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May 6, 2008

Blanchard wins Burke by three

Charlie Blanchard began his day today with a lost ball and ended it with a new trophy for winning still another golf championship.

Blanchard, the reigning Rhode Island Golf Association player of the year, took the RIGA’s season-opening event, the Burke Memorial. He posted a 75 at Newport which, added to his opening 69 at Wanumetonomy, gave him a 36-hole total of 144.

That was three shots better than Swansea’s Jon Costa, who also had a closing 75 for 147, work that included a birdie on the final hole. Valley’s Shane Rice had the best score of the second day, a 70, to take third at 148.

Blanchard began the second round with a three-shot lead but saw it disappear quickly. The lefty pushed his tee shot into an overgrown area on the opening hole. He never found the ball, had to go back and re-tee and was happy to get away with a bogey on the par-5 hole. He three-putted the par-3 fourth for a double bogey.

``I had a 12-footer and got a little too aggressive on the first putt,’’ he said.

As the players made the turn, Blanchard, Fenner Hill’s Jason Hull and Wanumetonomy’s Luke Hyder were within one shot of each other for the lead. Hyder, playing at Wanumetonomy, struggled coming home. Hull birdied the par-5 10th to tie Blanchard.

The pivotal swing came on the other par-5 on the back side, the 12th. Hull hit his tee shot into the trees and bogeyed. Blanchard hit a good drive, then a rescue within eight feet.

``I thought I made the eagle,’’ he said.

As it was, he settled for birdie. Now he was ahead by two and never gave away control the rest of the way.

The hole-by-hole breakdown for all players in the tournament is available online at rigalinks.org. The RIGA has a new scoring system that will be available through the season.

The plan here is to work arm-in-arm with the RIGA website. It will provide the numbers and we hope to fill in the details on this blog.

Let's hope for a good season for all of us!

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 5:15 PM to Paul Kenyon on Golf | Permalink

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