Our fourth regular season TOB event – the July 2024 Tour of the Brookfields Tournament – the 308 Lakeside Restaurant Open – was held on Saturday, July 27th at Quail Hollow Golf and Country Club in Oakham, MA. The weather was spectacular, as was the number of players we had sign up – we had 104 golfers sign up (with one last-minute late drop due to illness). This left us with 103 players on 26 teams in three divisions/flights to max out the available carts at the course.
We sincerely thank 308 Lakeside Restaurant in downtown East Brookfield for their sponsorship of the event!
As is the norm for the TOB, all of the flights were very competitive. None were decided by more than one stroke, with 14 of the 26 teams finishing within 3 strokes of the winning scores in their respective flights. See the results after the narrative.
We had two sudden-death playoffs – with two teams each playing off in the Player and Palmer Flights. Amazingly, there was just skin won as well (and that was a BIG prize).
In the Nicklaus Flight, the team of Ryan Toomey, Dave Fiske, Jared Danitis, and Doug Brown took top honors. They were victorious with a spectacular score of -11. This was the best score of any team across the three flights. Congratulations to all for a fine round of golf! In second place at one stroke back at -10 was the team of Cory Heyes, John McQuaid, and Matt McLeod. Due to the previously-mentioned player drop, this team valiantly played with three players instead of four – and was only 1 stroke away from the top score as well – so kudos to you three!
In the Player Flight, there was a two-team playoff as both top teams ended their rounds at 9 under par. That playoff took place on hole number 18, and was decided there after the 18th was played only once. The team of Tom Orszulak, Rich Casault, Jason McCarthy, and Lynn Morin (my wife!) won the playoff with a par. Tom told me that all of his team contributed of course to their -9, but Lynn had two spectacular putts that made a huge difference. She dropped a 35-foot downhill putt for an Eagle on the par-5 fifth hole. And she was not finished as on the next hole she then dropped a 25-foot putt on the par-3 sixth hole. WOW! The team that joined Tom’s team in that playoff was the team of Jack Dorman, Norm Laliberte, Joe Nichols, and Leo Forget, which came in at second but had also an amazing -9 round – INCLUDING that sole skin of the tournament with an Eagle on the first hole (par 4). So, they were the big winners money-wise!
Finally, in the Palmer Flight, there was a two-team playoff on holes 10, 18, and 18 as both teams there finished at an astounding -10. The team of Fran Lamothe, Rich Johnson, Ed McLeod, and Tom Korzec came out on top on the final hole. The other contending playoff team was the team of Shane Higgins, Tom Savage, Bob Demaio, and Jamie McShera who fought valiantly to the end and just came up a bit short on the final playoff hole. Wonderful golf was played by these two teams – well done!
Brian Leveille got the closest to the pin prize for his team with a fine shot – a 6′ 9″ dart!
The results table and some photos that I took will follow this narrative and some notes below.
2024 308 Lakeside Open Results
The results – and some photos I took – are below. Big congrats again to the winners!
As for photos, I did not get as many as I would have liked – and some had folks with closed eyes (I thought I’d delete those). I did get a few videos and I’ll include two here below.
Click on any of the photos for a bigger image.
As for videos, these are not great (I never claimed to be trying out as a videographer), but the first is Tom Orszulak in the playoff hitting from Lynn Morin’s drive position. It’s a tough shot – probably about 125 yards – to an elevated green over a swampy pond.
As you can see Tom’s shot stayed on the green. The other team ended up off the green, chipped on, and two-putted for a 5. Tom’s team putted close and Lynn Morin got to finish as you see below (the exuberant yell at the end is from me).
Before the tournament started, Tom and Lynn gave me a pose – how prophetic!
The Next Tournament and some notes
Thanks again to all the players, to 308 Lakesidefor sponsoring this event, and to Gary and Debbie Donlin, Jim LeBlanc, and all the staff at Quail Hollow who work so hard to make the Tour of the Brookfields possible.
The next tournament is in August coming up on Saturday the 17th of July. It will be the prestigious 308 Hardwick Crossing Open and will be at Quail Hollow. The event is coming up very quickly – so sign ups for the Hardwick Crossing Open will come down on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 7th. This event will also likely be VERY well-attended, so sign up early at Still Harts, at Quail Hollow, or on the Tour of the Brookfields Facebook page!
Registration starts on the day of the event (August 17th) at 7:00 AM.
As many players are trying to get qualified for the FINALS (you need to have played in 3 to be qualified for the FINALS), going forward only players who have a chance at playing in 3 will be allowed to sign up. The exceptions will be sponsor’s teams and individual medical issues as reviewed by the Committee.
REQUESTS AND FYI
- Thanks for arriving on time! Thanks for getting the scorecards in quickly – these two items made things run a LOT more smoothly. Please keep that going by continuing to come early for registration. 7:30 should find everyone at Quail.
- As we hope to continue a full player showing, please sign up early – by August 7th – that’s a Wednesday! When it’s full, it’s full. If we still have openings after Aug 7th, that will be shared on the Facebook page.
If you have any feedback or comments on this blog post – there is a comment section that you can use below. I will continue to put up these events on Facebook – with results posted here on this blog.
This blog is titled, “Life, Golf, Miniatures, and Other Distractions”. I do post other stuff here – mainly around miniature toy soldiers and tabletop wargaming (my other passions). Feel free to subscribe as an email follower! (and it is free and you’ll get instant updates).
A consolidated list of 2024 Golf Posts is here
Mark A. Morin 