Fairlee
If the rest of John “Jumbo” Elliott’s professional golf week goes anything like it did about 22 years ago, just remember: Flying to Colorado doesn’t come cheap.
Biondi, a 22-year-old Pennsylvanian, and Elliott, the 54-year-old former PGA Tour competitor from Connecticut, couldn’t help but like how their opening Jeff Julian Memorial Vermont Open rounds went. Playing Lake Morey Country Club for just the second time — the first being Sunday’s low-gross tuneup — Biondi uncorked a 5-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead at the three-day tournament. Elliott, the 1996 tourney champ and a 30-year veteran of the event, matched Biondi late in Monday’s round after enduring a pair of rain delays that stalled action for more than two hours.
The pair holds a collective one-shot lead on a field of which a full third finished at par 70 or better.
“It’s a good start, definitely a great start,” said Biondi, who is playing in his first pro tournament with a payout on the line. “I’m excited to get the week going.”
“I felt good about the day to start, and I played pretty good,” Elliott noted hours later. “I’ve been playing good. Age, for me, is not a big deal. If you chip and putt good, y’know?”
Minnesota native Ben Polland, a winner on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in March, and defending champion Peter French are a stroke back. Seven more are two off the pace; the next seven, at 1-under 69, include Dartmouth College men’s golf coach Rich Parker, fellow Lebanon amateur Pat Pelletier and Kimball Union Academy graduate Evan Russell.
With Lake Morey accepting entries until midday Saturday and some of those golfers heading north on Monday, the bulk of the first-round field started after lunchtime. That made the morning’s developments all the more interesting.
Biondi cut through the thick Vermont air, before Mother Nature could interfere, with a no-fault debut. Starting on Morey’s back nine, Biondi birdied the downhill par-5 13th, added two more birdies on 16 and 18 and closed his round with birdies on two of his last three holes.
Biondi turned pro last month after graduating from NCAA Division III Marywood University in Scranton, Pa. His only previous professional starts, a U.S. Open qualifier on his home course in Moosic, Pa., and last week’s PGA Tour Travelers Championship pre-qualifier, didn’t have money on the line. Winning Sunday’s low-gross tourney at Lake Morey — with a 6-under 64 — netted $650, and Biondi is in the market for more.
“I’m putting really well, which is what you have to do around here, and I’m a pretty good iron player,” Biondi said. “I got jump-started somewhere around 13 or 14, and that got me going.”
Elliott has been geographically all over the place in a lengthy golf career that has included 30 years of Vermont Opens, a stint on the PGA Tour and, next week, a first appearance in the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor’s East Course in Colorado Springs. Elliott made the championship as an alternate out of a May 24 qualifier in New Jersey, and he called his latest Fairlee visit “my warmup.”
What made Elliott’s day was the arrival of his 11-year-old son, Blake, midway through his round. Starting on the back and sitting at even par through 10 holes, Elliott went on a tear in his son’s presence with five birdies over seven holes. He only cooled down with a final-hole par after something else caught Blake’s attention.
“Basically, it’s a vacation for me, but I like to watch him running around,” Elliott said. “He caddied for eight holes and I was (5) under, and then they left. I was, ‘C’mon, last hole.’ He goes, ‘Nah, I’m gonna go swim.’ And I made par on 9.
“I think the best round I’ve ever shot in the first round of this thing is a 68, and I always come back from that,” Elliott added. “Maybe this year I’ll come from the front and keep on rolling.”
French was one of the many latecomers to the tournament, signing up only after failing to advance out of Thursday’s Travelers pre-qualifier. A four-stroke winner at Morey last year, French eagled the par-5 13th — the only one of Monday and one of just three course-wide all day — and finished his round at 3 under on Morey’s par-5s.
“I think I feel stronger in where my game is at,” said French, who placed fifth at last week’s Massachusetts Open. “I think mentally I’m still pretty strong with how I come into events. My goal up here is to win. I want to win as many times as I can. But you have to have some success to breed more success.”
Maine’s Jack Wyman shot a 2-under 68 for the low amateur round. Parker and Pelletier, both intimately familiar with Lake Morey, are both one stroke behind.
“It was weird; I felt like I hit it good, but I felt like I hit it so-so,” Pelletier said. “I had decent looks, but I didn’t make them. The ones I missed, I left in an easy spot and chipped it to a foot. It was a pretty boring round, actually.”
They’re all chasing one guy who’s shot 11 under for his only two Lake Morey rounds and another guy who’s seen Lake Morey every year for three decades or so.
“I love this place,” Elliott said.
When you’re on top of the leaderboard, what’s not to love?
Divots: So much for retirement. A year after stepping down from Woodstock Country Club to assume part-time summertime work in Portsmouth (N.H.) Country Club, Jim Gunnare is back as a teaching pro at Tater Hill Golf Club in Chester, Vt. The 67-year-old Gunnare, the former golf coach at Woodstock High, is competing in the Open’s senior division this week. … Afternoon play took a 33-minute break at 3:20 p.m. for a passing thundershower. Another downpour stalled play for 93 minutes at 5:23 p.m. … Hanover amateur Nate Choukas spent much of his first-round 74 worried he should have signed for a 76. The question came on his second shot on the par-5 second hole, when Choukas hit a tree branch on his backswing, then stopped his stroke after he and a playing partner saw something fall from the tree. Choukas feared a two-stroke penalty, but a rules official cleared the recent Trinity College (Conn.) graduate of an infraction. … Rivendell Academy grad Ryan Landgraf might have been most affected by the rain delays. Sitting at 3 under on the 13th hole at the time of the second stop, Landgraf shot 3 over the rest of the way for an even-par 70. … A newly minted pro, Hartford High grad Zachary Temple shot a 3-over 73. … Despite the weather, the last group checked in at 8:06 p.m. with plenty of light to spare.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com 603-727-3226.