Lafauci wins 30th Mid-Amateur Championship
By Joe McDonald
RIGA Senior Writer
THOMPSON, Conn. – The first thing Larry Lafauci, Jr. did was call his dad.
Lafauci stepped off the 18th green Wednesday afternoon at Quinnatisset Country Club, grabbed his phone.
“I won,” he said excitedly to his father, Larry Sr.
Lafauci accomplished his goal of winning back-to-back Rhode Island Mid-Amateur Championships and now he feels vindicated with his consecutive victories. The first person he wanted to tell was his father.
“My dad is my hero,” he said. “I love my father. I can’t put into words what he means to me. He introduced me to the game and now at 43-years-old I still call him to tell him good things, whether it’s golf or work. Just hearing his voice, and hearing him be happy means everything to me, so this is special.”
Lafauci led the two-day event from start to finish and completed his victory with a score of 70-72 – 142 (2-under). When he drained his final putt, he screamed in excitement. After his bogey-free round Tuesday, he said he didn’t feel like the job would be done unless he won the tournament. He never relented. He remained calm and consistent Wednesday and finished strong.
“I still have work to do,” he said of his overall game. “But, this validates last year. Maybe folks thought I was a flash in the pan, and that’s fine, I’m ok with that. At the end of the day, I have to come out here and hit the golf ball, but it validates what happened last year in a big way. To go wire-to-wire you can’t take that away from me.”
A season ago, Lafauci defeated Tommy McCormick and Chris Flowers in a sudden-death playoff to win the 29th Mid-Amateur Championship at Triggs Memorial, which is the course Lafauci learned to play the game as a boy. He continued his streak Wednesday at Quinnatisset.
“I can’t even put it into words,” he said. “There are so many great players in this state, and to do this is just really special. It was a grind, but I’m just really happy validate what I did last year.”
Other than his father, there was one other person who was ecstatic for Lafauci. RIGA legendary starter, Joe Pieranunzi, kept close tabs on the round and the two spent some time together after Lafauci’s victory.
“I’ve known Joe since I was 8-years-old,” explained Lafauci. “He reminds me of my days at Triggs and his son, Stevie, is a dear friend of mine. Stevie was probably one of the best golfers when I was a young kid, and Joe’s always been a great supporter. (RIGA Executive Director) Bob (Ward) has always been a great supporter, too. I always love hugging Joe. Joe’s always my guy I see at the starter’s tent, but I love talking to him and it reminds me of the old days at Triggs.”
SENIOR DIVISION
The Senior Division final came down to the last hole. O’Leary parred No. 18 en route to victory over Kirkbrae’s John Auclair and Button Hole’s Michael Arter, who both finished T2 at 5-over.
“It’s always nice to win a championship at any level,” O’Leary said. “I was really happy with coming away ahead. It was a tough day out here. It’s a real tough course and with the speed of the greens, I struggled a little bit on the greens. I hit the ball pretty good, but had a few 3-putts and that led to a tight finish, but it’s always good to come out on top.”
The conditions – mostly rain and wind – during the two-day event were challenging, but the players gave Quinnatisset superintendent, Jeff Tibbetts, all the credit for creating and maintaining a championship-like track, especially the greens.
“I was shocked when I got here (Tuesday) and got on the putting green and saw how fast and firm the greens were,” O’Leary explained. “It was amazing, so the superintendent here deserves a lot of credit. I have no idea how he got these things so fast, but it was a treat to come out here and play the course and putt on these greens that were so true. It was just a little too quick for me.”
O’Leary’s son, Andrew, won the 2019 Rhode Island Amateur Championship, recently graduated from Notre Dame University and currently is a pro. So, when Brian was leaving with his Mid-Amateur trophy in his hand, Pieranunzi, joked about the father-son rivalry.
“I can give Andrew a little bit of a hard time that I’m the last one to win, so I’ll definitely give him some ribbing,” O’Leary said with a laugh.