LOCAL GOLF: Williams, Egan roll to fourth straight Jackman title

Aug. 7—Kyle Williams has been waiting for this day.

The final round of the Irving Jackman Memorial Tournament finally fell on his birthday, and he and partner Jamie Egan found a way to celebrate in a big way. Even bigger than the last three years.

Williams and Egan closed with a 5-under-par 67 to win their fourth consecutive Jackman championship, rolling to a seven-shot victory over the father-son duo of Jim and Luke Fayocavitz in the 54-hole, medal-play event.

“This is the first time we won on Sunday and my birthday, so it’s special,” Williams said. “We’ve won in a few different ways. We’ve had some really, really, really good years where we were both out and running, and we’ve had some very tough years, and they’re both special in their own way.”

This one came as a result of a perfect partnership, a round that saw each of them come through when it was needed to post a bogey-free final 18 holes.

“It’s something that you have to stay focused on the task at hand, make sure that you get the par and not make a bogey,” Egan said. “It wears on you a little bit. I’m sure a lot of people will say the same thing. It wore on us somewhat, but we did a great job of playing good golf when one of us was out, one was in. It was a good day for both of us.”

With a four-stroke lead, Williams and Egan had a chance to get comfortable early, but Luke Favocavitz wouldn’t let them, making birdie after two-putting the par-5 first and par-4 second holes, the start of a round that saw him putt four times for eagle.

“We definitely hit it a little better than we did the last two days,” Luke Fayocavitz said. “The putters were not active, though. When you’re playing those two guys, you can’t forget the putter. It’s the biggest club.

“You have to take what the golf course gives you. You can hit it as good as you want, but if you’re three-putting it’s not going to work.”

It wasn’t the three-putts as much as the ones for birdie that burned the edge and wouldn’t fall.

Jim Fayocavitz had a marvelous approach shot to set up a close birdie try on the par-4 eighth, but it slid off the low side.

On No. 9, his birdie effort from 18 feet slipped by on the right end, and on the par-3 10th, his 30-footer hit the hole and spun out.

“That (putt on) eight just killed me,” Jim Fayocavitz said. “Whatever it was, you’ve got to make those. Ten, hits the hole, and then the par putt coming back was a little more difficult.

“We had them on the run for a couple of holes but those two guys are too tough. They’re excellent players.”

Instead of the lead being trimmed to two shots, Williams buried a 20-footer for birdie that saw the lead jump to five after the Fayocavitz duo failed to cover par.

“We were kind of flat there and I was happy to make that putt on No. 10,” Williams said.

“That was a good one. I kind of walked it in a little bit, not trying to be arrogant, but trying to pump yourself up a little bit.

“It was a two-shot swing and that’s always tough. I kind of thought from there, we wouldn’t run away with it because they’re good players, but I thought we’d have a run and we really didn’t.”

More of a mini-run when Egan pumped a 7-iron from 211 yards to 10 feet on the par-5 11th. He two-putted for birdie, but it stretched the lead to six.

“It started us off a little bit on the back nine, which was good,” Egan said. “(Williams’ putt) gave us a little momentum going forward and because we hadn’t seen a lot of putts fall outside of a couple of feet, so it was nice to see one go in and we were both excited about that.”

Still, it wasn’t a walk in the park.

Luke Fayocavitz followed with an approach to the par-4 12th to a foot for birdie, then drove the par-4 13th and two-putted for birdie to trim the gap to four shots.

“No, we can’t (relax),” Egan said. “Luke was playing well all weekend as he showed (Saturday). You can’t open the door no matter who it is.

“Luke’s a great player and his dad was amazing today. Sometimes putts didn’t fall for them, which is golf, as we all know. But they played well all weekend long.”

Williams and Egan were just better, with Williams punctuating the win with the team’s final birdie, knocking in an uphill 6-footer on the par-4 15th.

IRVING JACKMAN

MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Championship Flight

At Glen Oak C.C., par 72

Kyle Williams-Jamie Egan -13

Jim Fayocavitz-Luke Fayocavitz -6

Mike Montella-Eric Montella -4

Kevin Karabin-Dalton Coldwater -3

Tom Coelman-Brandon Jackson -3

Sean Timms-Eamon Evans -1

Brian Mahlstedt Sr. and Jr. -1

David Mecca-Bill Mecca E

Erik Meyer-Chas Hudacek +2

Josh Klonoski-Kyle Szcesniak +2

Dave Maddock-Andrew Maddock +3

Eric Parry-Corey Cuneo +4

Bob Crofton-Bobby Stott +7

Bill Hampton-Jess Sands +17

Terry Burke Jr.-Matt Vassil +20

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