A Championship Experience at Pawtucket CC
By Joe McDonald
RIGA Senior Writer
PAWTUCKET – Junior golfers were treated to a special experience this week thanks to the members and staff of Pawtucket Country Club.
PCC hosted the 105th Junior Amateur Championship and everyone involved felt at home on this beautiful course and inside the clubhouse. After Lily Dessel (Girls’ Championship Division), Jesse Hellring (Boys’ Championship Division), Connor Ahlborg (Boys’ First Division) and Raj Mammen (Boys’ Under-14 Division) were crowned champions, RIGA executive director Bob Ward thanked owner Gary Reis, head golf pro Michael Gelinas, superintendent Michael Whitehead, longtime member Paul Rego, along with the entire membership and staff at Pawtucket Country Club for an outstanding week.
It’s also great news Pawtucket CC will host the 2025 Junior Amateur Championship.
“I’ve loved it,” Dessel said of her experience this week. “It’s narrow, but I typically hit it pretty straight off the tee, so it’s been nice for me. The greens definitely got faster throughout the week and that was tough to adapt to, especially (Thursday) and I’m glad I putted bad (during the semifinals) because I really had to figure it out today.”
Hellring, of Miami Beach, Fla., spends his summers in Rhode Island and is a member at Wannamoisett Country Club agrees with his fellow champion.
“Pawtucket was a great host. I love the course,” Hellring said. “Even with all the rain, the wind and the wetness, it was an awesome event.”
Players also enjoyed watching Phil, PCC’s mascot and fun-loving dog, run around the course all week by Whitehead’s side.
“We enjoy hosting RIGA events,” Whitehead said with Phil at his feet. “It’s a little extra work, but it always pays off in the end. People seem to enjoying playing the place, so we like for the outsiders to get a look at it. Not a lot of people know it and it’s kind of undiscovered to some extent, so it’s always fun to have the RIGA come in here. We like it.”
Every player who competed in the Junior Amateur raved about the conditions and thanked Whitehead for an outstanding week of golf.
“It’s always nice to hear, and we hear it from the members, too,” he said. “We work hard and try to keep it nice. It’s not an easy place to take care of because there’s way more traffic out here than there used to be. We’re doing about 30,000 rounds per year and a few years ago it was 18,000, but it’s always good to hear positive feedback.”
We’ll see you again next summer. Thanks for the invite, Pawtucket Country Club. Bye, Phil.