Berkshire's Best: Top 5 Shots of the Year

Some of the benefits of logging 10,000 miles on my car in less than four months were the amazing shots I witnessed first hand. From a dramatic playoff in the Allied Four-ball to an unbelievable recovery in a playoff at the Mass. Open, here are my top five shots of the 2005 golf season.

5) Randy Driscoll and Bob Linn’s tee shots on Stockbridge’s second hole during a playoff for the Allied title.

Driscoll and Linn shot matching 1-under 70s to share the first round lead. After torrential rains forced the suspension and ultimate cancellation of the second round, both players were sent out to Stockbridge’s par-3 2nd hole to break the tie. While a cart caravan of players and interested onlookers sloshed to the tee, a second wave of storms whisked through South County. As claps of thunder and torrential rains filled the sky, Driscoll and Linn, who were barely visible from less than 15 yards away, struck their tee shots just short of the right portion of the green. Unfortunately, a slip n’ slide type reservoir of water stretched from the back left pin position all the way to their balls, leaving no choice but to deem Driscoll and Linn co-champions. For sheer ridiculousness alone, the conditions under which those tee shots were played warrant their inclusion on this list. Add in what was at stake, an Allied Championship, and their ability to hit a respectable shot, let alone hold onto a golf club, becomes even more impressive.

4) Donnie Troy’s flop shot to save par on the 13th hole during the final round of the Western Mass. Amateur at Elmcrest Country Club.

Things were looking quite grim for Donnie Troy as he walked to the 13th green at  Elmcrest Country Club in the final round of the Western Mass. Amateur. From an ideal position in the fairway, he had just pulled his 8-iron second shot, leaving himself an awkward pitch to a pin that sloped away from him and sat just on the other side of a steep swale. Up ahead, he had just learned that Steve Alminas, one of New England’s top amateurs, had reached 5-under-par and held a one shot lead over Troy. With just one legitimate birdie chance coming home, a bogey here would all but end his chances. From a marginal lie, Troy lofted a flop shot just onto the edge of the green, and watched as it trickled down the slope and came to rest five-feet from the hole. He then made that putt and birdied the par-5 16th to tie Alminas, but eventually lost on the first playoff hole.
           
3) Ed Budz’s 25-foot putt to save par on the 12th hole during the final round of the Berkshire Hills Singles.

Every head-to-head duel of any consequence always includes a turning point that shifts momentum into one player’s favor. Who can forget Tiger’s walk-in birdie on Valhalla’s 16th hole during a playoff at the 2000 PGA? Or Watson’s chip-in on 17 at Pebble Beach to deny Nicklaus a record-tying fifth U.S. Open? The 12th hole at Berkshire Hills during the final round of the Singles was just one of those turning points, although not the one originally expected. Trailing by one shot, Troy stiffed his wedge approach to two-feet. Budz then deposited his wayward wedge into the greenside bunker on the left. To make matters worse, his ball came in at such a steep angle that it plugged on the embankment halfway up the lip. With a bogey, or worse, staring him in the face, Budz stared back, and blasted his third 25-feet past the pin, a miraculous shot in and of itself. Still away, Budz then calmly sank his downhill, right-to-left putt for par. No doubt stunned, Troy jabbed at his near gimme putt and missed. Five minutes later, Troy missed another gimme for par on the 13th hole. Budz, his ship righted by that memorable par on 12, cruised home for his second career singles victory.

2) Donnie Troy’s 45-foot bomb on the 12th hole at Wyantenuck that gave him and partner Chris Marinaro a sudden death playoff victory over Dick Weigold and Frank Cipollino in the Allied Four-Ball.

In late August, Donnie Troy clinched Berkshire County player of the year honors with a dominant five-shot victory in the Wyantenuck Singles. Three months earlier, in the Allied Four-Ball at Wyantenuck, he signaled a warning shot of sign of things to come. Stalled at 1-under-par through 13 holes, Troy canned birdie putts of 30, 2, and 18 feet on the next three holes and propelled Team Young Gun to a 4-under 66, which left them deadlocked with veterans Dick Weigold, the 1974 Connecticut Amateur Champion, and Egremont’s Frank Cipollino. As darkness settled in, both teams opened the sudden-death playoff with pars at the par-3 11th then headed to the 12th hole. From the right rough, Marinaro hit a precise 7-iron from 165 yards to two-feet. Troy pulled his shot and left himself a bending 45-foot putt. Wiegold missed in the front bunker and Cipollino found the back fringe. After Weigold blasted within 10-feet, Troy studied his putt, knowing he could be bold with Marinaro stone dead for birdie. “Right before I hit it,” said Troy, “I was thinking about how I would take away all the glory from my partner if I made the putt.” Seconds later, that hunch proved prophetic as his cross-green bomb dove into the hole for an improbable birdie. Once Cipollino’s putt from just off the green narrowly missed, Troy and Marinaro celebrated the start of summer with their first of two Four-Ball victories.  

1) Jim Salinetti’s pitch shot on the third playoff hole during the centennial Mass. Open at Vesper Country Club.

No matter how grand the stage, every memorable golf tournament contains three necessary components: A decided favorite, unexpected drama, and rising tension.

Such was the case with this year’s centennial Mass. Open at Vesper Country Club. Jim Salinetti, the MGA’s darling, with three Mass. Amateur crowns to his name, certainly held the title of decided favorite. He completed 54 holes 7-under-par, which tied him with fellow Cleveland Golf Tour member Eric Egloff, of Maryland. Both players made a par and bogey on the first two holes of the three-hole aggregate playoff. On the third playoff hole, the 526 yard 18th, Egloff left himself a simple greenside bunker shot for his third. Salinetti, though, hit his 3-wood second shot well left of the green into a flowerbed. He took a free drop, but his ball nestled into Vesper’s gnarly rough. Now he faced a downhill pitch, with a bad lie, to a pin positioned just beyond a gaping bunker. Oh, yeah, and the green sloped away from him. As the crowd of 500 looked on eagerly, Salinetti, somehow, played a miraculous shot 25-feet past the pin. The raucous reaction of the gallery was one part amazement, one part disbelief. With Egloff eyeing a near-certain birdie, Salinetti poured in his birdie putt with such ease you wondered if his ball and the hole were in cahoots. Tied after three aggregate playoff holes, both players exchanged blows for three additional sudden-death playoff holes until Egloff finally prevailed. For nearly seven hours, Salinetti’s local appeal, combined with six pressure-packed playoff holes and the tension that comes long with such a memorable tournament formed a well-tempered triad, striking a harmonious chord the likes of which the Mass. Open might never hear again.