Duo From Ellington Ridge Captures 87th CSGA Father & Son Championship

WATERTOWN, CT — Leading by one as they played the closing par-4 18th, John and Bradley Sawka needed a par to close out the 87th Connecticut State Golf Association Father & Son Championship Thursay at Watertown Golf Club. A solid second shot left them 30 feet for birdie; however, when the first putt came up short, John needed to convert a 6-footer to seal the deal. After the duo looked over the putt from nearly every angle, he rolled the ball into the center of the cup and shared a hug with his son.

"I felt good over the putt," John said. "Fortunately, I wasn’t in control of Golf Genius today so I had no idea what was happening. I didn’t know if we had a three-shot lead or a one-shot lead so I was pretty calm, cool, and collected over the putt. Once the putt dropped Bradley gave me a big hug after and said, ‘Dad, I think we won.’ It was really good stuff."

The Ellington Ridge Country Club members finished in front of two teams who posted 4-under 67s to tie for second place. Out early, Steve and Clark Robinson (Wethersfield CC) carded five birdies and one bogey and for much of the day held the top spot on the leaderboard. A few hours later, their round was matched by Zac and Luke Stennett (Tallwood CC) who caught fire on the back nine following an even-par 36 on the front. After nine straight pars to begin their day, the Stennetts converted birdies on Nos. 10, 11, 16 and 18 to rocket up the leaderboard, thanks to a flawless 4-under 31 on the second nine.

The Sawkas got off to a quick start with a birdie on the par-5 first before carding additional birdies on the fourth, eighth and ninth holes to make the turn in 4-under 32. Bradley highlighted the birdies on the par-3 fourth and ninth as two of the most important. On both holes, John knocked his tee shot to 12 feet with Bradley converting the birdie putts.

A birdie on the par-4 11th moved the duo to 5-under; however, they both agreed the most important shot of the day might have been the long bogey putt Bradley holed on the par-4 12th.

"That was a huge momentum boost despite having a terrible hole," said Bradley, who is committed to UConn.

Sitting at 4-under with six holes to play, the Sawkas moved back to 5-under with a birdie on the par-3 15th, then jumped to 6-under with their seventh and final birdie of the day on the ensuing par-5. A bogey followed on the par-4 17th, setting up the final hole dramatics.

"I think this is tremendous," John said. "I still remember my first Father & Son tournament at Indian Hill Country Club and Bradley was 10 years old and we go to the first tee and we are playing the back tees. Bradley looked at me and said, ‘Dad I don’t think I can reach the fairway,’ and I said, ‘Buddy just hit it down the walking path and let's do the best we can.’ And here we are today at Watertown and this is just really special. This is one that I always wanted and I will always remember for the rest of my life that I won a CSGA event with my son."

Final Results

Photo Gallery