REHOBOTH, R.I. — Don Wright won the 57th
Rhode Island Senior Amateur
Championship Wednesday at Crestwood in one of
the wildest finishes in
any state championship event in years. He took
the title by edging Tom
Goryl in a playoff after both finished the event at
1-over-par 143. Wright
birdied the third playoff hole, the par-5 12th, to
earn the crown.
Wright also birdied the last hole of regulation
just to get into the playoff,
giving him a 71 on the day and his 143 total.
Still, neither Wright nor Goryl was involved in
the turn of events that made
it such a wild day. It was three-time State
Amateur champion Mike Soucy
who was the subject of much of the conversation
_ and as many
congratulations as the champion received _
when it was over.
Soucy called a penalty on himself on the next-
to-last hole that cost him the
tournament. He already had had a crazy day
before getting to the par-3
17th. He began with a two-stroke lead after
firing a 67 in the first round.
But he went 4-over in the first 10 holes and not
only lost the top spot, he
fell two strokes behind at one point. His
problems in mid-round (he had
bogies at 8, 9 and 10) turned the event into a
scramble. As many as 11
players were within five shots of the lead in the
middle of the day.
Soucy was able to regroup, however, and went
even par for the next six
holes. All the others in contention were falling
back, so when Soucy
stepped to the tee at the par-3 17th, he was
back in the lead by one
stroke.
He pushed his tee shot on 17 right, into the
hazard that borders the entire
right side. As his threesome headed down after
finishing all the tee shots,
Soucy took a ball out of his bag in case he could
not play the one that went
in the hazard.
"I didn’t have to hit a provisional. If I had to, I
could have hit a provisional
from where it crossed the hazard. So I just got
in the cart and put in t in
my pocket,’’ Soucy related. When he reached the
hazard, he saw that his
ball was playable. He was able to punch it out
and get it on the green
about 20 feet from the hole. His first putt missed
by about two feet.
"I went over and washed my ball. I was the last
one to putt, so I put it in
my pocket,’’ he related. When his playing
partners finished putting, he
reached into his pocket, took out a ball _ the
wrong ball, not the one he
began the hole with _ and tapped it for what
should have been a four. As
he was bending over to take his ball out of the
cup he realized what he had
done.
"There were no markings on the ball. I thought,
that’s not the right ball,’’
Soucy explained. As all players do, he has a
specific set of markings he
uses to identify his ball. The ball he putted into
the hole was the
provisional he had put in his pocket. It had no
markings.
"He was the only one who knew. Nobody else
knew,’’ pointed out Goryl,
who was one of his playing partners.
The rules dictate that a player cannot substitute
a ball in the middle of a
hole. The penalty is two strokes, so Soucy had a
six. He then birdied the
par-5 finishing hole to finish with a 77 for the
day and 144 total. Without
the penalty, he would have won the event by
one stroke.
Soucy just shook his head as friends came up to
console and congratulate
him for his integrity.
"You just have to do it,’’ he said of calling the
penalty on himself.
Soucy’s misfortune opened the door for a playoff
between two of the most
popular players in the RIGA, Wright and Goryl.
Both are like Soucy, class
people on and off the course. While both have
been frequent contenders,
neither had won an individual RIGA event.
Wright three times reached the State Amateur
semifinals, twice qualified
for the U.S. Amateur and once finished second
to Mike Capone in the
Stroke Play.
"It’s feel great to win,’’ said Wright who is the
executive director of the
Button Hole Children’s Course and Teaching
Center where RIGA offices are
located.
"It’s always such a great time playing in these
events. You make so many
good friends,’’ Wright said. "We have fun, but
we’re still a little
competitive, too.’’ Wright who came to Rhode
Island to play baseball and
basketball at Brown University, had the lead for
part of the day as he went
1-under through 15. He looked to be in trouble
when he double-bogeyed
16. But he had a near eagle on his last hole,
about the same time that
Soucy was making his six on the 17th.
Wright normally spends his time helping others
learn the game. The Button
Hole facility has become one of the best of its
kind in the nation and now
not only has programs working with kids but
also has new programs to
help military personnel.
The loss was more frustration for Goryl,
although he did win the Super
Seniors Division for players aged 62-67. Goryl
twice won the Four-Ball with
Chuck Woytowicz as his partner (1994 and
1996), twice won the Senior
Four-Ball with Mark Forbes (2008 and 2011) and
twice won the Mixed
Championship with Kim Augusta (1993, 1994).
View results for Rhode Island Senior