“20 is plenty” reads a road sign on the outskirts of „Sconset, a tiny town at the tip of Nantucket. The same thought must have run through tournament director Lenny Bernheimer’s mind as he struggled to format and schedule a pro-am draw which this year swelled from 16 to 20 amateurs on this, the 20th anniversary of the professional doubles event at the University Club. It was a special occasion, highlighted by the new sponsorship of Putnam Investments whose marketing department took full advantage of the opportunity with signage, publicity and packages for amateurs and patrons. An additional highlight was a raffle featuring a two-week trip to China from Grand Circle travel and also included china dinnerware and gift certificates from Chef Ming Tsai. Dinner Friday, brunch Sunday and lots of doubles squash made for a week-end entirely fitting for the 20th anniversary.
The Pro Doubles Championship and its sister tournament, the Pro-Am Doubles Championship, is a mid-January fixture on the ISDA Professional Doubles Tour. With Putnam, 65 patrons and 20 amateur players providing financial support for the event, the professionals competed in both the Professional and Pro-Am tournaments for $34,000 in prize money. A chance to see the top professionals in the world brought out sizeable galleries throughout the weekend. The professionals‟ power, speed afoot and stunning shots were the stuff of wishful thinking for the rest of us. The finals of both tournaments were played on Sunday with five Pro-Am finals followed by the Professional final. The latter was a dominating performance by Damien Mudge & Ben Gould (both New York) who continued their unbeaten string of victories this season with a three game shutout of Matt Jenson (Kiawah Island) & Clive Leach (New York).
The Pro-Am finals presented significantly more drama. The East Draw final matched the last two unbeaten teams: Sandy Tierney & Greg McArthur (Greenwich) vs. John Brazilian & Clive Leach. Sandy has won this event more times than any of us would like to remember, but he is many times a national champion and at 57 continues to play remarkably well. However, Clive is a shot maker extraordinaire, and after four games, the fifth came down to 14-all. After a long rally, Greg fired one down Clive’s wall that got by him, ending one of several five game, one point finales during the weekend. Sandy & Greg had opened their quest with a three game win over Matthew Kozol & Chris Walker (Greenwich), then a closer four game conquest of Steve Quigley & Paul Price (Toronto) and then an even closer semi-final victory over last year‟s winner Malcolm Davidson & Yvain Badan (Rye, NY). In the other half, John & Clive opened over Marty Stocklan & Preston Quick (Boston) in four, then squeezed out a 15-12 fifth over Spencer Kurn & Ben Gould and another identical score over Amrit Kanwal & J.P. Rothie (Los Angeles) in the semis. More on Spencer next.
The Southeast Draw was composed of teams that won their first match, but lost in the East quarter-finals. The aforementioned Kurn was entered as the Putnam representative, a 2008 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, now a research analyst in international equities. A good singles player but with little doubles experience, Spencer played twice before the tournament‟s start, then improved steadily with each match. It didn‟t hurt to have the #1 professional, Ben Gould, as his partner. They won the opener with a 15-12 fifth game over Jamie Fagan & Mark Chaloner (Greenwich), then lost by an identical fifth game to Brazilian & Leach.
Their first match in the Southeast draw was a three game rout of Tom Poor & Greg Park (Somers Point, NJ), then another shut out of Price & Quigley for the title. The latter had advanced in four over Lenny & Manek Mathur (Rye, NY). That tandem won their first match against newcomer Louis Crosier & James Hewitt (Toronto).
Moving to the West Draw with some hurt feelings and sore muscles were losers of first round matches. Matthew Kozol teamed with Chris Walker (Greenwich) and took on home pro Dan Roberts & Jim Hearty in a five game marathon, merging victorious in over an hour (not good when conditioning is suspect). Matthew‟s dad Joel & Damien Mudge also went five in victory over Hewitt and Crosier. The resulting son vs. father face-off went another five games with father finally knowing best and into the finals. Joel is a national champion, closing in on 81 years old and took the final of the West in a four game match over Errin Siagel & Chris Spahr, our head professional. The latter tandem had arrived in the final with a rare three game win over Malcolm Salter (one of the five rookies in the field – Crosier, Siagel, JJ Hearty & Kurn were the others) & Jonny Smith ((New York), and a five game squeezer over Fagan & Chaloner.
The Southwest Draw was reserved for West Draw quarter-final losers. Louis Crozier & Hewitt rebounded from their earlier loss to slip by the Hearty-Roberts duo in four. In the bottom half, things did not go so smoothly as Marty Stocklan & Preston Quick went down quickly in the first two games to Salter & Smith. Marty then somehow found his reverse corner again and was able to ride it over the next three games to emerge in the finals. Crosier & Hewitt, no dummies, refused to hit it in Marty‟s wheelhouse and consequently dropped only the first game in their final win.
Jim Bildner is the only amateur to play in all fourteen of the Pro-Ams. He has been carried off the court with a ruptured Achilles, missed business meetings and has been hit several times by refusing to yield position on the forehand rail. He‟s already signed up for 2012. He and partner Matt Jenson migrated to the Northeast Draw along with three other teams who lost in the round of 32. Unfortunately, they ran into the hot hand of Dave Riccio (who won the raffled two week trip to China) & young Fred Reid and went down in five close games. It was not in the cards this year for Jim as they lost another five game match to Philip Bullen & Hamed Anvari (New York) in the playoff for 3rd place. Meanwhile, another son, JJ Hearty & John Russell advanced to the final in five over Bullen & Anvari. JJ is slimmer than his dad Jim and almost as vocal on the court. It wasn‟t quite enough as another 15-14 score in the fifth game went in favor of Riccio & Reid..
This year‟s event was universally acclaimed the most successful of all with Putnam‟s presence, spirited play and full galleries supplemented by a delicious dinner Friday evening and brunch Sunday. This event increases the interest in doubles in general and in particular, afforded all the chance to see great athletes (the professionals!) in action. Doubles continues to grow at the University Club and Boston in general with the addition of another court at the new YMCA in Marblehead. And with any luck a new court at the Union Boat Club may some day bring another host of new players.