Staff Report
CALLICOON — August 2, 2013 — With just a week left until the 32nd Annual Sullivan County Democrat Golf Tourney tees off at the Villa Roma Golf Club in Callicoon, only one spot is left in the 96-player field.
“It’s been a hectic year, but a good year,” tournament sponsor Fred Stabbert III said yesterday. “The field is going to include 11 past champions, which is exciting.”
Heading the list will be nine-time winner Ken Cohen and his college-bound partner, Drew Billard.
The duo won last year’s Democrat in methodical fashion, gaining the No. 1 seed as low qualifiers, then playing mistake-free golf in marching through the championship bracket. They defeated pre-tournament favorites and four-time champs Sean Semenetz and Joe Winski in the quarterfinals and then two-time champions Gregg Semenetz and Bill Phillips in the finals.
Both Semenetz and Winski and Semenetz and Phillips are in the field for this year’s tourney. Semenetz and Winski have made it to and won four of the last seven finals.
“The are definitely a team to contend with and should be playing well into Sunday [championship day],” Stabbert said.
The three-day tourney starts on Friday with a qualifying round, which will determine flight positions.
From there, the 48 teams will compete in match play format in six different flights. Teams are eliminated until Sunday afternoon, when the final two teams in each flight compete for the title of Democrat champion.
Also on the list of contenders is past champion Kort Wheeler (‘93) who is playing with Rich Schmidt.
Bill Elliott (2000) is playing with his son, Richie, a standout golfer in high school and at SUNY Sullivan.
Pat Murtagh (‘98) will again team up with Don Winters (‘86) to see if they can reach the finals one more time and Chris DuBois (2000) will officially enter the record books as the only golfer to ever play in every single Democrat tourney – 32 in a row. He will be playing with Jay Shapiro.
“If you want to get in, please give me a call,” Stabbert said. “My number is 887-5200.”