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Sports

North Shore Amateur presents huge challenge for local stars

By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer
Published: August 19, 2008

Always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

Well, it's not an exact description, but Cy Kilgore can relate to the feeling.

Nearly every year it seems Kilgore, the 15-time Tedesco Country Club champion, is considered a contender to win the North Shore Amateur at Far Corner Golf Course in West Boxford. Yet every year since the mid-1990s, Kilgore has come up just short. Twice, including last year, Kilgore has been the runner-up.

"I'm probably 0-for-13," Kilgore said. "That's golf. The number of times you win is so infrequent. That's what makes someone like Tiger Woods remarkable (on the PGA Tour)."

Kilgore will once again be teeing it up when the 33rd annual North Shore Amateur kicks off today at Far Corner. The 36-hole tournament will be held today and tomorrow, with the course set at 6,600 yards at par 72.

And once again, Kilgore expects to be facing a brutal field.

Former Salem State golf star Brian Cawley of Colonial in Lynnfield returns as the defending North Shore Amateur champion. He beat Kilgore by five shots last year to surprise everyone.

"Every year you look at the field and it's guys who have played in U.S. Amateurs and won state titles," Kilgore said. "It's also at Far Corner, which is a challenge in itself."

The steady Kilgore isn't going to crush the ball off the tee, but he can put pressure on his opponents by staying in the fairway and knocking down putts.

That being said, Kilgore knows that par golf is unlikely to win this tournament.

"In amateur golf it used to be that you could shoot par for two days, but now you probably have to be under," Kilgore said. "Long hitters have a chance to score easily, but the speeds of the greens up there aren't the fastest. Handling the greens are always difficult.

"I'd say if you shoot 2-under you have a chance. Last year I shot 1-under and didn't win."

Kilgore always expects Bob Avelino, Ken Whalley, Bill Drohen and Jim Katsos to contend for the title if they're in the field.

Avelino calls Far Corner home and has won three North Shore Amateurs, but none since 1995. Whalley has also won three times, including back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002. Drohen won back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005, while Katsos, a member at Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead, won it in 1999.

Cawley is a solid young golfer who should not be counted out, as is Lynnfield's Darren Bolton, the 2006 winner who placed fourth last year.

"On the first day you hope you don't shoot yourself out of it," Kilgore said. "You can shoot a 68 there. If you do something like that you can be in position. If you think about your score (too much), you'll probably be thinking about a bad score. If you can truly take it one shot at a time you're better off."

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