Gannon remembers a golf legend with Ouimet Scholarship Fund tourney

LYNN – Every Independence Day, the golfers at Gannon Golf Course help pay tribute to one of the game’s most historic figures and one of its most influential personalities.On a warm summer day back in 1913, 20-year-old Francis Ouimet stepped to the first tee at The Country Club in Brookline with the hopes of a city and a nation on his back. Raised directly across the street from the course’s 17th green, Ouimet was now in an 18-hole playoff for the national championship against the game’s two preeminent players of the time: Harry Vardon and Ted Ray.In the days before Bobby Jones would win his historic Grand Slam, amateurs were rarely given a chance to knock off the professionals. But on this day in Brookline, Ouimet would pull off the historic upset ? and with it, change the way the game of golf was viewed in America.In the decade following the historic victory, the number of golfers and golf courses in America had nearly tripled and a game once viewed as the domain of the wealthy and powerful was now available to the common man.The next year, Ouimet would claim the US Amateur title before serving in World War I. Seventeen years later, Ouimet would close his career with a second amateur title. He also captained four Walker Cup teams and in 1951 became the first American selected as Captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.But his biggest legacy comes in the form of the scholarship fund that bears his name. Run by the Massachusetts Golf Association, the fund has given out nearly $21 million in scholarships to young people who have given at least two years of service to golf as caddies or worked in pro shop or course superintendent operations in Massachusetts.On Sunday, the Ouimet Scholarship Fund tournament was held. In the AA/BB flight, the team of Ben Friedman-Kevin Santry-Bob Cross-Bob Roy shot a round of 17-under to beat the teams of Harley Greist-Bob Trepsas Jr.-Gary Hathaway-Matt Civiello and Vic Grasso-Ed Madden-Bob Trepsas Sr.-Jim Lally by one shot.In the CC/DD flight, Chuck Carroll-R.C. Lougee-Tom Goff-Dave Harney finished at 17-under to win by one shot. Finishing second were Matt DeBenedictis-George Hazel-Peter Kolodziej-Dick Fitzpatrick. Sharing third were Tom Gaffey-Butch Demoree-Joe Spina-Bill McCarthy and Al McCarthy-Ozzie Gauvain-Whitey LeBlanc-Ralph Luongo at 14-under.