secure a share of second place in the final six-hole Fourball segment.
In the individual segments of the 6-6-6 format, Kevin Franey and Trey Hoepner took top honors in the first six holes of Selected Drive/Alternate Shot with a 3-under par 21. Alec Vozzella and Brendon Ray dominated the Scramble portion with a 4-under par 20. Finally, the winning pair of Andrew Stolze and Frank Leja claimed the Fourball segment outright with a 4-under par 21 to cement their place at the top of the overall leaderboard.
The success of the season’s first event was made possible by the incredible hospitality of the host site. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Don Baldassare and the entire TPC Boston staff for their hard work in preparing the facility for our professionals. We also want to thank our dedicated event partners for their continued support of the Massachusetts Chapter: Paul Czerwinski and Jolly Golf, Trenton Gelo and Oakley, and John Fagan representing Wilson.