By Rob Potter
LIBERTY — August 20, 2002 – After admitting that he struggled on the first few holes of Sunday’s final round of the Sullivan County Men’s Amateur Golf Championship, Dave Solomon said that he “got into a groove.”
And that spelled trouble for the rest of the field at Grossinger’s Golf Course.
After going four over on the front nine Sunday, Solomon was one under on the back nine to overtake Pravin Singh for the lead. Solomon finished the two-day tournament with a total score of 152, three strokes better than Singh’s 155.
(Saturday’s first round was held at the Concord Monster course, while Sunday’s second and final round was played at Grossinger’s.)
“I started out crummy (today),” Solomon said. “I double bogeyed the first hole and made two bogeys in a row on the front nine. By the sixth hole, I didn’t think I had a chance of winning.”
But the Woodbourne resident was still within a few strokes of Singh, who held the lead until the 12th hole.
“I just got into a groove,” explained Solomon, who works as a golf course starter at the Concord. “I stopped feeling bad for myself and played hard. I got into the groove and held it together over the final holes.”
By the 16th hole, Solomon led Singh by three strokes and held a five-shot advantage over Ken Cohen. Cohen, who won last year’s tournament, finished third. He shot an 81 on Saturday and a 77 on Sunday for a total of 158.
“I lost to a guy who taught me everything I know about golf,” said Singh, who is the tennis professional at Kutsher’s and began playing golf with his friend Solomon about 16 years ago. “David would take me along to events and I got better by playing against the great golfers.”
In the tournament’s senior division, Mel Kaufman recorded a two-day total of 162 to defeat Sy Solomon by 12 strokes. Bob Petitto of Rock Hill finished third with a score of 208.
Petitto, however, scored the only hole-in-one of the event. He recorded the ace on the Grossinger’s par-3 17th hole.
“It was my first hole-in-one ever,” Petitto said. “It was great, it made my whole weekend!”
At the awards ceremony following the final round, tournament chairman Marvin Newberg thanked the golfers for competiting. He also noted the efforts of Todd Barker, who is the Director of Golf at the Concord and Grossinger’s.
“He’s a good friend to all of the golfers here,” Newberg said of Barker. “We thank him for being able to play these fine courses.”
Newberg noted that the second annual tournament featured more golfers than last year’s event. The 2001 tournament featured 16 players, while the weekend’s event included more than 20 Sullivan County amateur golfers. However, a few of those golfers had to withdraw prior to the event.
“It was a good tournament,” Newberg said. “The golfers played the Concord Monster and Grossinger’s, two of the toughest and best golf courses around. We’ll try to make the tournament a little bigger next year.”
Complete tournament results are as follows:
• Dave Solomon 78–74 – 152
• Pravin Singh 77–78 – 155
• Ken Cohen 81–77 – 158
• Gregg Semenetz 81–81 – 162
• Jared Kubenik 87–76 – 163
• Nate Steingart 86–77 – 163
• Lee Wood 84–80 – 164
• Charles Johnston 82–83 – 165
• Sean Semenetz 82–83 – 165
• Marvin Newberg 84–83 – 167
• Doug Kleeshulte 81–86 – 167
• Mike Bastedo 90–82 – 172
• Lonnie Ackerly 87–86 – 173
• Bill Mullally 97–86 – 183
• Pat Murtagh 95–91 – 186

Senior Division
• Mel Kaufman 83–79 – 162
• Sy Solomon 84–90 – 174
• Bob Petitto 112–96 – 208