Mixed bag for Lisa Boros

HAMDEN - Lisa Fern-Boros experienced the ultimate in a mixed bag of emotions as she traveled around and played nine holes at New Haven Country Club on Thursday.

 

Lisa was back at the annual Julius Boros Challenge Cup Matches that pit the top players from the Connecticut Section PGA and Connecticut State Golf Association, sharing some smiles and good times with the players and officials who think so much of the 1982 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee from Fairfield who lent his name to one of the state's best golf events.

 

Lisa also watched Canaan Country Club pro Fran Marrello play in the matches for the 34^th time, having missed only six since their inception at Tumble Brook Country Club in 1972. Marrello started in the event as an amateur playing with one of his Thursday opponents, Dave Szewczul, who was also making his 34^th appearance. Marrello then joined the pro side after becoming one of the section's top players for nearly three decades while winning a record 15 championships.

 

Lisa had every reason to follow - and cheer just a bit harder - for Marrello. One of the most influential people in Fran's life was Julius Boros, whom Marrello worked for at Turnberry Isle in North Miami Beach, Fla., in the winters in 1984-86. Turnberry Isle isn't far from where Julius and his wife, Armen, lived at Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Coral Ridge is where Julius died in 1994 at 74 as he quietly slumped in his golf cart under a willow tree beside the 16th green, a heart attack taking him so calmly the first threesome that passed by believed he was only napping. It was his favorite place, a shady spot beside a pond where he liked to watch golfers play through - when not participating in his second favorite pastime, fishing.

 

Thursday was the first time Lisa attended the Challenge Cup Matches without her beloved husband Lance, who also died suddenly on Feb. 24 at 53.

 

"This was always one of the highlights of the year for Lance, kind of the start of the season," Lisa said while waiting to hit her tee shot on the 13^th hole.

 

Like Julius, Lance loved his golf, along with Lisa, family, friends, traveling and cooking after earning a culinary arts degree at the Connecticut Culinary Institute in New Haven.

 

"Lance's passion was golf because of his connections to his uncle Julius because his father had passed away when he was young," Lisa said. "He was raised by his mother's side of the family, and none of them played golf. He picked up the game himself, and I have my golf game to thank for him teaching himself because when I first met him just out of college I didn't even play golf.

 

"We met at work, and it's kind of fate because we worked in the same department when we got our first apartment. We were actually houses apart and both lived in the top floor of two-family houses so we could actually see each other's apartment. So I guess it was kind of fate that we met."

 

Lisa learned to play thanks to lessons that Lance bought for her.

 

"When I learned, I learned properly," said Lisa, who works at Pitney Bowes in Shelton. "I wasn't excellent right away, but after a couple years I figured out I really liked the game. Now I tell people that he created a monster. I played more golf and took more time off from work to play than he did."

 

It's a major reason why Lisa got a bit emotional as she related her story/love affair in a five-minute speech during dinner Thursday night.

 

"Golf is a gift," Lisa said. "It was a gift that was given to Lance through his father. Even though he didn't get it directly, his father was a very efficient amateur golfer. The story goes that he was the best golfer of the three brothers, and he was given that gift of golf. Anyone who's a golfer, whether they're competitive or not, knows that golf can enrich their life. That's what it did for Lance and what it has done for me."

 

Lisa and Lance occasionally got time off from their jobs to play at least nine holes on the day of the Challenge Cup Matches. If not, they made certain to arrive before dinner to share the stories and camaraderie that make the Challenge Cup Matches so terrific and then present the winning captain with the trophy that bears the name of the greatest player in state golf annals.

 

Thursday, Lisa played without Lance. I was delighted to have the privilege to ride and play the nine holes with her, but I felt a bit awkward as a "fill-in" for someone who had meant so much to Lisa for so many years.

 

"Lance was more of a fixture here than anyone else in the family," said Lisa, who lived with her husband in the Huntington section of Shelton when he died.

 

Thursday was especially difficult for Lisa because it was the 10^th anniversary of their Challenge Cup debut. They were in Florida visiting Armen, Julius' widow, when she handed them an invitation to the Challenge Cup Matches from former CSGA executive director Bruce Wilson.

 

"I don't know that we were really aware of the event, but I wrote a letter to Bruce explaining the family history in Connecticut and said we'd be willing to stand in if he wanted," Lisa said. "Bruce was thrilled to get my letter and extended the invitation."

 

That also was about the time Lisa got involved in playing state amateur events. Her first handicap was 16, which is four times her current number. She has played well in numerous state events, winning the Southern New England Women's Golf Association Championship in 2004 and qualifying for several U.S. Golf Association tournaments and the State Team Championship twice, including last year. She's now on the SNEWGA and Connecticut Women's Golf Association board of directors and a new member of the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame selection committee.

 

"I'm now a history bank of golf in Connecticut for the most part, especially women," Lisa said with a smile.

 

Like Julius, Lance was born in Bridgeport (April 9, 1957) and then raised in Stratford by the late Lance Boros Jr. and Madeline Soda Boros. He graduated from Bunnell High School in Stratford in 1975 and went on to earn an associate's degree in business at Housatonic Community College and then the culinary arts degree. He was a configuration engineer, working more than 13 years at Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford. Before that, he worked for Avco Lycoming in Stratford for 13 years and was a chef at the 19th Hole restaurant in Bridgeport for a short time.

 

Lance's father, a Fairfield native, was an accomplished amateur golfer, and his uncles were noted professionals Ernest and Julius, a four-time U.S. Ryder Cup Team member whose 18 PGA Tour titles included the U.S. Open in 1952 and 1963, the latter in a playoff with Arnold Palmer and Jacky Cupit at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., and the PGA Championship in 1968, when he beat Palmer and Bob Charles by a shot to become the oldest to win a major at 48. Lance began playing golf as a teenager shortly after his parents died and discovered an affinity for the sport that eventually took him to some of the best courses in the world, including the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland.

 

A special highlight for Lance was caddying for his cousin, Guy Boros, Julius' son, at the Greater Hartford Open and for Lisa in local and USGA events.

 

"I remember one year, I think it was 1993, when there was a water main break at Sikorsky so a bunch of Lance's friends got the day off and decided to go to the GHO," Lisa said. "When he and Guy were walking along, people kept yelling, 'Hey, Lance.' Guy finally said, 'There are more people here to watch you than me.' "

 

Lance also was a member of the Highland Golf Club in Shelton, where he served on the board of governors. He is remembered for his smile and laughter that would light up a room and many tees, fairways and greens and for his kindness, generosity and eagerness to help others. I know because I was often a part of that as we spoke and occasionally played together.

 

A smiling face and terrific disposition is how Marrello remembers Lance.

 

"Lance and Lisa became my good friends through the Challenge Cup the past 10 years," Marrello said. "He was always a very gregarious, fun-loving guy who obviously loved his golf. He loved being part of the Challenge Cup Matches and representing the Boros family. I was shocked when Lisa called to tell me of his death, and I called Armen to give her my condolences. He really was quite a guy."

 

Lisa received many condolences and well wishes Thursday, just as she has since Lance's sudden and sad death 21/2 months ago.

 

"One fella at Lance's wake said that it didn't matter if he was shooting 72 or a million because he always had a smile on his face and made you feel good, too," Lisa said.

 

That certainly has been the motto of the Julius Boros Challenge Cup Matches for four decades. Play the best you can, but, more importantly, enjoy your surroundings and your partner and opponents.

 

For the record, the CSGA beat the PGA 341/2-281/2 Thursday for their third straight consecutive victory, something the amateurs had achieved only once previously in 1981-83. New Haven CC club champion Aaron Gross and Rudy Hermstadt of East Mountain GC in Waterbury led the amateurs by winning 81/2 of a possible nine points in the Nassau-style competition as the CSGA improved to 29-11 in the series.

 

The amateurs won despite the host club's Evan Beirne, who shot a course-record, 13-under-par 58 last year, turning pro to play in the Massachusetts Open. The tournament isn't until mid-June, but the entry deadline was last week. His replacement, Tom Scarrozzo of Blue Fox Run GC in Avon, teamed with Tom McCarthy of Twin Hills CC in Coventry to split their matches with Tom Gleeton (Waterbury) and Ed Slattery (Candlewood Valley GC-New Milford).

 

New Haven pro Bill Wallis and assistant Bill Street led the PGA with eight points, two more than Marrello and Greg Farley (Quaboag GC-Monson, Mass.).

 

But the score often seems irrelevant. A perfect finish every year would be 311/2-311/2. It' more about the friendships and camaraderie, as Lance and Lisa Boros know all too well.

 

Somewhere Lance was smiling down on the proceedings from The Great Golf Course in the Sky.