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For Immediate Release: September 14, 2006

Headline: Starting Times, Pairings Released for 2006 Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Championship

Norton, MA – With less than one week remaining before the 23rd playing of the Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Championship, the MGA today released starting times and pairings for the first two rounds of the event. The Championship will take place on September 18-20 at Weston Golf Club in Weston, Massachusetts.

The 120-player field will compete in 18 holes of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday. Following the first two rounds, the 30 low scorers and ties or anyone within five strokes of the leader will continue on to a third and final round of stroke play on Wednesday, September 20th.

This year's Championship Proper will surely be one to remember as all eyes will be on six-time and defending champion Frank Vana, Jr. (Marlborough CC), who will be looking to capture his seventh Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Championship title and 12 th MGA Championship overall.

One year ago, Vana became only the fourth golfer in Massachusetts history to capture six of the same MGA Championship titles. Vana joined legends Alex Ross (1906-10, 1912), six-time champion of the Massachusetts Open Championship, and Massachusetts Amateur champions Francis Ouimet (1913-15, '19, '22, '25) and Frederick J. Wright (1920, 1926, 1928-31) with that honor.

Challenging Vana for the title this year will be Andy Drohen (St. Anne CC), the 2004 champion of this event, Jack Kearney (Elmcrest CC), the 1992 Richard D. Haskell MGA Player of the Year, and perennial amateur standouts John Hadges (Thorny Lea GC) and Doug Clapp (Walpole CC). Vana will be paired with Kearney and Mike Dunham (Quail Ridge CC), who qualified as medalist at Quail Ridge Country Club last week. The trio will tee off on Monday at 8:51 a.m. off the 10th tee.

A total of 102 golfers advanced to Championship Proper following qualifying rounds that were held at six sites located across the state. Those qualifiers will join the 18 exempt players at Weston Golf Club on Monday. The Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Championship, which debuted in 1984, is quickly becoming one of the most popular events on the MGA Championship schedule as it brings together the top amateur golfers who are 25 years and older.

©2004 Massachusetts Golf Association.