WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Qualifiers for the 2023 Watertown Men’s City Golf Championship took place Saturday at the Thompson Park Golf Course with match play set to get underway Sunday.
85 golfers teed up, looking for one of the coveted 32 spots in the championship flite.
Some familiar are names at the top. 14-time City Champ Bob Hughes would take medalist honors, firing an even par 72.
Another former champ, Adam Brown, had the 2nd best score of the day, carding a 1 over par 73.
8-time City Golf Champion John Bufalini would fire a 3 over par 75 and finish in a tie for 6th place.
2021 City Golf Champion Brandon Mothersell carded a 7 over par 79, good enough for a tie for 19th.
Defending champion Joe Tufo, who earned the number 1 seed as a result of being the defending champ, fired a 2 over par 74.
Tufo is ready to take on a tough field as he looks for a repeat.
”It feels good to actually take the #1 seed. I’ve been playing 3 days a week and everything is good right now. The kids are dangerous, believe me. Bobby and Buf, the same group of guys, I mean they’re all good. They hit it long. I’m looking forward to it,” said Tufo.
The top 5 matchups for Sunday are as follows:
- Joe Tufo vs. Brendan Laverty
- Bob Hughes vs. Brad LaLone
- Adam Brown vs. Joseph Augustus
- Phillips Rogers vs. Caleb Houppert
- Tyler Davison vs. Matt Barton
Match play gets underway at 9 a.m.
Perfect conditions greeted participants for the first day of competition at the 1812 Shootout at Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor.
Day 1 of the two weekend long event featured boys’ travel teams with 68 teams taking part in brackets ranging from 1st and 2nd grade clubs all the way up to varsity clubs.
The best of the best travel teams from around the state were on hand, which made for some outstanding competition.
”Yeah, a lot of tight games. You always can tell when all of the sudden you hear just a huge crowd screaming. Been some tight games, good competition. First day has been super smooth. Everyone is doing their part. We’ve got a lot of volunteers to help, local family members and stuff. So, it’s been going well,” said Mike Schepis, 1812 Sports and Entertainment Vice President.
The Watertown Rapids were looking to snap a 7 game losing streak under the lights at Toyota Field, as they hosted Utica.
At the bottom of the 2nd, the game was scoreless when Pranav Sundar hit a flare to right that gets by the right fielder. Malachi Flaherty scores to put the Rapids up 1-0.
Sundar also flashed some leather in the field, coming up with the great play on the pop foul to 3rd base.
Then it was Jared Duquette with a solid outing, going 4 scoreless innings and striking out 3.
At the bottom of the 4th, the Rapids added to their lead as Gaetan Grandelli scores on the wild pitch: 2-0 Rapids.
But Utica comes back to beat Watertown 9-6 in 10 innings, extending the Rapids losing streak to 8 straight games.
”Yeah, it’s been a tough week for us trying to finish games off, but we’ve been competitive. Again, 3 straight walk offs and then a 3-1 loss after that, so 4 games that could have gone either way, unfortunately for us we didn’t get the wins,” said Watertown Rapids General Manager Mike Kogut.
The Thousand Islands Spirits picked up their 5th straight win Friday night, beating the Salt City Eels 24-10 at the Town of Alexandria Recreational Center.
After losing their first 2 games to open the season, the Spirits have been on a roll, winning their 3rd straight home contest.
Spirits Owner and General Manager Nate Jobson says the formula for success has been simple for his team.
”You know, our offense is pretty good. We have a lot of weapons, a lot of people can score. Our goaltending is excellent. Being at home is always nice, that environment is good for us,” said Jobson.
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