Headline: Red Hot Larry Rentz Continues Strong Play in 2010... Captures 46th Annual Hornblower Invitational at Plymouth Country Club
For Immediate Release: June 6, 2010
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Plymouth, MA — Red hot Larry Rentz (Boston GC) continued his stellar play this past weekend as he captured the 2010 Hornblower Memorial Tournament by a four-stroke margin over Philip Smith (Vesper CC), Kevin Quinn (Charles River CC) and Rhode Island's Bobby Leopold.
Here is a copy of the story — written by golf writer Nate Crossman — that appeared in the June 6 issue of the Patriot Ledger. Final results have been included below, courtesy of the Hornblower Memorial Tournament staff.
ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT, Nate Crossman 6/6/2010
Hingham's Larry Rentz hits the golf ball so far that he has the ability to play courses the way few players can. On Saturday, however, he won the 46th Annual Hornblower Invitational at Plymouth Country Club thanks to his ability to ratchet down
his prodigious power and play the course the way winning players do - more cerebrally.
The 50-year-old Rentz chose irons and fairway woods over driver several times, and aimed for the fronts of Plymouth CC's tricky greens on his way to a 2-under-par 67 and a four-stroke win over defending champ Bobby Leopold of Rhode Island, Vesper CC's Phil Smith and Charles River CC's Kevin Quinn.
Rentz entered the final round tied with Franklin CC's Brian Higgins for the lead after firing a 68 on Friday. Thorny Lea's John Hadges carded a pair of 70s to finish tied for fifth while Oak Hill CC's Jim Ruschioni captured the senior title with scores of 71 and 72.
Rentz learned an important lesson in this season's Norfolk County Classic at Presidents GC, a tournament in which he was in contention to win through 27 holes. Bigger isn't always better.
"I backed off a lot more here and played a lot more conservatively," Rentz said of his strategy at Plymouth versus Presidents. "I got myself short-sided too many times at Presidents. (On Saturday) I tried to give myself more opportunities to putt, because I've been working hard on that. I'm trying not to put too much pressure on my long game."
Although Rentz, who plays out of Hingham's Boston Golf Club, is relatively new to the Massachusetts amateur golf scene, and this was his first major amateur win in Massachusetts, he's familiar with being in contention in tournaments.
He starred at the University of Florida in the early 1980s, and played on the Nike Tour, a predecessor of the Nationwide Tour, in the 1990s.
"A long time ago, I won some decent tournaments, so I know what it's like to be under the heat," Rentz said. "You just try to stay within yourself, go with what you've got that day, and manage it."
Rentz started off slow, bogeying two of his first four holes. He picked up a stroke by making birdie on the par-4 fifth, but gave it right back with a bogey on the par-4 seventh. The seventh was the only time Rentz deviated from his conservative game plan.
"I got aggressive and hit it into the trees," Rentz said.
The turning point in the match came on the par-3, 144-yard eighth hole.
With Rentz trailing Higgins by a stroke, he landed his tee shot to within 10 feet of the pin, while Higgins landed his in the back bunker. Higgins salvaged bogey, while Rentz rolled in his birdie putt to take a one-stroke lead he'd never relinquish.
Higgins, who has finished second three years in a row, was still in contention as late as the 17th hole, but a wayward tee shot on 17th led to a double-bogey and a fifth-place finish with Hadges.
For Higgins, 35, the difference between his two rounds was putting. "I made lots of putts yesterday," Higgins said.
"Today, I thought I hit it better overall, and I felt like I made some good strokes. But my speed was just a little off. I just didn't get the results."
Although Plymouth's greens were softened up by morning thunderstorms that caused an hour delay, the course still played tough. Only eight of the 159 players in the tournament broke par.
2010 Hornblower Memorial Tournament
June
Final Results
1 Larry Rentz -3 68 67 135
T2 Bobby Leopold +1 70 69 139
T2 Phillip Smith +1 71 68 139
T2 Kevin Quinn +1 72 67 139
T5 John Hadges +2 70 70 140
T5 Brian Higgins +2 67 73 140
T5 Jamison Randall +2 70 70 140
T8 Craig Kublin +3 70 71 141
T8 Brian Secia +3 71 70 141
T10 Sean Fitzpatrick +4 72 70 142
T10 Joe Toland +4 68 74 142
T10 Ben Bridgeo +4 69 73 142
T13 Bill Jenks +5 72 71 143
T13 Jim Ruschioni +5 71 72 143
T13 Mark O'Sullivan +5 72 71 143
T13 Brendan Hester +5 68 75 143
T13 Doug Clapp +5 69 74 143
T18 Ryan Riley +6 71 73 144
T18 Frank Vana +6 72 72 144
T18 Mike Verde +6 74 70 144
T18 Dave Houghton +6 71 73 144
T18 Scott Beers +6 68 76 144
T18 Colin Brennan +6 73 71 144
T24 John Gilmartin +7 70 75 145
T24 Chris Tarallo +7 69 76 145
T26 Herbie Aikens +8 72 74 146
T26 Antonio Grillo +8 72 74 146
T26 Jeffrey Santora +8 73 73 146
T26 Charlie Blanchard +8 71 75 146
T26 Jack Bandera +8 73 73 146
T31 Joseph Keller +9 73 74 147
T31 Brandon Parker +9 69 78 147
T31 Pat Pio +9 73 74 147
T31 Richard Werenski +9 68 79 147
T31 Jeffrey Hedden +9 73 74 147
T31 Nick McLaughlin +9 70 77 147
T31 Paul Burke III +9 73 74 147
T31 Chris DeJohn +9 73 74 147
T39 R.J. Foley +10 72 76 148
T39 David Gosselin +10 71 77 148
T39 Jack Kearney +10 74 74 148
T39 Gary Palmer +10 73 75 148
T39 David Marseglia +10 71 77 148
T39 Mike Calef +10 75 73 148
T45 Carter Fasick +11 75 74 149
T45 Dave Tasho +11 75 74 149
T45 Jack Weeks +11 74 75 149
T45 Mike Arter +11 72 77 149
T45 Vincent Bucci +11 74 75 149
T45 Peter Wilson +11 73 76 149
T51 Paul Heffernan Jr. +12 74 76 150
T51 Jim Deveney +12 74 76 150
T51 Scott Congdon +12 72 78 150
T54 Michael McCarthy +13 74 77 151
T54 Paul Nunez +13 72 79 151
T54 Bob Hamilton +13 75 76 151
T54 Jeffrey Duggan +13 74 77 151
T54 Ricky Stimets Jr. +13 72 79 151
T59 Neil Kelley +14 75 77 152
T59 Ryan Furey +14 73 79 152
T59 Mike Cole +14 75 77 152
62 Scott Barnicle +15 73 80 153
T63 Cy Kilgore +16 75 79 154
T63 James Drohen +16 74 80 154
65 Andrew Fiorenzano +17 74 81 155
66 Mike Butts +18 74 82 156
67 Andy Mai +19 75 82 157