Stockbridge Classic

Stockbridge Golf Club

May 18—About 40 minutes after the field of 41 finished play in yesterday’s Stockbridge Classic, Head Professional Jimmy Marston entered the dining room to announce this year’s winner.

Alistair Catto, the two-time defending champion, sat at the center table, the only seat he’s known for the past two years.

Correction: Make that three years.

“As usual,” Marston said with a tinge of sarcasm, “Alistair won, but we’re going to keep holding the tournament so he can buy some more stuff in the golf shop.”

Dressed in black pants and a long-sleeve black shirt—appropriate on a cold and overcast day—Catto birdied his final hole, the difficult par-3 14^th to shoot even par 71.

His 5-wood from 219 yards, one of just two birdies on that hole, stopped inches away and turned a one-stroke deficit into a one-stroke victory over playing companion and long-time 4-ball partner Chris Ferriter, who made bogey and shot 72. Afterward, Ferriter had nothing but high praise for the 55-year old Catto.

“He knew he was one behind,” said Ferriter, a member at Hickory Ridge. If he can hit that shot I applaud him.”

Catto began his round on No. 15 and struggled early, missing his first three fairways, two of which led to bogey. But he closed his round by hitting nine of the next 11 fairways.

“If you start spraying it, you’re dead,” said Catto, who played his final 15 holes 2-under. “It’s easy to get in trouble on this golf course.”

Randy Driscoll, who won the 2005 Men’s Individual Allied at Stockbridge (his home club) shot 74 and tied for third. He shared low Berkshire County honors with two-time defending Men’s Player of the Year Donnie Troy, who spent the better part of Wednesday and Thursday driving home from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Three-over par standing in the 10^th fairway, Troy took out a bag of almonds from his golf bag and threw one into the air.

He leaned his chin to the sky, waiting for it to fall into his mouth.

It missed.

The same can be said for Troy’s putting. Two-under par entering the 2^nd hole, he missed a 4-foot putt for bogey after his tee shot came up 30 yards short of the green. Two holes later, he missed a three-foot putt for par.

“I’m just rusty,” Troy said afterward. “I haven’t been on the practice green in two weeks.”

Still, Troy and Driscoll each earned 42.5 points and lead the Men’s Player of the Year standings, presented by the Scarafoni Financial Group. Wyantenuck’s Ed Schopp shot 75 and earned 22.5 points.