The first Petit Family Foundation Golf Tournament was put together in about five weeks by a dedicated committee and was played on October 15, 2007, what would have been HAYLEY’s 18th birthday. Since the first tournament, it has been held in June 2008, 2009, 2010 and now 2011. It has been a sell-out all 5 times as a best ball (AM) and scramble (PM) event with prizes for the winners, dinner, raffle, and silent and live auctions.

This year’s tournament was held at the Country Club, Farmington. The Farmington Bank led by Mr. John Patrick was again the Title/Presenting sponsor. The weather was the best we have had for any of the events. The AM group teed off with the temperature in the low to mid 60’s and by the time they were in at noon we were in the high 70’s to low 80’s. There was a gentle breeze throughout the day and small cotton balls of fluffy clouds that were sparse but effective at times to provide some cooling.

The course was in superb condition due to the hard work of John Ruszbatsky and his able staff. Tees, fairways and greens were in great shape and the rough and fescue were tough due to the heavy rain we had received March though June. The greens were cut and rolled the morning of the tournament and there were some devilish pin placements, notably 4, 13 and 16 to name several. Mr. Broomall’s hole-in-one prize money of $25,000 remained intact as no one had an ace. The bag boys were running full speed getting the 14 foursomes out in the AM and then re-loading for the 40 PM foursomes. I suspect the committee will allow 18 foursomes in the AM next year (best ball) for those who feel they can play in four hours or less (7:30 AM until 11:30 AM) and limit the PM field to 36 foursomes (scramble with a maximum score of bogey) so we can finish in 4.5-5 hours (12 noon – 4:30/5:00 PM).

The early group was treated to breakfast on the patio and off they went with their new Crimson Nike golf shirts for both men and women, again very generously donated by Graham Leveston. They also received golf balls care of Titleist and Brian Murphy, a tote bag with the Petit Family Foundation logo, a PFF pin and decal, 1 nip of aiming fluid care of Crazy Bruce (Mark and Wendy Wilson), an herbal pick me up care of HerbaSway and a golf hat with the PFF logo. The AM best ball event was won by:

Gross: Dave Higgins, Willie Rauscher, Mike Mastrianni, Steve LeFebvre 68
Net : Ron Bucchi, John Patrick, Ken Burns, Andreas Kapetanopoulos 56

At 12:30 PM the thundering herd of 160 golfers teed off and played a bit more slowly than their AM counterparts but once again enjoyed chair massages at number 2 care of Bridges to Health and Lee Stange. There were hole in one prizes on all the par 3 holes including a chance at $25,000 (half to the golfer, half to the Foundation), as well as a gorgeous $7,500 dollar rug donated by Joe Namnoun at number 4, and a 50/50 at number 12 which was worth $1,930 dollars - the winner Dr. James L. Massi donated back his half to the to the Foundation. Thank you Dr. Massi!

The afternoon low gross (scramble) was won by:

Gross: Dan Delmastro, Dan Pandiscia, Dan Peretti, Drew Cervasio 58
Net: Steve Wagner, John Wagner, Brian Morse, Don Morse 53

An excellent dinner was enjoyed by all while raffle tickets were sold and silent auction bidding occurred. The live auction was run by Scot Haney and Kara Sundlun of Channel 3 WFSB. Vacation destinations in Florida (Destin Beach and Sanibel Island) and golf trips (Newport CC, Secession GC, Old Memorial, TPC River Highlands, Fishers Island, The International, and Baltusrol the lower course among others) were auctioned off. Excellent photos of the foursomes were taken by Adriana Lajoie and action photos by Christine Paluf, while video was done by Brian Terault (which can be seen here.)

The staff under the direction of new house manager Mr. David Camilleri did an excellent job and Head PGA Professional Jeremy Vitkauskas, Assistant PGA Professional Jim Erricolo and Assistant John Goodrich kept the golf event running as smoothly as possible. The house staff and the bag boys donated ALL their TIPS back to the Foundation.

The volunteers were excellent as always under the guidance of Chairman Bernie Lidestri and the watchful eye of Portia Corbett.

We hope to see you all back next year and will incorporate suggestions to make the 2012 event bigger and better than ever.

The Country Club was incorporated in 1892. In 1924 an eighteen hole course designed by Devereux Emmet was opened. Over the decades many changes have been made but the course continues to reflect much of Mr. Emmet’s design. It is a par 71 and plays about 6300 yards during the tournament.

(click map for course tour)