PEABODY — It was father versus son this year at Salem Country Club’s men’s club championship. By the time the last putt was holed on the 18th hole, experience won out.
Defending champion and Salem State University golf team coach, Kevin Daly, took two of the final four holes to eek out a one-up victory over son Ryan, a rising junior on the Bentley University golf team.
The match was all-square going into the 18th hole. Both players split the fairway with their drives, with the balls separated by only a couple of feet. Ryan left his 9-iron approach well short of the green, while Kevin knocked his approach to within 25 feet. After Ryan missed a long putt to save par, Kevin two-putted to seal the win, his fifth at Salem.
Kevin, who needed 20 holes to beat Dave Sacco, Jr. in the semifinals in the morning, said he knew it was going to be a close match, but was glad to be playing his son in the championship match.
“Two years ago we played in the semis, and it was so much nicer playing him in the final because we knew it would stay in the family,” he said. “It was a very long day with a lot of tough matches all week. A couple of years ago, I knew I had a good chance, but today I knew I had to play great to beat him. I just tried to be steady and hit the fairways.”
The match was extremely close. Kevin won two of the first three holes to jump out to a two-up lead. The players halved the next two holes with pars on the fifth and birdies on the fifth. Ryan got the match back to all square at the turn with pars on the sixth and ninth.
After trading routine pars by both players on 10 and 11, Ryan took a one-up lead with a birdie on 12, only to lose 13 with a bogey. He regained the lead with a par on 14. But the rest of the way belonged to Kevin, winning 15 and 18 with pars.
“I just over thought it and tried to hit a 9 (iron) when I probably should have just gone full pitching wedge and just caught it heavy,” said Ryan.
When asked if he thought his son might be gaining the upper hand in the rivalry, Kevin said, “I hope my days are numbered but between Ryan and Dave Sacco, Jr., that might be the case from here.”
“I had a good week and think I was only 10-over for five rounds,” said Ryan. “I was playing well coming into the week, so I was happy with the way I played.”
When asked if the heat and long morning match in the morning might have had an adverse effect on his father’s stamina in the afternoon, Ryan said, “Yeah, that’s a lot of golf for an old man.”
Diane Carter won the Women’s Club Championship, defeating Julia Velonis, 7&6.
