By Ron P. Coderre

Each year when the Congregational Church of Putnam golf tournament rolls around, Pastor Tom Meyer is chided about guaranteeing great weather.  This year, although the tourney went off without a hitch, he took a little bit of a ribbing for the weather conditions.

Sunday, June 28 dawned more like a late October day rather than the usual late June balmy conditions that local golfers are accustomed to on the course.  Temperatures hovered in the low 60’s, with a heavy mist and windy conditions creating a chilly atmosphere.  Despite the conditions, 30 hardy foursomes teed off in support of the Congregational Church and Steve Bousquet Memorial Tournament.  And not surprisingly everyone completed the round and rushed to the clubhouse at the Raceway Golf Course for warmth, a steak dinner, awards and plenty of camaraderie.

“We were extremely pleased with the turnout.  We kid Pastor Tom about praying for great weather but neither rain nor chilly conditions could stop our golfers and volunteers.  This tournament provides us an opportunity as a congregation to say thank you to the community as we use the proceeds to support scholarships for area students,” said Roger Franklin, co-chairman.

The chilly weather did contribute to some higher than usual scores but the Plainfield area foursome of Greg Martel, Steve and Mark Gileau and Seth Nowakowski easily outdistanced the field, posting a score of 13 under par on the par 72 layout, giving them a big five stroke margin of victory.

Second place was where the competition took place.  The runner-up foursome came in at eight under par, five strokes behind the leaders.  The foursome of Bob Hastings, Bob Hastings Sr., Todd Cantwell and Mike Daley was awarded second place by virtue of matching cards.  They edged out third-place finishers Dave and Ashley Proietti, Steve Bracewell and Tom Poirier, who also had a minus eight score.

In the special competitions Derreth Adams was crowned the female long drive champion a title she shared with Nowakowski who was the men’s long driver of the day.  Closest to the pin winners were Bracewell (4th hole), Steve Asadourian (9th), Steve Moran (14th) and George Figerle (17th).  The putting contest was won by Trish DePiro.

The Par 3 Challenge winners were Robert B. Lamoureux (4th), Asadourian (9th), Mike Boledovic (14th) and Ken Creutz (17th).

Charles Leach, tournament co-chairman with Franklin, announced and introduced the scholarship winners for 2015.  Jenna Boyle and Rebecca Teczar were the recipients from Killingly High School, while Mikala Van Dam and Jacob Guertin were the Putnam High School recipients. 

“It’s an honor to present these young scholars with these awards.  They are fine young people who will represent our area well as they move on in life.  On behalf of the Church and the Bousquet family we thank everyone who had a hand in the success of this day,” said co-chairman Leach.