By Jay Cooke
Virginia’s Deal Hudson turned in a sparkling final round 73 – a hickory course record – to claim the Vermont Hickory Golf Championship June 2 at Morrisville’s Copley Country Club. Despite an intense heat wave, the largest field ever teed it up in the tournament’s sixth edition, with 36 players from nine states competing in four divisions.
William Conant (Mass.) won the Senior Division with a strong 82-80 = 162, good enough for an single stroke victory over J.M. Hollon (Ind.). In the Super Seniors, Vermonter Fred Bashara repeated as champion, carding a fine 84-86=170 in dominating his group by 24 shots. And rookie Susanna Walden endured the heat and first year competition jitters to walk away with the Ladies’ Division trophy.
As Sunday dawned, the championship was certainly up for grabs, with Jay Cooke (Vt.) holding a one stroke lead over fellow Vermonter, Scott McAllister, and two shots in front of Mr. Hudson. As the day, the heat and humidity wore on, Mr. McAllister, a two-time tournament winner and consummate competitor, ran afoul of the 1st hole’s treacherous left side off the tee and lost some touch on the greens, leaving the battle to Messrs. Cooke and Hudson.
The two men traded solid shots throughout the front nine Sunday, but the match looked to be turning on the par three 11th, when Mr. Hudson pulled his tee shot into thick rough, behind a bunker, left of the green; Mr. Cooke hit a solid iron just on the right fringe and had a legitimate birdie opportunity. The Virginian was up to the task, though, opening up a niblick from a severely short sided position and lofting a fine touch shot over a bunker to within 25 feet. Hudson poured in the par saver, and Mr. Cooke couldn’t convert the birdie try. It was one of the turning points of the day.
The two continued in great spirit, staying at even until the 16th, when again it appeared that Mr. Hudson had put himself, and the championship, in jeopardy. His tee shot on the tough, long par 4 dog-leg left caught the hole’s iconic maple tree, dropping straight down onto a downhill lie in thick rough. Mr. Cooke’s tee shot found the fairway, but his second shot came up just short. Mr. Cooke had gotten up and down all day with few hiccups, but Mr. Hudson responded with the shot of the tournament, flushing a long iron out of the rough to six feet below the hole. Though he lipped out the birdie try, Mr. Cooke failed to get up and down, and Mr. Hudson took a one stroke lead to the seventeenth tee.
Mr. Hudson proved to be a tough closer; based on his play to that point, he uncharacteristically pushed his second shot, a 60-yard niblick, to 40 feet plus, but then drained the snaking, downhill birdie putt. Though Mr. Cooke made an all-world par saver chip-in from 30 feet, the match was all but over – he would need to hole out from the 18th fairway to tie. But both men parred the last and Mr. Hudson was the new champion with a two-day total 80-73-153. Mr. Cooke’s final scorecard read 78-77-155.
Another big winner was the Vermont Hickory Golf Association club fund – the group’s goal to purchase hickory sets to provide rookies and newbies. The gathered field was, as usual, overly generous, with participants from Florida, Indiana, Massachussets, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Vermont agreeing to participate in shoot-outs and putt-offs to add more than $250 to the club fund.