Driscoll Holds on to win Ouimet
Jay Driscoll of Wollaston matched two under par 70 with veteran Steve Tasho of Thorny Lea and hung on for a one stroke victory in the 41st Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament on Friday. The 70 gave Driscoll a three round even par 216 total. The final round was played at Woodland Golf Club, the traditional final round site and Francis Ouimet’s home course. The prior two rounds of the prestigious 54-hole amateur invitational were played at Wollaston and Framingham.
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2008 Ouimet Memorial Champion Jay Driscoll with Tournament Chairman of 30 years and Ouimet Trustee Dick Connolly. |
Driscoll is a 20 year old sophomore at Trinity College, while Tasho is a veteran of Massachusetts golf. The 49 year old produce distributor is a two–time Massachusetts Amateur Champion. Tasho started the head-to-head final round one behind Driscoll and applied pressure with three opening birdies while Driscoll bogeyed the 2nd, but Driscoll responded with a 20 foot birdie putt at four, and they went at it from that point. Driscoll pulled ahead for the final time with a 20 footer for birdie on 17 while Tasho had a seven footer slide over the edge. Both parred 18.
Driscoll is the cousin of PGA Tour Player James Driscoll. He finished 3rd in the MGA Jr. Amateur in 2005 and is a two time Wollaston club champ. He had taken a month off from golf after a disappointing series of qualifiers in June, and came into the event relaxed. He said, “I didn’t have any expectations, but, when I took the lead after two rounds, I thought about putting my name with the great players who’d won this, and that’s what it came down to.”
Carter Fasick of Indian Meadows closed with a 73 for a 227 total to win the Eddie Lowery Seniors Division. Brittany Weddell, a 17 year old Bourne High School Senior from Sandwich Hollows, shot a 79 to win the one-round Women’s Division. Antonio Grillo of Farm Neck, who will be a freshman at Harvard in September, won the Junior Division with a 225 total.