Like Christmas Eve!

Tomorrow begins the 105th Massachusetts Open Championship! Round 1 tees off early tomorrow morning at the historic Weston Golf Club in Weston, MA. The #massopen is kind of a big deal. First of all, it's the only Championship on our calendar that brings together both amateurs and professionals. Also, it is widely regarded as one of the best and most prestigious state opens in the country (I'm not just saying that - ask around!)

Some big names have been engraved onto that trophy! From left: Paul Harney, Francis Ouimet, Bob Toski, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Donald Ross, Bob Crowley

Weston Golf Club - a pretty neat place

And look at the MGA Member Clubs that have hosted the Open - Oyster Harbors, Worcester, Vesper, Brae Burn, Tedesco...the list of amazing venues goes on. This year will mark the third time that Weston has hosted the Open, and this great Donald Ross course is certainly up to the challenge! Weston's golf course superintendent Matt DeAvila has been working hard over the last few months to get the course ready - and boy has he done a great job! Weston - like a LOT of other courses in the state - suffered some damage due to the absolutely ridiculous winter we had. Coming out of winter, Matt said that some of the greens were the color of a hardwood floor. Looking at them now, you'd never know! So, a tip of the cap to you, Matt and your staff. Gotta give props to superintendents everywhere - the 3:00am wakeups every day can't be easy!

Read a little about the history of Weston Golf Club

Another interesting storyline is the fact that Weston's head professional, Adam Hemeon, is going to be competing in this year's Championship! Would be pretty neat to see him win the Championship...no pressure, Adam!

Adam Hemeon was featured in the spring issue of MassGolfer

Who do you think will win? We haven't had a back-to-back champion since Geoff Sisk in 2006 and 2007. Coincidentally, 2007 was at Kernwood (the site of this year's Amateur Championship) and he battled to the wire with Kernwood's head professional Frank Dully. In that final round, they both shot a course record 64, which is ridiculous! Evan Harmeling seems like he's feeling pretty confident coming in, so it could happen!

Or maybe an amateur will win it for the first time since Kevin Quinn in 1999? We certainly have some really talented amateurs that are playing well of late - Herbie Aikens, Ben Spitz, Matt Parziale...that would be a great story as well! There are a lot of Player of the Year points on the line too - if an amateur wins, he receives 250 points, PLUS another 100 for placing as the low amateur. I don't think I'm the only one who thinks it would be pretty darn cool if one of our amateurs won this Championship.

A lot has been said about the strength and depth of this year's Championship field, so whomever wins will certainly have his work cut out for him. In the field we have a couple Web.com Tour players, multiple past champions, multiple past MGA Player of the Year recipients, all of last year's MGA champions, and a bunch of guys who can just flat out PLAY. Should be a fantastic three days at a neat venue. Now we just need to cross our fingers that the weather cooperates!

See you at Weston.