A well deserved tip of
the golf cap to ...

By Gary Larrabee

Gary Larrabee

As we mark the end of our seventh year of publishing North Shore Golf magazine, I thank you for the privilege of being part of your reading experience. ‘Tis too a fitting time to celebrate some of the people that recently have made our North Shore golf family proud:

Bill Drohen, the newly-crowned Massachusetts Amateur champ, former North Shore Amateur titlist, and the lean chap with the gorgeous swing you may have seen beating ball after ball during the 2007 and 2008 seasons at Sun ‘N Air Golf Center in Danvers, while he lived a mile away on Chestnut Street.

“They were great to me. I made a lot of friends over there and kept my game together with the fine facility,” says Drohen, a three-time semifinalist before finally matching older brother Andy’s state title-winning feat, accomplished, like Billy’s, at The Country Club and against the same superb player, two-time ex-champion Frank Vana. Yes, that Frank Vana, who is married to Boxford native and Massachusetts Golf Association communications director Becky Blaeser and who is the father of recent Ipswich High graduate/standout athlete Erin Vana. Billy Drohen’s victory was long overdue, but not expected in 2009, not after the high school teacher underwent major shoulder surgery in December by Dr. John Mulroy, the surgeon recommended to him by Vana’s parents.

“I hadn’t played competitive golf in almost a year,” said Drohen, whose wife Deborah is expecting their first child October 6. “I didn’t know how the shoulder would respond. It was sore all week, especially at the top of my backswing, but more than tolerable, as long as I treated it for at least an hour every morning and every night. Considering Deb was tying my shoe laces for me six months ago, I’m thrilled I was able to play six rounds at Brookline.”

Drohen lives in Stoughton, near where he teaches, but still finds times to play at Bradford with his buddies, among them Kevin Murphy. He’s already looking forward to defending next July at Myopia. Two weeks after his Amateur win, Drohen led after each of the first two rounds of the Ouimet Memorial (66-68), but a family commitment forced him to withdraw before his rain-delayed final round (begun on Friday) could be completed on Saturday.

Anthony DiLisio, 18, the third generation of Salem CC DiLisios, and apparently the best of ‘em all after he finished T-12 (147) with Bill and Andy Drohen in 36-hole qualifying at the Mass. Amateur (only 32 of 150 made it to match play) before losing his first match. A few days later he won his first Salem club championship. “My potential finally showed through at the Amateur,” said DiLisio, a freshman-to-be at Skidmore. “I had a good senior season at Exeter Academy, but this was a better measurement of how my game is progressing. I’ve had a lot of help from Tom Patri, my teacher at Friar’s Head on Long Island, and my parents have given me all kinds of opportunities.” Anthony and dad Dana won the State Father-Son in 2007. Anthony needed only 25 putts in his first-day qualifying score of 73.

Steven DiLisio, 11, Anthony’s brother, won the Boys’ Division of the Massachusetts Junior at Framingham CC with 235 for 54 holes. Watch out, Anthony. Steven is catching up!

Nick McLaughlin, the St. John’s Prep sophomore who plays out of Far Corner and Wentworth By-The-Sea, became only the third 15-year-old in tournament history to win the Massachusetts Junior with a six-over 222. One of the other two 15-year-olds? PGA Tourist James Driscoll who achieved the feat at Kernwood in 1993.

Georgetown’s Jason Steele, one of the region’s most promising teen players and winner of the 13-15 age division at a recent PGA Junior Series event at The Ranch, shooting one-under 143.

Here’s to Beverly native Jane Frost (Nick McLaughlin’s teacher) of Sandwich Hollow on the Cape (No. 6), Myopia’s Bill Safrin (No. 10) and Turner Hill’s Webb Heintzelman (No. 11), ranked in Golf Digest’s annual listing of the top instructors in Massachusetts.

Let’s not forget Bass Rocks’ Josh Salah, a recent Gloucester High grad, on his impressive showing (T-19, T-8 after two rounds) at the Massachusetts Open.

The soon-to-turn 60 Tom Watson? ‘Nuff said.

Get well wishes to Ken Whalley, one of our finest amateur players over the past thirty years, as he recovers from a heart condition, and condolences to the families of Bev Sawtelle, Bill Wolbach and Charlie Noyes.

Gary Larrabee, the author of The Green and Gold Coast: The History of Golf on Boston's North Shore, 1893-2001, has been covering the North Shore/Greater Boston golf scene for 40 years. He has written centennial histories for Salem, Winchester and Wenham Country Clubs. Catch his golf segment every Saturday morning on the North Shore Sports Desk (104.9 FM) from 8 to 9 a.m.