Defending Champion Rick Dowling Leads 35th Connecticut Mid-Amateur After Day One

New Canaan, Connecticut – A stellar opening round 5-under 65 has defending champion Rick Dowling poised to repeat at the 35th Connecticut Mid-Amateur.

On a stormy day at the Country Club of New Canaan Dowling (Golf Performance Center) carded a bogey-free round highlighted by four birdies in his first seven holes.

“I hit a lot of greens today,” said Dowling of the key to his round. “If I wasn’t on the green I was just off of it.”

Results

Dowling missed a short birdie putt on the opening hole but quickly rebounded with a birdie on the par-4 second hole. Following a par on No. 3, the two-time Connecticut Amateur winner found the green with his third shot into the par-5 fourth hole and was faced with a 20 footer for birdie. Just as Dowling was preparing for the birdie putt the horn sounded suspending play due to lightning in the area. Fast forward 35 minutes Dowling returned to his pending birdie putt and trickled it in.

Now, 2-under Dowling kept it rolling with birdies on the difficult 6th and 7th holes to jump to 4-under. “To birdie Nos. 6 and 7 were a bonus. I hit two good iron shots to set up the birdies,” said Dowling.

Just days removed from playing in his first U.S. Amateur Dowling cooled off briefly with three consecutive pars on Nos. 8-10 before rolling in his fifth and final birdie of the day on the par-5 11th.

The defending champion will carry a three-stroke lead into Wednesday’s 36-hole final day but he knows he has a long way to go to hoist the trophy for a second consecutive year.

“I think it is a fresh start tomorrow,” Dowling said. “Of course, I want to try to keep the momentum going and stay positive but it is a long day so I’ll try to conserve energy, hit good shots, and see what happens.”

A talented trio of players are tied for second place at 2-under. The group includes this year’s Russell C. Palmer Cup winner Cody Paladino (Hartford GC), 2019 Connecticut Mid-Amateur winner Ben Day (New Haven CC), and Steven Ferraro (Quinnatisset CC).

Three players – Jamie Sheltman (Wallingford CC), 2021 Connecticut Public Links winner Nick Waddington (Manchester CC), and Joe Bonyai (EClub of Connecticut) – are tied for fifth place following even-par 70s.

With groups teeing off of Nos. 1 and 10, the 36-hole final day will begin with the second round at 7:30 a.m. The final round will follow in the early afternoon.

Photo: First round leader Rick Dowling