POLAND – After what’s felt like endless rain over the last month at Maine Golf championships, the sun finally came out for a few days at Fairlawn GC this week at the 2023 Senior Four-Ball Championship. This tournament was expanded to 36 holes this year in this two-man best ball tournament, and day two brought plenty of excitement at the top of the leaderboard. At day’s end it was the duo of Jim Quinn and Roger Williams who outlasted the field to grab the Senior Four-Ball title.
Their second round 69 paired with their scorching 63 on day one left them at -12 for the tournament, two shots clear of former champions Len Cole and Mark Plummer in second place at -10 after consecutive 67s. Four teams finished tied for third at -9 after two days under the warm sun at Fairlawn.
On Wednesday’s first round, Quinn and Williams shot a score of 63 (-9) on the day, highlighted by eight birdies by Williams on his own ball. Shockingly, their score was not leading after the first day, as Ron Dery and Mike O’Brien carded 62 (-10). On that round, O’Brien hit the shot of the tournament, holing his second shot on the par-5 7th hole for an elusive albatross.
Thursday saw more and more birdies from the field, and the scoring reflected that. Quinn and Williams played steady again on day two, making five birdies and dropping two shots on 8 and 10, their only bogeys of the week. Playing alongside the champs in the final group were Dery and O’Brien, who didn’t have the same magic as they did in their first round and never got anything going, eventually finishing in that large group in third at -9. Over the two days, 17 of the 55 teams in the field finished under par for 36 holes.
This is the first Senior Four-Ball title for Williams, and second for Quinn, who previously won this event in 2008 with Jay Rowe.
On the net side, it was Jim Caron and Craig Lapierre tied with Patrick Keeley and Scott Weymouth for first place with a two-day total of 131 -(13).
Maine Golf would like to thank Fairlawn GC for being great hosts to this event over the two days of the championship. Next on the schedule is the Maine Amateur Championship, the oldest and most prestigious men’s amateur event conducted by Maine Golf. The Amateur will take center stage at Samoset Resort GC in Rockport next week on July 11-13.
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