PLYMOUTH – Longtime partners Matt Burrell and Craig Dawson usually play pretty loose on the golf course. Not much bothers them, and there was little reason for concern in their unblemished performance to open the 56th Annual Canasawacta Country Club Men's Member-Guest Tournament Thursday.
Burrell and Dawson had a bogey-free day shooting an 8-under-par 63, three shots clear of a trio of teams at 66.
Starting their round on the third hole, Burrell and Dawson followed an opening par with birdies on the fourth and sixth holes – two of the four hardest handicap holes on the course.
Building off that momentum, Dawson got the green light on the par-five, dogleg left 10th hole for his patented high hook over the trees on the left corner of the dogleg. "Matt was in the fairway, and I've been pretty consistent with that shot," Dawson said of his high risk, high reward tee ball.
Dawson's big hook left him a mere 100 yards to the hole. He hit a sand wedge to 10 feet, and rolled in the eagle putt moving his team to 4-under-par. The eagle kick-started a back nine 5-under-par 30 in which additional birdies were made on the 11th, 13th, and 15th holes.
"Matt played really well today, and if he's hitting fairways and greens, it makes it a lot more stress-free," Dawson said. "When he does that, I'm usually good for four or five birdies."
The field, as a whole, shot consistently lower numbers than last year. One-quarter of the 87-team field – 22 teams – shot one-over-par or better. Tied for second at 5-under-par are the teams of Tom Ryan-Greg Dix; Stu Hughes-John Ross; and Jeff Johnson-Jeff Newton. Alone at 4-under-par are two-time former champions Tim Mirabito and Ken Stewart Jr.
Last year's champions, Corey Johnson and Eric Walling, shot a 1-over-par 72.
Today’s second round includes shotgun starts at 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Teams will then be placed into one of nine flights for Saturday's final round. The top eight teams earn a spot in the Masters Flight for an opportunity to capture the course's most prestigious team title.
A complete tournament roundup will appear in Monday's Evening Sun.
First-round Team Scores
(3-over-par and better)
Matt Burrell-Craig Dawson 63
Stu Hughes-John Ross 66
Jeff Johnson-Jeff Newton 66
Tom Ryan-Greg Dix 66
Tim Mirabito-Ken Stewart 67
Kevin Rivenburgh-Patrick Newell 68
Justin Bennett-Scotty Seiler 69
Josh Morris-Bryan Boyer 69
Doug Wilson-Joe Gutosky 69
