Aitken, Carver rule City

Pittsfield, Mass. (Sept. 11)—The Country Club of Pittsfield played host to the city championship yesterday. The GEAA’s club champions played the part of greedy guest.

Darin Aitken, a member and pro shop assistant at GEAA, carded a 3-over 74 and cruised to his first city title by seven shots over Pontoosuc’s perennial club champion John Montgomery, who made his eighth consecutive appearance. Pittsfield’s Steve Cella shot 82.

On the women’s side, the GEAA’s Ellie Carver defended her city crown, parring the final hole for an 86 and a two-stroke victory over Pittsfield’s Lili Geehr, who doubled the closing par-4 for an 88.

Third in last year’s city championship, Aitken reeled off five pars to begin his round and forged a six-shot lead through seven holes. Destined to make bogey or worse on the par-5 eighth hole, Aitken played a deft pitch and saved par from 10-feet.

The only legitimate threat to his margin came from Montgomery, who trailed by six after a front nine 42 but parred the 10th and birdied the 11th to cut the deficit to four.

Montgomery’s comeback, like his tee shot that found the bunker fronting the downhill par-3 13th, was soon buried. He needed two shots to extricate himself from a fried egg lie, then took three putts for a triple bogey six that, combined with Aitken’s birdie, ballooned Montgomery’s deficit to nine.

Game over.

Admittedly, Aitken carried “no expectations” into yesterday’s 9:10 starting time—and rightfully so.

Just one month ago, he disqualified himself from the Allied championship at Stockbridge for playing the wrong ball from a bunker. Since then he has juggled his duties in the GEAA pro shop with his class work as an Environmental Studies major at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, where he also competes on the golf team.

He qualified for the city championship by defeating Luke Polidoro, his MCLA teammate, in a tense, four-hole playoff for the GEAA title. Aitken is also an assistant golf coach at St. Joseph’s, where he won three Western Mass. Championships and one state title from 1995-98.

For someone with such a rich background in golf, it should come as a surprise that he quickly dubbed his city title “tops” on his list of golf accomplishments.

But then again, Aitken’s perspective on life, not just golf, has changed since his father, Mike, a fire fighter, was assigned to the relief in New Orleans.

“I wish my old man could be here,” said Aitken, whose father caddied for him in last year’s city championship at Pontoosuc. “But there’s bigger things in life than this.”

No one needed to tell that to Carver and Geehr.

One group ahead of the men’s pairing, you couldn’t tell whether Carver, 71, or Geehr, 53, were playing for a city title or a $2 Nassau.

Cruising along in a cart, both players exchanged smiles as much as Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh exchange snarls.

Case in point: the par-4 second hole. After opening with a double bogey, Carver, with 25 club championships and eight Allied titles to her name, found water at the second and made triple. Geehr, making her city championship debut, did her one better, taking a quadruple bogey.

“I was like, ‘Are we having fun yet,” joked Geehr, who narrowly edged Sheri Lublin, one of the Berkshire’s best female golfers, for her first Pittsfield club championship.

Despite the rocky start, both women settled down, particularly Carver. Five-over through two holes, she played the remainder of the front nine 1-over, buoyed by a three-foot birdie on the par-3 9th hole.

Up three as they made the turn, Carver bogeyed the 10th and 11th, then double-bogeyed the 12th to fall back into a tie with Geehr.

That’s how they stood as they reached the tee of the 312-yard closing hole. Playing first, Geehr’s tee shot veered left and struck a tree. Carver found the center of the fairway. After Geehr punched out, Carver struck her approach to 25-feet from 131 yards.

Perhaps burdened by pressure, Geehr left her third shot 20 yards short of the green, then pitched 35-feet past the hole, clearing the way for Carver, who calmly two-putted for victory.

Carver has now prevailed on the final hole in the past two city championships, following her birdie on Pontoosuc’s final hole last September to win by five over Diane Breen, who made triple.

Berkshire Hills club champions Breen and Scott Hunter both withdrew.