Historic day in NEC golf tournament

In the long history of the NEC Open, there might not be a more historic day that the tournament has ever seen.Mother Nature was one of the winners on Thursday at The Meadow at Peabody as torrential rains turned the competition between 24 of the Northeastern Conference?s best golfers from an 18-hole to a nine-hole affair. On this day, however, even the rain would take a back seat to a first-time occurrence.Marblehead?s Owen Picariello and Jake Hempel each carded a round of 40 to help the Magicians win the first-ever team title in the tournament but the big prize would go to Beverly?s Sarah Daley, the first female to play in the tournament in almost 20 years, as she claimed the individual title in a three-way playoff thanks to a bogey five on the first playoff hole.Ironically, one of the first people there to greet Daley after the playoff was Lynn English coach Tara Friedman, believed to be the last female to play in the tournament back in the late ?80s.And also yesterday, the Cape Ann League open had a female winner as well: Krystal Knight from Pentucket. She finished with 68 points over 18 holes.?I was hoping just to play good,” Daley said. “This day was crazy and I just took it one hole at a time. It?s a great accomplishment after all the hard work I put in on my game this summer.”With the players slated to go off in a shotgun start around noon, heavy rains began to pelt the Meadow and the decision was made to try to get all the players through nine holes before extremely heavy rain was slated to move in later on.The plan worked out as all the players had just made the turn when the dark clouds that had been looming on the horizon finally closed in and the decision was made to pull the players off the course and call the tournament official after nine.Despite the challenging weather, the scores were still respectable. Daley, Picariello and Hempel led the way as it nearly was a four-man playoff as Winthrop?s Jack Wallace came up one stroke short in fourth place.He was joined in a tie for fourth by Danvers? Wes Millbury; Swampscott?s Anthony Springthorpe and Beverly?s Ted Leathersich ended up missing the playoff by two shots. Classical?s Kyle Morrill had a solid day in the tough conditions as he cracked the top 10 with a solid round of 43.English?s Matt Sencabaugh shot 45 and teammate Matt Bruneau had a 48 on the same course that they had helped clinch the Bulldogs? first tournament berth in 18 years on the day before.With the team title decided, all that was left was for Daley, Picariello and Hempel to head back out into the lessening rain to decide the individual winner. The decision came quick as both Marblehead players carded double bogeys on the par-4 10th, leaving Daley with a four-foot putt that she knocked home to clinch the win.?It?s kind of surreal,” said Daley, who is heading to Franklin Pierce to join its new women?s golf team. “My goal wasn?t to win. It was one of those days where you had to go one shot at a time.”Next up for most of the players is the Division 1, 2 and 3 North sectionals that are slated for Monday at 9 a.m.