Courville's Mid-Am title defense
begins with homecourt advantage
By Jack Burrill
When Milford's Jerry Courville Jr. won the 1995 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Ownings Mills, Md., defeating Canadian Warren Sye 1-up, he brought to seven the number of major USGA championships won by native male Connecticut golfers. And doing so, he joined some impressive company.
But as defender in the 16th Mid-Amateur, which takes place at the Hartford Golf Club and at Tumble Brook Country Club beginning Sept. 28, Courville brings a game and a record that are extremely impressive as well, and reasonably consistent with those of Connecticut's all-time best amateurs, Dick Chapman and twice-British Amateur champion Dick Siderowf.
The Courville game is a big, comprehensive game, one that he has demonstrated is well-suited to the varying requirements of stroke and match play. He has exceptional length, often astounding, as when, under maximum pressure in last year's Mid-Am final, he carried his tee shot at the 320-yard 16th to within a few feet of the green's dead center. His iron play is superior, he has a full arsenal of the short scoring shots, and a putting stroke that is regularly rewarding. And knowledgeable Courville watchers give him high marks as a course manager, a grade that ranks with that of his accomplished father, Jerry Sr.
Courville will join a field of 264 competitors in the six-day tournament, which brings together the nation's best amateurs 25 years old and up, with USGA Handicap indexes no greater than 5.4. Stroke play competition will be held Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29 at Hartford GC in West Hartford and Tumble Brook CC in Bloomfield. The top 64 then advance to three days of match play, with the finals at Hartford GC on Thursday, Oct. 3.
Courville, one of 14 Connecticut golfers who qualified for the Mid-Am, is certainly well-equipped to defend his title. In today's ever-more-demanding and competitive amateur game, you don't get to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur (1989) and the U.S. Mid-Amateur (1993), qualify for and play in the U.S. Open (1995) and the Masters (1996), get picked for the Walker Cup team (1995), and win the Mid-Amateur without knowing what to do and when to do it on some of the world's most daunting golf courses.
One of only two amateurs to play in the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, Jerry managed that singularly difficult course's windswept rigors with sufficient success to make the cut until a disastrous triple-bogey at the 18th on Friday afternoon cruelly dealt him out of the final 36.
In the 1995 U.S. Amateur at Newport Country Club, he made a masterly 3-under to win the medal. In his first Walker Cup competition he paired with George (Buddy) Marucci to defeat Gary Wolstehnholme and Lee James 6 and 5, the largest winning margin by a U.S. pair in Walker Cup foursomes since 1983.
And although his only previous competitive play over the Hartford Golf Club's Red Course in the 1986 Connecticut Open was less than auspicious, neither this layout nor Tumble Brook's of similar length should give his game that much difficulty. His prevailing shape of shot is right-to-left, but he can move it the other way with facility when called for. This on-command versatility combined with a deliberate and deft up-and-down capability should serve him well in his defense.
Much like his father's, Jerry Jr.'s competitive record is more impressive outside Connecticut than in it. Although state golf history will surely have Senior in the first rank of players professional and amateur, Jerry Courville Sr., now 61, has been in the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame since 1975. He won a Connecticut Open championship (1965) and a Connecticut Amateur championship (1968). He won the Met (NY) Open in 1967 at Winged Foot, the Northeast Amateur in 1970 at Wannamoisett, and the Met (NY) Amateur in 1973 and 1979.
It is hoped by ardent Courville family followers, and, we should like to believe, by the greater Connecticut golfing community as well, that his competitive intensity and technical virtuosity will result in a successful defense in the 1996 Mid-Amateur Championship and bring the number of major USGA titles won by Connecticut male golfers to eight. Julius Boros, Billie Burke, Dick Mayer and Dick Chapman -- all Connecticut winners of USGA championships -- undoubtedly would heartily rejoice with the rest of us.
Courville's career highlights
- Participant, The Masters 1996
- Winner, U.S. Mid-Amateur 1995
- Medalist, U.S. Amateur 1995
- Winner, Met (NY) Amateur 1995
- Winner, N.Y. City Amateur 1995
- Winner, Boff Memorial 1995
- Participant, U.S. Open 1995
- Member, U.S. Walker Cup 1995
- Member, CT State USGA Team 1995
- Member, MGA International Team 90-95
- Winner (2), IKE-MGA Individual Championship
- Winner, Crump Cup, Pine Valley
- CT State Player-of-the-year (2)
- MGA (NY) Player-of-the-Year
- Semifinalist, U.S. Amateur 1989
Jack Burrill is a regular contributor to CTGolfer Online
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