Aug. 4—WATERTOWN — Led by a newcomer to the event and a wily veteran, the Thompson Park Golf Course team mounted a comeback by making a determined charge Saturday on its home turf.
With Nate Heller and Bob Hughes leading the way, the squad rallied to win the team title at the Northern New York Six-Man golf championship held on their home course.
The team entered the second day sitting in third place, trailing leader Malone Golf Club by eight strokes and second-place Massena Country Club by five.
But the Thompson Park crew stormed back to prevail on the hot and humid day, finishing with a seven-stroke edge over Malone in a 895 to 902 two-day outcome.
“It feels great, I mean it’s a team effort and everyone played their butts off and it was a good turnout,” Heller said. “So I’m really glad we got it done.”
“I knew everybody on the team had room for improvement,” Hughes said. “Most players did improve, I didn’t, I shot 73 again, but it was all right. Good enough.”
Anthony Viskovich of Massena won the individual title, by posting a two-day score of 144, by recording a four-over par round of 68 on Friday and a 76 on Saturday.
“There’s a lot of good players that come to this event every year and I consider myself very fortunate to win this again,” Viskovich said.
Heller, who was playing in his first Six-Man event, finished runner up by one stroke to Viskovich with a two-day total of 145, including a one-under par 71 on Saturday.
Hughes, a long time staple on the area golfing scene, was one stroke back, securing a tie for third place with Tyler Berkman of Potsdam Town and Country Club, with each totaling 146 for the two days.
Hughes shot back-to-back rounds of 73, while Berkman recorded rounds of 71 and 75.
“Bob coming in with a really good score, that helped tremendously,” Heller said. “There was definitely some suspense absolutely, he’s the best, though, he’s the best around here and he gets the job done. So it’s pretty awesome to have a guy like him on your team.”
Joshua Woodward (74-74—148), Bob Phillips (78-74—152), Joe Tufo (76-77—153), Marcus Emerson (77-76—153), completed Thompson Park’s top six scorers.
“Nice, it’s nice,” Hughes, who is 63, said. “Because there’s some guys here where it’s their first time, I’ve won a bunch of these and played in a bunch of them over the years and winning never gets old. But I’m glad to see a guy like Nate Heller win for the first time and DJ Marconi for the first time, so it’s great for those guys.”
Also for the team, Deane Manning won the super senior competition to add to the squad’s successful day.
“It’s a nice mix,” Hughes continued. “We’ve got a junior and there’s two seniors on the team, so everybody gets to play and everybody’s score has a chance to count because they take the best six out of nine, everybody has a chance to participate.”
On the day, Heller recorded four birdies, including three on the front nine, as well as one on the 16th hole and Hughes birdied three holes, including one down the stretch on No. 15.
“It was pretty good,” Heller said of his day. “I struck it really well, rolled in a couple birdies. I had a couple silly bogeys, but that’s golf, and overall I’m pretty happy with what I did today.”
The Thompson Park team also secured Watertown’s first Six-Man team title since 2015 when the course was known as Watertown Golf Club.
“And this is the first time I ever played in this event, so I’m pretty happy to get the job done in the first one,” added Heller who is a 2022 graduate of General Brown.
The event came to a suspenseful conclusion right down to the final hole as Hughes and Viskovich were in the final pairing.
“I just tried to make pars,” Hughes said. “I knew Anthony had a couple shot lead on me and I was trying to catch him, but I just didn’t have enough for him.”
“It’s just the last day and the last group and the pressure is what it comes down to,” Viskovich said. “I’m just glad I was able to pull this one out.”
“It was a little bit of a struggle on the back nine, I missed a few short putts, I missed a few of them all day today,” Viskovich said. “My putter was how it was yesterday, just as cold today and ball striking was about the same. … At the end, I was just trying to get the ball in the hole, I was pretty nervous today.”
Viskovich grinded out the win as he registered just a pair of birdies on the day, with them coming on the 14th and 17th holes to finish strong.
“This is a huge deal, this means a lot to me,” Viskovich said. “Coming to this tournament for as long as I have and seeing the same people year after year you make a lot of friendships. It is the best of the best for Northern New York Golf. So I consider myself very, very fortunate.”
The championship was Viskovich’s fourth all-time in Six-Man play, also having won the medalist title in two years ago, as well as in 2013 and 2018.
“I won it a couple times at Potsdam, once at Tupper Lake, so it’s nice to win one down here at the Park,” Viskovich said.
Viskovich, whose father Gill has competed in Six-Man play in the past, praised Hughes.
“I had my own challenges and kind of felt a little hot under the collar at times,” said Viskovich, who is 34 years old. “Today presented a few challenges. Playing with Bob, he’s somebody that my dad played with coming up, he’s an icon down here and I think it was my second time playing with him and he was an absolute gentleman today. I had a really good back and forth there on the back nine with him and I hate to see him miss that putt on 18, I know it meant a lot to him.”
Viskovich continued: “They used to…
