Sep. 24—Pat Pelletier hung around the top of the standings but never led last month’s New Hampshire Stroke Play Championship — until the final day.
In the third and final round of the tournament, the 36-year-old from Lebanon took the lead on the turn and never looked back, capturing the title for a fifth time.
Pelletier shot a 6-under 66 on Bretwood Golf Course’s South Course in Keene on Aug. 8, finishing the tournament with a 9-under 207 score (69-72-66).
For winning the Stroke Play title — his first since 2020 — Pelletier was chosen as the August New Hampshire Union Leader Apple Therapy Services/Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center/Express MED Athlete of the Month by the Union Leader Board of Judges.
While Pelletier said he has a good track record in match play — he was the 2018 New Hampshire Amateur Championship runner-up — stroke play better fits his game.
“I just feel like I can be more patient,” Pelletier said, “and golf, for me, is if I can stay patient and keep my focus level high — I feel like over the course of three or four rounds, the cream rises to the top. So I feel like if I’m playing decent, it always gives me a chance to win.”
After the second day of the tournament, Pelletier was one shot back of co-leaders Andrew Surprenant and Jeremy Burke.
Watching where he was in the standings throughout the round, Pelletier logged six birdies, including four on the front nine, and no bogeys on the tournament’s final day.
Surprenant, 18, shot a 1-over 72 on the final day and finished fourth (70-70-73). Burke, 20, shot an even-par 71 and took runner-up honors with a three-day 5-under 211 score (73-67-71).
“… I like to know where I’m at,” Pelletier said. “When I’m playing well, I like to think my way around the course. If I know I have a big lead, there’s no need to hit driver sometimes on certain holes. Or if I’m one shot back with a couple holes to go and I need a birdie, then I’d maybe be a little bit more aggressive.”
Pelletier said he strikes the ball well off the tee but credited his final-day score more to not giving away any strokes on the greens. The Lebanon High School graduate made a few 10-15-foot putts as part of a solid round with his chipping and short game.
“If I hit a so-so shot into a green, I hit a great pitch or a good bunker shot on one of the holes,” Pelletier said, “or I’d make a nice putt to save par or make birdie when I did hit it in close.”
Pelletier, who reached the Round of 64 at the State Am and was the Vermont Open Championship runner-up over the summer, said his quick start helped him settle into the round.
He opened with three straight birdies on Holes 1-3, notched another on the par-3 seventh hole and parred the rest of the front nine.
“Once you get off to start like that, now you feel like you’re in it,” Pelletier said.
Other athletes considered for the August honor were University of New Hampshire women’s soccer player Sally Rainey, Portsmouth Booma Post 6 Senior American Legion baseball player Tim Avery, Salem Youth Baseball 10-12-year-old All-Star player Jacob Guerrero-Lomba and Manchester runner Amanda Quinlan.
Rainey, a redshirt junior goalie from Lebanon, made 21 saves, allowed four goals and posted a shutout over UNH’s 2-1-1 start to the season.
Avery, of Greenland, went 5-for-9 with three RBIs, one run scored, three walks and two stolen bases over Booma’s three games in the American Legion Northeast Regional Tournament in Manchester.
Guerrero-Lomba went 7-for-15 with a home run, an RBI, three runs scored and two walks in Salem’s run in the Little League Baseball New England Regional (which Salem won) and the Little League World Series.
Quinlan, 32, was the first woman to cross the finish line and placed 32nd overall in the Delta Dental/Elliot Corporate Road Race in Manchester on Aug. 8.
Previous 2024 winners: January, Zach James, Pelham (basketball); February, Anika Scott, Bedford (indoor track); March, Jackson Marshall, Hooksett (basketball); April, Anthony Paolicelli, Henniker (baseball); May, Emma Wheeler, Meredith (heptathlon); June, Elisabeth Kearney, Londonderry (softball); July, Owen Carey, Londonderry (baseball).
To submit a nomination for future Athlete of the Month consideration, email the Union Leader Sports Department at sports@unionleader.com and enter “Athlete of the Month” in the subject line.
