University of Connecticut Athletics
Former Husky Captures Palmer Cup Title
5/23/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
FARMINGTON, Conn. – Former UConn golfer Brian Ahern (’98) withstood a number of challenges from opponents half his age and emerged with the championship of the 15th Russell C. Palmer Cup, completed Tuesday at the Country Club of Farmington.
Ahern, 42, who plays out of Wampanoag Country Club (West Hartford), followed up his opening round 70 on Monday with a 67-71 in tough weather conditions on Tuesday to finish with a 5-under 208, earning a one-stroke victory over Andrew Sciarretta (Brooklawn Country Club) and Ramsey Kong (Wallingford Country Club), who tied for second. Only four players of the 41 who made the cut, down from 96 total competitors, were under par for the 54-hole event.
The win was the first Connecticut State Golf Association championship for Ahern since he won the 2012 Connecticut Mid-Amateur, and it made him only the second golfer in state history (with William Hadden) to win the Connecticut Amateur (1999), the Connecticut Mid-Am (2010, 2012) and the Palmer Cup, which is considered the state’s stroke-play championship.
Ahearn and Sciarretta were tied at 5-under 137 at the finish of Round 2 on Tuesday. Ahearn took the lead during the final round Tuesday afternoon, reaching 9-under after a birdie on the par-5, 10th hole, but slipped back with four bogeys on the final eight holes. Still, his closest two competitors, each more than 20 years younger than Ahern, could not catch him, although both had birdie attempts on the final hole.
Ahern, a four-year varsity golfer at UConn, is one of the most honored student-athletes in the program’s history. He was the medalist at the 1994 Big East Championship, leading the Huskies to their first-ever Big East title and also earned medalist honors that year as UConn won the New England Championship. In 1998, he fired a then career-low 66 on his way to medalist honors to lead UConn to the Hofstra Golf Invitational title.
