GREENFIELD — The scoring conditions were there: hot weather and baked-out fairways, combined with the seemingly immaculate greens, set up teams for a shot at the qualifying round record.
Nobody was able to break the record, but two teams — Troy Miller of Crumpin-Fox Club and Scott Serwa of The Bayou Club in Largo, Fla., and Paul Vincelette and Kevin Slyne of Tekoa Country Club in Westfield — each carded a 10-under 62 to share medalist honors Thursday the 71st Invitational Four-Ball this weekend at the Country Club of Greenfield.
Overall scoring among the top 32 teams was extremely good — all 16 teams in the Championship Flight shot 68 or better.
Miller and Serwa recorded birdies on every even-numbered hole and added another on No. 15 to record their bogey-free 62.
On the outward nine, Miller drained a 30-footer on No. 2 to get them started. Serwa knocked in an 8-footer on 4 and a 5-footer on 6 with Miller in close, and both players birdied 8 to make the turn 4-under.
Then Miller really got things going when he holed out from the bunker on 10.
“At that point we were feeling pretty good about how our round was going,” said Miller.
Both players got up and down for birdie on 12, then Serwa got home in 2 on the par-5 14th — playing much shorter due to the dry fairways — and two-putted for birdie to put him and Miller 7-under.
Miller stuck his tee shot to 5 feet on No. 15 and curled in a slick downhill putt for the eighth birdie, Serwa drained a 5-footer on 16 for the ninth, and Miller hit a shot out of the left rough to 9 feet on 18 and holed the putt to finish off the day.
As good as they played Thursday, Serwa knows today becomes a whole new game.
“(Thursday)’s not as important as match play, though,” he said.
Miller, whose maturity both on and off the course is easily noticeable, kept things in perspective when asked about their mindset heading into match play.
“Just have fun,” he said. “It’s a great tournament, and there’s a bunch of great people. (Whether) we win or lose, either way, we’ll have a great time.”
“Losing’s not quite as much fun, but it’s always fun to be home,” said Serwa, a Colrain native.
Miller and Serwa were seeded second based on the first team to finish at that score. They’ll open match play today against 15th seeds Bruce White and Lee Craig (68) at 12:27 p.m.
Slyne, just 19, wasn’t even in the original field. He was called on as an emergency fill-in for his father Mike, who was stricken with the flu Wednesday. Enter Kevin, who reeled off seven birdies in his Four-Ball debut.
Vincelette said this was the lowest round he’s ever shot in a better-ball format.
Vincelette and Slyne recorded 11 birdies — six on the back side — and bogeyed just one hole (No. 5). Vibncellette birdied the opening hole, Slyne reeled off three in four holes (on Nos. 3, 4 and 6) before Vincelette finished the outward half with a birdie on No. 9 to go to 4-under.
Slyne’s birdied No. 10, then they teamed up for three birdies in a row on Nos. 12-14 to move to 8-under. After two more birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 and with a chance to tie the qualifying record of 61, Slyne just missed an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 18.
Slyne said he had only played the course once before Thursday.
When asked what was working best, Slyne said, “Everything, pretty much. … I was hitting good second shots, a lot of wedges.”
“He was hitting it out there 310, 320 pretty much every time,” added Vincelette.
Vincelette’s story is pretty remarkable — he lost his right leg in a work-related accident 14 years ago, and has revamped his game with a prosthetic leg.
“I was in a lot of pain for a lot of years,” he said. “The biggest adjustment was trying to adjust to not being in pain and getting it out of my mind, and just concentrating on doing things, like working or playing golf.
“But it’s all good,” he added. “I’m out of pain and working, living a normal life, doing everything for myself.”
Vincelette, 58, said he just recorded his career-best round at Tekoa, on Sunday, a 4-under 67.
“He’s the best one-legged player around,” quipped Slyne.
Vincellette and Mike Slyne will open up match play today at 12:09 p.m. against Brodie Conant of CCG and Max Major of Rutland, Vt. (68).
In the other lower flight matches, seventh-seeds Chaki Kobayashi and Rich Kasper (66) take on 10th seeds Doug Riel and Terry O’Sullivan (67) at 12:18, and No. 6 seeds Bob Rainville and Joe Wichowski (66) face Greenfield native Paul DeNofrio and Ron Laverdiere of Crumpin-Fox (67) at noon.
In the upper bracket, Nate Burdick and Dave Kennedy of the host club, who are the No. 1 seeds as defending champion, carded a 68 during their glorified practice round. They’ll open defense of their crown at 1:12 p.m. against 16th seeds Brandon Bete and James Elliott of Crumpin-Fox (68). Also, Steve Jones and Chris Varilly posted a 6-under to earn the eighth seed and will face ninth seeds Jeremiah Bayer and Jay Spofford (67) at 1:03 p.m.
Cody Booska of Crumpin-Fox Club and KC Finley of CCG, the 2014 champions, fired an 8-under 64 to earn the fourth seed and go up against No. 13 seeds Jason Kelton and Jamie Crocker of CCG (67) at 12:54, and No. 5 seeds Patrick McGuire of CCG and Aaron Wheeler of Newington (Conn.) Golf Club (65) take on 2015 finalists and No. 12 seeds Joe Groth and Jared Goss of Tekoa CC (67) at 12:45.