PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Gannon Men’s Club Champion Ben Friedman hits a soft wedge to the second green.
By STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — The Gannon Golf Course club championship this past weekend is a definite case of “All in the Family.”
The husband-wife duo of Ben Friedman and Tara Johnson Friedman won the men’s and women’s gross, the first time in recent memory that a husband/wife duo has taken the men’s and women’s championships at Gannon in the same year, but that’s not all. Tara Friedman’s mother, Judy Johnson, captured the net championship, and to win the men’s title, Ben Friedman had to defeat his brother, James.
The men’s net championship was won by Mike Akelion.
“We might as well adopt him,” joked Tara Friedman.
Ben and James Friedman had to endure 36 holes Sunday, 18 at the crack of dawn (6:45 tee time) and another at 12:45 p.m.
“It’s a bittersweet victory,” said Ben Friedman. “I’m really proud of myself for doing this, because I’ve always wanted to win this championship.
“But it’s tough to do this when you’re playing against someone you care about.”
Ben Friedman said he got off to a hot start, which helped keep a distance between him and his brother. The tournament was a match-play format, in which each hole is played and scored individually (as opposed to stroke play, which is the more conventional way golf is scored) and Ben Friedman won 7 and 6, meaning he was seven holes up with six to go.
James Friedman, five years younger than Ben, said being in the final against his brother was “very difficult.
“This was the first time I was in the final. I was looking forward to it. But (Ben) played very well. It’s all OK.”
James Friedman will play next in the Massachusetts Golf Association’s Amateur Public Links Championship tournament in at Waubeeka Golf Links in Williamstown. He won his qualifier earlier this summer at Gannon.
“That gives me something to look forward to,” he said.
Tara Johnson Friedman won her match 2 and 1 over Ann Dawson. This is the 18th time she has won the Gannon women’s championship, and second time she’s won it in tandem with her mother taking the net.
Tara Friedman also got off to a good start, “but I think I took a nap somewhere around the 10th hole and stayed asleep until about the 14th,” she said.
That allowed Dawson to hang in there until the 17th hole, which Tara Friedman won, putting her two holes up with one to go.
“Ironically enough,” she said, “we both scored 82.”
Johnson said she’s broken 90 twice this year — Saturday and Sunday. She shot identical 89s, but more important, had enough to defeat her opponent, Julie Lombara, 2 and 1.
Johnson was 3-up coming into the back nine, but Lombara was able to win one back before they “tied a lot of holes down the stretch.”
Still, she maintained her edge and, like her daughter, won the match in 2 and 1.
Johnson is a veteran at Gannon, having golfed in 30 women’s club championships.
“I found the fountain of youth this weekend,” she said.
Akelion got off to a hot start in defeating Matt McGee to take the net.
“Things didn’t go that well for him on early, and I was able to build a lead,” he said. “It was a beautiful day for golf. No complaints.
“I just got out there, enjoyed the sun, and enjoyed the day.”