Leaders of the pack

Despite their ranking as North Shore Golf’s No. 1 amateur players, Bill Drohen and Dana Harrity both feel the best is yet to come in 2005

By Gary Larrabee

Everyone seems to be getting into the “Top 10” or “Top 100” business these days, from David Letterman to ESPN to Sports Illustrated to the American Film Institute. So we at North Shore Golf magazine figured, “Why not us?” So we’ve gotten into the act, too.

But we’ve taken the process a step further in selectivity. We give you our inaugural “Top Five North Shore Amateur Players Ranking for 2005,” male and female, headlined by Bradford Country Club’s Bill Drohen and The Ferncroft’s Dana Harrity.

The choice was easier on the men’s side. Drohen had a spectacular year in 2004, winning the MGA Public Links and North Shore Amateurs, reaching the semifinals of the Massachusetts Amateur and match play at the British Amateur. The brother of 2003 Mass. Amateur champ Andy Drohen, Bill was the clear-cut No. 1 player among the guys, with John Gilmartin a distant second.

The women’s choice, Harrity, was a razor-thin pick over Haverhill’s Karen Richardson and Harrity’s Ferncroft clubmate Lisa Anderson. Harrity, the 2003 Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts/Anne Marie Tobin Player of the Year, was a factor in virtually every event she played in 2004, including the state championship, where she reached the quarterfinals. Her consistent play from May through September was impressive, particularly in light of the fact she spent the season helping husband Peter run the two golf courses in which they share ownership in New Hampshire.

BILL DROHEN

Bill Drohen knows the score even before the 2005 golf season gets under way.

“I understand I’m probably in my golfing prime, so I’ll take advantage of that as best I can,” says Drohen, 31. “I also realize Frank Vana is the player to beat, like he’s been the last several years. So that’s my No. 1 goal for the new season – to try and beat out Frank for Player of the Year and outplay him whenever we’re in a tournament together.”

Lofty goals indeed, since Vana, the reigning Mass. Amateur champion out of Marlborough Country Club, has also won the Richard D. Haskell MGA Player of the Year award each of the last four years and six years overall. Vana is the most dominating amateur player the Bay State has seen since Fred Wright Jr.

Drohen has the credentials from a year ago to establish such ambitious targets. Last year he:

• Won the MGA Four-ball title with brother Andy

• Qualified for match play before losing in the first round, in 22 holes, at the British Amateur at St. Andrews

• Tied for 11th at the Massachusetts Open

• Won the Rogers Memorial

• Reached the semifinals of the Mass. Amateur before falling to Vana on the 19th hole

• Shot 64 to lead the first round of the New England Amateur before finishing eighth

• Won the MGA Public Links with a record score of 67-69-136 at Maplegate

• Won the North Shore Amateur with 73-69-142 at Far Corners

• Lost the rain-shortened MGA Mid-Amateur when brother Andy shot 68 to his 70

• Won the Garrison World Open in Haverhill with partner Mark Mangion

• Took five out of a possible six points as a member of the winning Massachusetts team at the Tri-State Matches at Carnegie Abbey

• Lost, with brother Andy, the Norfolk County Two-ball title by one stroke to Vana and Jim Ruschioni after leading the first day

Yes, Bill’s got game, as they say. Which, in fact, puts him in a quandary as the new season kicked off recently.

“I’m starting the year as an amateur,” Drohen, a mathematics teacher at Greater Lawrence Regional Vocational School, says. “But I’m not sure if I’ll finish the year the same. I’m looking at playing on the Cleveland Tour in New England at some point, this year or next. It might depend how well the amateur season starts, what events I might gain invitations to, how well I do in the major regional tournaments, the USGA events, and if I go to the British Amateur again.”

Drohen, whose father, Jim, was 2003 Massachusetts Senior champion, has choices to make, no question.

“Right now I’d like to win the Massachusetts Amateur, push Frank off the top, knowing that won’t be easy, he’s such a great player, then see where the season goes from there,” he said.

“I turn 32 in May. If I honestly believe I can make something of myself as a professional golfer, I better make the move pretty soon.”

A match-play participant at the 2003 U.S. Amateur, where he lost in the first round to eventual runner-up Casey Wittenberg, Drohen knows his game is the best it has ever been. Now it’s a question of how he takes his game to the next level; whether he gets there as an amateur or professional. Not the easiest decision to make, but made less difficult by the fact he is a bachelor.

“”I handled pressure better in 2004 than 2003,” Bill observed. “I played more relaxed, but I realized I need to play even more relaxed to move my game forward. At this level, it’s more a matter of controlling your mental game, which in turn should help your physical game, the swinging of the club, the finesse required, the clutch putt required to make something of yourself.”

The 5-foot-10, 165-pound University of Hartford graduate has drawn heavily from his golfing relationship with brother Andy, five years his senior and the 2003 Mass. Amateur champion at The Country Club.

“We’re close and we play off each other,” he said. “It’s been a big factor in my development. We push each other to succeed, share golf experiences, learn from each other.”

The brothers nearly experienced the ultimate match last summer, when they appeared to be marching in opposite brackets to the championship final of the Massachusetts Amateur, but Andy fell in the quarterfinal round and Bill stumbled against Vana.

“That would have been something,” Bill mused, “but neither of us took care of business. Maybe we got a little too confident. It also showed how hard it is for something like that to happen.”

Bill had already enjoyed an exhilarating week in June, when he passed the 36-hole qualifying test at the British Amateur, only to succumb in the first round of match play. This was no ordinary British Amateur. This was the British Amateur at St. Andrews, the world’s home of golf.

“Losing in the first round was disappointing,” Drohen said. “I felt I could have advanced through the draw. But just getting there, to the birthplace of golf, and standing on the first tee and thinking about Nicklaus, Palmer and Watson standing here in the British Open, put me in a trance. So to make the cut by one was a victory unto itself; something I’ll never forget.”

Now comes the 2005 season and Drohen makes his approach crystal clear. “It’s all about winning,” he said, “as an amateur or a pro. That’s what I’m shooting for every week I compete. Nothing short of winning will satisfy me. That’s how I have to look at it.”

He said he practiced “a ton” over the winter, “both with my swing and my strength conditioning. I’ve watched Tiger Woods plenty on TV, trying to learn some of the keys of his swing. Maybe I’ll be able to use some of his techniques. I’ll try anything to improve my game from last year, and I realize I have to [in order] to make progress.”

Rounding out the mens top 5...

DANA HARRITY

Like Drohen, Dana Harrity is riding an impressive two-year playing record and is hungry to reach new performance heights in 2005.

“I had a great year in 2003,” she said. “I was steady and in contention most every time I competed until I won the Endicott Cup the end of the season. I expected even more in 2004 and I wanted to repeat as Player of the Year. I played well in many of the same tournaments as the year previous, but I got pneumonia in July the week before the Mass. Amateur and maybe that threw me off a little for the rest of the year.”

It turns out Harrity, who lives in Rye, N.H., spent the weekend before the Amateur on the couch, not knowing if she’d have the strength to play the 18-hole Monday qualifier for match play at Concord Country Club.

But she did. “It was a miracle,” Harrity said, referring to the 74 she shot, good for second place behind eventual winner Brianna Vega of The Georgetown Club, who shot 71. Harrity then proceeded to win two matches before losing to former champion Mary Gale, 2 and 1, in the quarterfinal round.

“I was thrilled I played as well as I did under the conditions,” Harrity said, “but disappointed I didn’t get any further. I thought I could win the tournament, despite how I felt.”

Understandable since Harrity has won 12 New Hampshire Women Amateurs.

“Then, to be in position to win WGAM Player of the Year again at the Endicott, only to shoot 81, that was a horrible feeling,” said Harrity, who finished with 762 points, 68 points behind Richardson, who earned 225 points for taking the Endicott to Harrity’s 40.

At the same time, Harrity was a rather busy woman during the 2004 season. She and Peter ran two golf courses, both of which they have part-ownership, Candia Woods and The Oaks, the latter opening for play in 2004. And with only child Maggie leaving for her freshman year at Clemson, last year was hardly a normal summer for the six-time U.S. Amateur and 11-time U.S. Mid-Amateur participant.

So by most players’ standards, Harrity had a fine 2004 season. But by her own lofty yardstick, well, let’s just say Harrity did not feel she measured up performance-wise. But she is primed big-time for 2005, thus earning her position as our top-ranked women’s player.

“My game should be in the best shape it’s ever been in,” Harrity predicted. “I’ll work hard at our two courses, but I’ll work even harder to take care of my self physically. I’m not planning to have pneumonia again. I’ll be in shape physically and mentally. I’ll practice more than ever and hopefully I’ll get some victories in the process, ideally the Massachusetts and New England Amateurs.”

Harrity took on a yoga regimen and lifted weights this past winter, both geared to build stronger cardiovascular maintenance.

“This will hopefully minimize the chance I’ll get sick like last July and make me better conditioned for the hot weather and the occasional double rounds I might have to play in national tournaments, if I’m fortunate enough to get into any of them,” she explained. “Besides, I’m 46. Along the same line, I hope this training will give me a better mental outlook; help me not put so much pressure on myself in the heat of the action.”

Why, you might ask, does Harrity live and work – and often play – in New Hampshire, but play south of the border as a member at Ferncroft? It’s simple.

“I need a Massachusetts membership to play in WGAM events, and Ferncroft is a nice course with nice people,” she said. “We’ve been members for five years and I’ve had some great games with Lisa Anderson, Lori Kelfer, Noreen Trudel, among others. It’s a good fit.”

It would also be the perfect place to show off a state or New England championship trophy in 2005.

Rounding out the womens top 5...