MANCHESTER, Vt. – Pete Weatherby of Manchester Country Club took home the title of Vermont Match Play Champion this Thursday by beating the defending champion, David Bennett.
The Match Play Championship, which was hosted by Ekwanok Country Club, is contested annually and the field is made up of the top 16 Professionals and alternates on the Chapters points list.
The round of 16, which was held on Wednesday, saw the favorited seeds win all but one of the 8 matches. The 11th seed, Susan Fasoldt (Dorset Field Club), pulled off the lone upset defeating 6th seed Jim LeClair 3&2.
The best match of the round came between 3rd seed Roger King (Sugarbush GC) and 14th seed Sean Toof (Vermont National CC). The match required an extra hole before King ultimately prevailed.
The round of 8 provided more excitement for fans of underdog bracket busters. In the first match, the eventual champion and #8 seed Pete Weatherby, took down the #1 seed David Jankowski (Burlington CC) 4&3. In the match-up of the 4 vs. 5 seed, Kevin Bennison (Burlington CC) was victorious over Todd Trono (Williston GC), winning 5&4.
In the final two matches the trend of underdog victories was reversed, as #2 seed David Bennett (CC of Vermont) defeated #10 seed Alex Watson (Ekwanok CC) 3 &2. In the final match of the round, Roger King once again found himself in another close battle. He continued to show poise under pressure defeating Susan Fasoldt in 19 holes.
Day 2 of the tournament did not disappoint as the players put on a fantastic display of golf. The first match-up featured Kevin Bennison vs. Pete Weatherby. At the 13th hole, Weatherby held a 3 up lead, however Bennison made 3 birdies on his last 5 holes to force the match to go the distance. With Weatherby holding a 1 up advantage going to the 18th hole, both players made par to give Weatherby the victory. The match saw a 13 combined birdies between the two players.
The second semifinal saw David Bennett defeat Roger King 3&2. Bennett held a 6-hole lead at the turn, however King struck back making 4 birdies in 5 holes to close the deficit. It ultimately was not enough as Bennett closed out the Match on the 16th hole.
The final match between Bennett and Weatherby turned out to a closely fought battle, with Weatherby holding a 1 up advantage for most of the match. Bennett made an incredible up and down for par from behind the 16th green to extend the match. However, the consistent play of Weatherby was too much to overcome as he won the Match 1 Up.
Congratulations to Pete on his fantastic play throughout the entire tournament!
Thank you to Ekwanok Country Club’s Head Professional Tom Mackey and his entire staff for being fantastic hosts. The Vermont Chapter would also like to thank our partners for this event Dealer.com, Northstar Fireworks, W&B Golf Carts/Yamaha and the PGA Tour!