WOODSTOCK, N.Y. — Scott Dean says 10-time Woodstock Golf Membership males’s membership champion Chris Grady is one in all his finest buddies. That didn’t cease the 69-year-old Dean from denying Grady a spot in Woodstock golf historical past on Sunday.
Dean captured his first males’s membership title with an exhilarating 2 & 1 victory over the 64-year-old Grady to stop the Onteora Faculty District social research instructor from breaking Invoice Van Aken’s legendary report of 10 males’s membership titles at Woodstock.
Dean avenged final yr’s 4 & 3 loss to Grady within the 36-hole championship match on an ideal day for golf on Sunday.
Dean stated the victory over defending champ Grady ranks proper up there along with his high achievements in golf. Amongst Dean’s most coveted wins are the Tremendous Senior Division (age 65 and over) title within the 2021 New York State Males’s Senior Beginner Championship and the Western New York Open in 2014.
“This match I had with Chris Grady might be one of the epic, finest matches I’ve ever had in my life,” Dean stated. “To not point out he’s one in all my finest buddies. We play collectively on a regular basis and we travel, face to face. It was gratifying to play with him and to beat him enjoying in addition to I did.”
Not like in 2022 when Grady led from begin to end, Sunday’s showdown was shut from the outset. Neither man led by greater than two holes the complete day.
Dean led 1-up on the finish of the primary 18 holes. He posted an even-par 70, whereas Grady was at 2-over 72.
Following a 30-minute break for lunch, Grady received three of the primary 4 holes to go 2-up. Dean leveled the match with a par on the twenty fourth gap (the par-4 sixth) and a birdie on the twenty fifth gap (par-4 seventh).
With the match even heading to the ultimate 9, Dean felt the momentum had shifted his method when he tied the twenty eighth and twenty ninth holes with some short-game magic.
On the twenty eighth gap (the par-4 tenth), his 5-wood drive completed immediately behind a tree. He hit his strategy shot to the proper of the inexperienced, chipped to eight toes and made the par putt to salvage a halve after Grady missed a birdie putt.
On the twenty ninth gap (par-4 eleventh), Dean hit an excellent drive nevertheless it didn’t kick down into the golf green because the ball usually does. Once more, discovering himself behind one other tree, Dean punched out to about 20 yards wanting the inexperienced and obtained up and down for par. When Grady missed a 12-foot birdie putt, Dean felt ecstatic heading to the thirtieth tee nonetheless head-to-head within the match.
“Once I obtained up and down on these two holes for par, I felt that clinched the match for me,” Dean stated. “I simply ought to have misplaced two holes, however I didn’t.”
Dean took the lead for good on the par-4 thirtieth gap with a par and went 2-up when Grady bogeyed the par-5 thirty second gap. Dean closed out the match on the par-4 thirty fifth with a par.
“I actually putted effectively at present,” Dean stated. “I made quite a few putts from 5 to 10 toes. That was most likely the distinction.”
Dealing with again surgical procedure in six weeks, Dean stated he had three steroid pictures this yr simply to get via the golf season.
“I had my final shot per week and a half in the past, simply to gear up for the membership championship,” he stated. “I take my Motrin and Aleve day by day. There have been a pair occasions through the season after I needed to stroll off the course as a result of my again was so dangerous. So, 36 holes at present for me was a grind.”
Dean left Ulster County early in his {golfing} profession, spending practically 40 years in western New York. Dean captured 22 membership championships at Attica Nation Membership.
After an extended profession in state and federal regulation enforcement, after which retirement, Dean and his spouse Alice determined to maneuver to Woodstock the place Dean had grown up. They moved into their new residence in Woodstock in early 2020.
“We closed on the home on Jan. 14, 2020, about six weeks earlier than COVID hit and the costs went berserk,” he stated. “We had been very fortunate.”
Previous to final yr’s loss within the finals to Grady, the brand new champion’s solely earlier look within the Woodstock remaining was in 1968 as a 14-year-old. Dean misplaced in sudden demise to his brother David.
However 55 years later Dean took residence the lads’s membership championship trophy.
“It was a terrific day,” Dean stated.
