GREENFIELD — Brodie Conant has been trying to win it since 1993. Max Major was making his debut. Ironically, they had never even met until Wednesday night.
But it turns out that Conant, from the host club, and Major, from Rutland, Vt., made a pretty darn good team.
The 14th seeds after qualifying, Conant and Major played more like favorites and closed out a sensational weekend with a 3 and 1 victory over fourth-seeds Cody Booska of Crumpin-Fox Club in Bernardston and KC Finley of the host club to capture the Championship Flight final of the 71st Invitational Four-Ball tournament Sunday afternoon at the Country Club of Greenfield.
“It was a blast,” said Major, who is teammates with Booska at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami, Fla. “We definitely got lucky on some shots, chipped in a couple times, but that’s the game. … I just hit some good shots and got hot.”
“I told him from the beginning that winning this thing is not easy,” added Conant. “I’ve been trying to win this for over 20 years, and it feels pretty damn good to finally win it.”
Conant and Major won all four of their matches on the 17th hole. They had advanced to Sunday’s final by beating 11th seeds Paul DeNofrio and Ron Laverdiere, 2 and 1, on Saturday morning and followed it up with 2 and 1 win over second seeds Troy Miller and Scott Serwa Saturday afternoon.
Both teams started fast in the final. Booska knocked an 82-yard wedge to a foot on the par-4 opening hole, and Major did the same from 62 yards for the matching conceded birdies.
After halving the par-3 second with pars, Major made two great shots on the par-4 third to give him and Conant the early lead.
Major’s tee shot came to rest on top of a tree root in the right rough, 158 yards from the hole. He was able to make solid contact on the second shot and the ball came to rest pin high in the second cut of rough, about 20 feet from the cup, then his chip shot rolled to the cup, hit the flagstick and dropped in for the birdie.
Booska and Finley each knocked their approach shots on the green and had about 20 feet for their birdie attempts; Booska rolled his past the left edge, while Finley came up short, much to his chagrin.
“I had a decent lie (on the chip),” said Major. “Sometimes you get over a shot and you just feel comfortable. I hit a good shot, it broke and it went in. I wanted to chip it in because they had two good looks (at birdie) and I figured they were going to make 3.”
Major struck again at the par-4 fourth hole. His 310-yard drive left him 70 yards to the left side pin, and his approach came to rest just over two feet from the hole.
Finley and Booska both reached the green but were well right of the flag. Finley’s birdie try from 30 feet stayed left, and Booska’s attempt from just inside of it also missed to the left. Major then stepped up and calmly drained his short birdie putt make the lead 2-up.
“I told (Max ) I had two jobs this week: help him on the greens, since I’ve been a member here for years; and to be there when he needs help … which isn’t very often.”
Booska and Finley had a chance to get one back on the par-3 fifth when Booska knocked his tee shot 10 feet from the cup. Major came up short and Conant was in the left rough.
Major chipped to 8 feet below the hole, and Conant’s second left with a 15-foot downhiller. With Finley 4 feet away after a nice chip from under a tree on the left, Booska watched in disgust as his birdie try roll past the left side of the cup.
Conant made a nice run at his par attempt and just missed, but Major rolled his par try into the center of the cup to retain the 2-up lead.
Finley got one back for his tandem on the par-5 sixth hole. Conant and Major both found the woods and took four to reach the green, while Finley hit a nice pitch-and-run to 3½ feet behind the hole. Booska reached the green in regulation and just missed a 30-foot birdie attempt, but Finley drained his to move them to one back.
Conant nearly drove the green on the short par-4 seventh, leaving it in the fringe 30 feet from the hole. His putt from the finger came up 2 feet short and – after Booska just missed his 15-footer – knocked in his short birdie to go 2-up again.
The teams traded birdies on 8 – major from 30 feet, Booska from 8 feet – and pars on 9 before Conant and Major won 10 with a par when Major got up and down from the back of the green, Finley three-putted and Cody was unable to save par from 10 feet.
After tying 11 with pars, Major came up with the shot of the match, one Conant later described as “the greatest shot I’ve ever seen, under the circumstances.”
With Booska 20 feet below the hole for eagle and Conant sitting 12 feet away for birdie, Major was long and right after a slightly wayward second shot that took a bad bounce. He was facing a 20-yard downhill shot to the pin, which was 10 feet off the right edge of the apron.
Major opted to try a flop shot and made pristine contact, sending the ball straight up in the air. It landed in the second cut of rough, bounced softly onto the green and drifted to the hole, eventually curling off the lip and into the cup for an improbable eagle.
“I was trying to feel the shot out, because there’s no technical way to hit it,” said Major. “I picked out a spot and said, ‘This is where you have to land the ball in order for it to stop and have a chance.’ It had a good lie, I opened up the face and hit the exact square inch of the spot where I wanted to land it. Then it started breaking and it went in the hole.
“It was a crazy shot,” he added “I never expected that (result). It turned the tables a little bit.”
After the ball win in, Booska and Finley just looked each other with that “can-you-believe-what-we-just-watched” reaction.
“We didn’t need to say anything,” said Finley. “It seemed like we were snake-bitten all day.”
“That shot was impossible,” offered Booska.
After tying 13 with conceded birdies and 14 with pars, Booska was able to knock in a short chip shot on the par-3 15th hole to extend then match, then he drained a 7-foot birdie putt to extend it again.
On 17, Major smashed a 380-yard drive that came to rest on the extended fringe fronting the green and knocked a chip 8 feet past for another birdie chance.
Finely (long) and Booska (right) both missed the green on their approach shots, and once their third shots failed to go in, the winners of the 2014 edition removed their caps and congratulated the newest Invitational Four-Ball champions.
“We knew right from the beginning we were going to have to play our best golf to beat them, because they wanted to win this more than anything,” said Booska. “Every time we thought the momentum was about to shift, they would chip in or make some good shots.”
Finley knows their opponents deserved the title.
“When you look at the four teams they went through to win, it’s very well deserved. They played very, very well. They’re great guys, and great friends.”
4-Ball Notebook: The best part of the Conant-Major pairing is how it happened. Conant said he was at Crumpin-Fox after playing in the Open Two-Ball (in mid-June) when his most recent partner, Scott Cote, called him and said he couldn’t play this year, and to see if he could find a partner. “I happened to be sitting with Denny Booska (Cody’s father), and he looked at me and said, “I’ve got the perfect guy for you, met him down in Miami,” referring to Major. “(It’s) good stuff — the boy can play.” … Conant joined Booska in an exclusive club with his victory: fathers and sons who have won the Championship Flight final. Conant’s father, Jim, won in 1967 with Karl Spofford Jr. … Major is certainly not afraid to critique himself. “My driver came up big quite a few times, but it also got me in a lot of trouble,” he said. “That’s one of the things I need to work on when I get home. I just need to tighten my game up.” To which Conant replied, “My only goal is to keep him an amateur long enough so we can defend next year. I don’t want to see him on TV ( as a pro) just yet.” … Saturday’s play included the second hole-in-one of the tournament. Dave McDonald of Greenfield registered the ace on the 135-yard, par-3 second hole using an 8-iron. Jeff Smith, Bill Martin and Steve Lovett were the witnesses. Mike Andrews aced No. 5 on Friday.