Golf and “Aliveness”

+ News, Notes, and weekly favorites

Author

Sean Melia
May 23, 2025

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to the 200+ new readers who found their way here because the Boston Globe was silly enough to spend time writing about me and my quest. We’ve cracked the 1,000 subscriber count, which is super exciting.

To celebrate, I am offering a few discounts.

🥳 Use code BSG20 for 20% off in the Bay State Shop.

🥂 Get $15 off the Supporter Tier ($35) for a year. Link here.

If you would like to read Billy Baker’s article, you can find it here. Apologies that I don’t have a free link. I know some folks are wily enough to work around those paywalls… it’s also in Friday’s print edition.

Even with the chilly weather, I bundled up and played New England CC in Bellingham on Tuesday in the first Northeast Golf Team Tour event. There are three more events this summer. Players accrue points and will have a chance to play in a Tour Championship finale this fall at an undisclosed course. Full Details and sign up here.

News and Notes

Pro Golf

⛳️ Keegan Bradley finished T8 in the PGA Championship, and Michael Thorbjornsen finished T41 in his first major as a professional. Thorbjornsen had a cup of coffee on the leaderboard on Friday and Saturday (I was very excited). Then he played the Green Mile in four-over par in the third round. A 74 on Sunday wrapped up a solid week for the PGA Tour rookie.

Thorbjornsen withdrew from the Charles Schwab at Colonial CC on Thursday. He’s been battling some injuries, so here’s hoping that’s the reason.

🌽 Davis Chatfield led the way again among the Bay Staters on the Korn Ferry Tour in the AdventHealth Championship at Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City, Missouri last week.

🏌️‍♂️ This week, the same four players are competing in the Visit Knoxville Open at Holston Hills Country Club. Live scoring.

⛳️ Chris Francoeur and Jimmy Hervol are playing in the PGA Tour Americas. This week, they’re in Bogota, Colombia, at Club El Rincón de Cajicá. They didn’t play yesterday because of rain. Live Scoring

🏌️‍♀️ Alexa Pano is playing in the Mexico Open at Mayakoba. She shot 84 in the first round. Live Scoring.

College Golf

🏌️‍♀️ Rebecca Skoler and the University of Virginia women’s team were one of eight teams to reach match play in the NCAA Women’s National Championship. They lost to Stanford in the Round of 8. If you were busy watching the New York Knicks meltdown (much like the Celtics last week…) in MSG on Wednesday night, you might have missed Northwestern’s shocking defeat of Stanford to win the national championship.

⚓️ Ryan Downes and John Broderick will compete for Vanderbilt in the NCAA National Championship this week at La Costa in San Diego. The tournament starts today (Friday). Leaderboard

🐎 Emil Neilsen, a freshman at Santa Clara, shot 80-72-75 in the men’s NIT Tournament, which invites teams that missed out on a national championship berth, much like in college basketball. He finished in 70th place to officially wrap up his first year as a Bronco.

High School Golf

🏆️ The ISL Championship, known as the Kingman Cup, was held on May 19 at Butterbrook GC in Westford. It’s an 18-hole stroke play event where each team brings five players to compete, and four scores count toward the team tally. Unfortunately, they could only play 17 holes because the pin placement on the fourth hole (the best hole on the course) was deemed unplayable. Not great!

Tabor Academy won the team title with a score of 289. They were led by individual champion Braden Yeomans, who shot a 69. Graham Smith (71), Beckett Sloan (74), and John Noonan (75) were the counting scores for Tabor. Incredibly, their non-counting score was a 76 from Michael Letendre… Milton Academy finished one shot behind after three players shot 70: Riley Donovan, Reese Jensen, Darby King. Hayes Holmgren rounded out the counting scores with an 80. Defending champion Belmont Hill (299), St. Mark’s (307), and Lawrence Academy (311) rounded out the top five.

🏆️ In the Pippy O’Connor, which is the girls’ prep school championship, Andover shot 300 at Simsbury Farms Golf Course (Simsbury, Conn) to win the team event and Lucy Wang of Middlesex (go Zebras!) won the individual title with a 70.

Exeter (307), Hamden Hall (325), Choate (328), and Middlesex (334) round out the top five.

Amateur Golf

🏆️ Frank Vana Jr. + Jack Kearney teamed up to win the Mass Senior Four-Ball with two rounds of 67 at Veterans Memorial Golf Course and Ludlow Country Club. After making bogey on their 17th hole of the day, it looked like a three-team playoff was in the cards at 9-under par. Instead, Vana Jr. made a birdie on the ninth hole (their 18th) to finish the tournament at 10-under par. It’s the first time Vana and Kearney won this event. Vana won the Mass Four-Ball with Michael McCarthy in 2002 and 2003.

The duos of Dean Godek + Ed Garbacik, along with Doug Clapp + John Hadges, finished in second place.

In the Super Senior Division, Keith Smith + Steven Tasho won a playoff at 4-under par against Ralph Dastoli + Robert Linn and Joe Walker + Kevin Carey.

🏆️ Dan Schwartz won the Norfolk County Classic last weekend. I was out there to take some pictures and watch the final round. Here’s my recap.

🇺🇸 Unfortunately, no Bay State teams reached the match play in the U.S. Four-Ball in New Jersey last week. The cut was even par.

👇️ Here are the results for teams with at least one Massachusetts player. 👇️

🥇 The final Mass Open qualifier was played at Woodland GC on Monday, May 19. Jimmy Jones earned medalist honors and was the only professional among the 11 players who booked their spot in the tournament. Results.

The Mass Open will be held on June 10-12 at Sacconnesset Golf Club in East Falmouth, Mass.

Plugs

💰️ I highlighted four courses you can play for $50 or less. The catch? They’re all outside the 495 belt. Yes, I am now playing the thumbnail game. It’s ridiculous! And I’m sorry!

Golf and “Aliveness”

What is it about golf that makes it such an obsession for people? Why do people catch the “golf bug?”

Many explain golf’s pandemic boom as a lucky mix of outdoor accessibility and social connection—but that doesn’t explain why so many stuck around when the world opened back up.

This week, Oliver Burkeman’s excellent newsletter, The Imperfectionist, tackled the idea of “aliveness.”

Here’s what he wrote:

The concept that sits right at the heart of a sane and meaningful life, I’m increasingly convinced, is something like aliveness. It goes by other names, too, none of which quite nail it – but it’s the one thing that, so long as you navigate by it, you’ll never go too far wrong. Sometimes it feels like a subtle electrical charge behind what’s happening, or a mildly heightened sense of clarity, or sometimes like nothing I can put into words at all. I freely concede it’s a hopelessly unscientific idea.

Oliver Burkeman - The Imperfectionist

He went on to write about his worries about Artificial Intelligence and how it threatens aliveness. He also made the distinction between aliveness and happiness because they aren’t the same.

And that’s where it clicked for me.

Golf offers a wide variety of chances to feel aliveness. I’m not talking standing-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff aliveness. I’m just talking about the aliveness that comes with chasing success, experiencing failure, being with friends, and facing fears.

Burkeman writes that aliveness is a “subtle electrical charge behind what’s happening.”

Ever hit a long iron on the sweet spot?

Ever watched a 25-foot putt tumble into the cup?

It’s an electrical charge.

It’s a tuning fork pinging deep in the soul.

Golfers will chase that aliveness across the street and across the globe.

They’ll chase aliveness in 40 degrees or in the heat of a summer oven.

Some will do it alone, and others with friends and family.

Strangers will become friends.

It doesn’t always make us happy.

But it hits the notes of aliveness.

But even in those moments when we’re disappointed and slamming a club or posting a high score or watching a ball splash into the water, when we climb into the car and turn on the engine, we all wonder when our next round will happen so we can find that feeling of aliveness again.

WORMBURNER COMICS

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When I’m not golfing…

I’m reading…

💪 The Enhanced Games are coming. Many have wondered what would happen if the Olympics allowed rampant steroid use. Now we’ll (kind of) know the answer.

🧑‍🎓 David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” always seems to make the rounds this time of year. An incredible commencement speech.

I’m eating…

🍽️ Our kitchen is empty and ready to be torn apart, so we're cobbling together meals and ordering food.

🇮🇹 Tony and Elaine’s in the North End makes a delicious lasagna.

🍣 Sweet Rice in Charlestown has some very good sushi.

🍕 Area 4 makes the city’s best pizza, imo.

🥜 Absolutely love peanut butter crackers on the golf course

I’m watching…

  • Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story on Netflix is wild and terrifying.

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