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Massachusetts Women's Open Returns to Melrose's Bellevue Golf Club

The 21-year-old tournament is back where it started.

The Massachusetts Women’s Open golf tournament will be returning to its roots this year.

The 2011 edition, scheduled for June 27 and 28, will be contested at in Melrose—the same course that hosted the inaugural tournament back in 1990, and each one through 1994.

“Bellevue is a great nine-hole golf course,” said open coordinator Susan Bond of the Melrose links. “They are really excited to have us back.”

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Bond, who won the Open at Bellevue in 1993, is the Head Professional at Weekapaug Golf Club in Westerly, RI and one of only two golfers to play in all 21 Mass. Women’s Open tournaments. The other, Beth O’Kelly of Black Rock Country Club in Hingham won the debut Open in 1990, and again in 1996.

“It is one of the premier events in New England for golf pros,” said O’Kelly. “It’s really the only big thing other than the New England Open that we play in all year, so we get really excited for that.”

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Both golfers will be playing their 22nd tournament at Bellevue this year.

“I stay competitive in (the Mass. Women’s Open and the New England Women’s Open),” Bond said of her prospects at this year’s Open. “I’d love to win it again.”

O’Kelly is hoping that the return to Bellevue will get her back on the winning track, after a lengthy trophy drought. She hopes going back to the Bellevue course—where she gained her first professional win at the 1990 Open—for the first time since 1996 will reverse her fortunes.

“I’ve been in a drought since 1996, so I’m really happy to be going back to Bellevue,” she said. “Every year, you just never know how you’re going to play, and the last few years I haven’t played particularly well.

“It would be nice to win it one more time; rekindle some old memories. (The 1990 Mass. Women’s Open) was my first professional win. I was really excited. I had just gotten out of college and turned pro, and the Open was my first win.”

With both golfers competing against each other so many times in the tournament, one would expect a bit of a rivalry to have developed over the years, but O’Kelly and Bond are good friends and now root for each other more than compete.

“We did have a friendly rivalry going back in the day,” O'Kelly said. “But now that we’re best buddies, it’s a little different.”

In fact, the Black Rock CC assistant golf pro is quick to give Bond credit for keeping the Mass. Women’s Open alive over the past few years.

“Over the past few years, Susan has taken it over and done a really good job with the event,” O’Kelly said. “So thanks to Susan keeping it alive, because without her it might have folded up.”

Taking over from the New England PGA, finding sponsors

In 2008, after 18 years of the Open being coordinated by the New England PGA, Bond took over those duties herself shortly after landing Johnson & Johnson as a sponsor for the Mass Women’s Open and the New England Women’s Open, which she also runs.

“I felt like I was more than willing and able to run the event,” Bond said. “Nothing against the New England PGA at all, but I thought that I could handle it and run the events. I took them over and gave them a little love.”

Bond currently serves as President of the Rhode Island PGA, and says the decision wasn’t based on any actions—or lack thereof—on the part of the NEPGA.

“They weren’t doing anything wrong by any means,” she said. “I figured I was responsible for making sure the sponsors were happy, and they were my own friends, so I figured well, I’ll do it. And (the NEPGA) didn’t mind handing me the torch.”

The sponsorship deal was for two years, and the company declined to extend it for the 2010 tournament.

“In the past we’ve had Johnson & Johnson as a sponsor, and we’ve had John Hancock,” Bond said about the companies she has been able to lure as sponsors. “At Johnson & Johnson, my contact there moved on and is no longer with the company.”

So while the total prize money won’t be as lucrative as in years past, Bond is expecting the customary 40-50 entrants, and the entry fees are essentially the prize money.

She is quick to point out the potential benefits to sponsors the Mass. Women’s Open offers.

“Women’s golf is a big priority with the PGA of America,” Bond said. “They’re trying to get more women to play golf, and more juniors to play golf. We only have a couple of female-only events in New England, so it would be great if we had a female company. That would be a nice sponsor, but we’re by no means limited to that.”

Last year’s Mass Women’s Open was held at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, and the top professional was Becky McDaid, who won $2000 for taking the top spot. In comparison, James Hazen, the winner of the men’s Mass. Open in 2010, pocketed a slick $15,000.

McDaid, an assistant golf professional at Long Island’s Friar’s Head GC, shot a 70 on the first day and followed with a second round 74 to win the Open.

The sponsorship issue is something that she would like to see resolved sooner rather than later.

“Let’s say a Talbot’s or something like a CVS,” Bond said. “A female-faced company would be a perfect sponsor, but again, we’re not limited to that.”

Tobins help establish the Open in Melrose

Bond helped to found the event when she was an assistant under Leo J. Martin Head Golf Pro Mike Wortis, who together with the late Tom Murphy, started the tournament at Bellevue in 1990 with the goal of providing female golf pro’s in the area an event to compete in, something which prior to that time they hadn’t had.

Twenty-one years later, it remains one of the premier summer events for pro and amateur golfers from all over New England.

Also helping to found the Mass. Women’s Open were Jim and Anne Marie Tobin. Jim is the head pro at Bellevue, while Anne Marie is perhaps the most accomplished female in the history of Massachusetts golf.

Her collection of accolades is lengthy, and includes being the only woman to win five consecutive WGAM titles, six WGAM Keyes Cup (stroke play championship) crowns and the 1990 New England Amateur championship. Tobin also is a three-time WGAM Player of the Year, and the award now bears her name in tribute.

Jim Tobin has been the head professional at Bellevue since 1981, and received the Bill Strausbaugh Award from the New England PGA, one of the highest honors for a club golf pro.

As far as the Bellevue course is concerned, two-time Open winner O’Kelly has nothing but praise for the nine-hole setup.

“It’s a challenging nine-hole golf course,” she said. “It’s really friendly. I think it will benefit all types of players ... even though it’s a nine-hole course, it will be fun because you go around twice.”

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