Taconic Golfers Win First-place Battle With Drury
STAMFORD, Vt. -- Midway through his round at Stamford Valley Golf Course on Wednesday, Taconic's Mitchell Omelenchuck needed a lift.
He got it, and he helped lift the Taconic golf team to a five-stroke victory over Drury.
It was Taconic's second win in less than a week over the Blue Devils and allowed the visitors to break first-place tie in the Berkshire County league standings.
Omelenchuck tied for medalist honors with Drury's Nick Boulger, each carding even-par rounds of 36 on the nine-hole layout.
Omenlenchuck said a birdie on the 326-yard par-4 sixth hole was key
"Today started out really frustrating, actually," he said. "I started out 1-over on the first two holes, and I thought I blew an opportunity. I didn't start making putts until the sixth hole. I made a 15-foot birdie putt, and then all the putts started falling for the last three three holes after that.
"That's really a key out there, putting and chipping -- trying leave yourself a manageable up and down."
Omelenchuck went on to birdie the 235-yard par-4 ninnth hole as well.
"Getting the [first] birdie makes you feel like -- it kind of breaks the door open to get more birdies and save more pars," he said. "If you're going the whole round not making a birdie, you start feeling frustrated and you lose your focus. That's what was happening. I almost lost focus toward the middle of the round, and getting that one birdie got me in it."
It also helped that Taconic (11-1) had a little extra motivation going up against Drury (10-2), a team Taconic beat by three strokes at Berkshire Hills Country Club last week.
"Whenever we're playing Drury ... we have a lot of respect for these people," Omelenchuck said. "They have six players who always shoot a really good score. For only having seven players on their team, it's pretty impressive they always can have six kids who shoot as low as they do.
"We also have a deep six who all seem to come through, and Brett came through today when we needed a good score."
Brett Murphy, playing in the third of three groups, carded a 42 to go along with John Keegan's 38 and Matt Ferris' 40.
Drury's scorers after Boulger were Doug Sigsbury at 41 and Nick Bator and Nick Trombley at 42.
After starting the year 9-0, Drury has gone 1-2 going into Monday's match against Mount Greylock.
Drury coach Don Dagnoli said his team did not play its best golf, but all the credit for the win goes to Taconic.
"They shot a great score," Dagnoli said. "They shot as good a score as we have. That's almost as good as our best score in a match here.
"You've got to give them credit for shooting a great score on an unfamiliar course. And our guys didn't play their best today. That was a combination of the two things."
Taconic hosts East Longmeadow on Thursday.