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    Sunday, May 19, 2024

    Club champions are crowned at local courses

    Steve Chevalier tees off on the seventh hole during the Shennecossett Golf Course men's club championship on Sunday in Groton. (Sarah Gordon/The Day)
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    Club Championship Sunday featured a little bit of everything.

    There was plenty of drama as the Pequot Golf Club men’s championship had three different golfers hold the lead in the final nine holes of the stroke play event while the Shennecossett Country Club women’s club championship was decided on the final hole.

    There were repeat champions at Shennecossett Golf Course.

    And a 14-year-old captured the women’s club championship at the Stonington Country Club.

    Here’s a rundown of an entertaining day of local club championships:

    • At Pequot in Stonington, James Stack, James Lathrop and Mitch Allen battled through the final round before a winner emerged. There was a three-way tie for the lead entering the last nine holes.

    Stack seized the lead for good on the 15th hole by chipping in for a birdie from near the green-side bunker and held off Lathrop, the defending champion, down the stretch to win by two strokes.

    “It was a perfect lie,” said Stack, who’s from Uncasville. “I told Dad, `I haven’t chipped in yet today.’ I walked it out and was really feeling the shot and hit it exactly like I wanted to.”

    Lathrop trailed by just one stroke entering the final hole but hit a ball out of bounds on his second shot and ended up with a bogey.

    “James played a little better down the stretch,” Lathrop said. “I bogeyed three out of the last four holes. That’s not going to do it.”

    It was an emotional victory for Stack, who earned his third club title, one more than his father, Hugh, who served as his caddy. He also celebrated the win with his baby boy, John, and wife, Jackie.

    “I feel overwhelmed,” Stack said. “I couldn’t play this last year because of COVID and I had to work. This year, Jackie and I welcomed our first born. I barely played golf this year. I come out occasionally on Sundays. My time is going elsewhere. I love being a dad. It is a blessing.”

    • Zorah Williams, a member at Stonington Country Club for seven years, regularly looks at the list of women’s club champions hanging on the wall inside the clubhouse. Now she’ll join that group of winners.

    “That was always an ambition of mine to have my name on it,” said Williams, who’s from Mystic.

    Williams shook off some tournament jitters to beat Paige Munro-Delotto, 5 and 4, in the final. She trailed after six holes before gradually taking control of the match.

    After 13 holes, Williams held a 5-up advantage.

    She credited her caddy, Anne-Marie van der Velde, a four-time club champion, for helping settle her down and setting the proper mood.

    “I need to be laughing to play well,” Williams said. “I need to be laughing and talking to really be able to focus. I had a caddy change on the seventh and eighth holes, so that was the really, really big change. She made me laugh and helped with my putting a little bit.”

    In the men’s club championship, Michael Hawley defeated Pat McGuire, 5 and 4, to win his sixth title.

    • Groton residents Steve Chevalier and Jessica Hewitt added to their club championship victory totals on Sunday.

    Chevalier, 52, capped off a terrific few weeks of tournament golf, beating 2018 winner Mike Rege, 7 and 5, in the scheduled 36-hole match. It’s his fourth club title, including second straight.

    During tournament play over the week, Chevalier shot a sizzling 5-under.

    “About the past three or four weeks, I’ve been hitting it better and better and better,” Chevalier said. “I played in the Rhode Island Amateur about two weeks ago and I lost out in a playoff for match play but I hit it pretty good. I played here last week and I had 31 on the front and I knew it was coming around.

    “... It has come together at the right time.”

    Through 18 holes on Sunday, Chevalier built a 5-up lead, putting tremendous pressure on Rege.

    “I felt pretty good today,” Chevalier said. “I played well.”

    The women’s title match was deadlocked through 17 holes. On No. 18, Hewitt hit a short chip shot to within a foot to set up par, winning her the hole and match over defending champion Marcia Peterson.

    Hewitt lost to Peterson in the semifinals last year.

     “We were back and forth all day,” Hewitt said. “You hold your breath. It’s hard. It took a lot of mental focus. Marcia is a great player. … To go 18 holes, it shows a lot for both players.”

    g.keefe@theday.com

    James Stack, left, takes his son John from his wife Jackie after winning the men's club championship at Pequot Golf Club in Stonington on Sunday. (Gavin Keefe/The Day)
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    Mike Rege watches a putt on the sixth hole during the Shennecossett Golf Course men's club championship on Sunday in Groton. (Sarah Gordon/The Day)
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    Steve Chevalier lines up a putt on the sixth hole during the Shennecossett Golf Course men's club championship on Sunday in Groton. (Sarah Gordon/The Day)
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    Finalists Steve Chevalier, left, and Mike Rege walk off the tee of the seventh hole during the Shennecossett Golf Course men's club championship on Sunday in Groton. (Sarah Gordon/The Day)
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