By Joe Morelli, Register Staff
jmorelli@nhregister.com / Twitter: @nhrJoeMorelli

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HAMDEN — What started out as just trying to fill out a third varsity sport to play in high school could end up turning into a professional golf career for Matt Dziubina.

The 22-year-old Shelton resident made his first appearance in the 41st edition of the Julius Boros Challenge Cup at New Haven Country Club Thursday. Dziubina won his match against Ian Marshall of Watertown GC in the matchup of the Connecticut State Golf Association Amateurs versus the Connecticut Section PGA pros.

“I’m honored to actually play in an event like this,” Dziubina said. “It’s nice to play against the people I’ve always looked up to and always wanted to compete against.”

There were several scoring snafus on behalf of the Connecticut Section PGA staff after the completion of the matches, determining each team the winner once and then a tie. The final score, finally determined two hours after the completion of play, was the pros beating the amateurs 32.5-30.5.

Where does Dziubina go from here? Read more about that and the Challenge Cup.

There were several scoring snafus, and it took almost two hours after the completion of play, but the result is now official. The Connecticut Section PGA pros won the 41st annual Julius Boros Challenge Cup at New Haven Country Club Thursday.


The pros held off a rally from the  Connecticut State Golf Association amateurs to win 32.5-30.5.
The pros had a sizable lead during the matches Thursday against the amateurs, who had won three straight Challenge Cups coming in.

The pros now hold a 29-13 lead in the series over the amateurs. Check out nhregister.com/sports for the story later this evening.

By Joe Morelli, Schools Sports Editor
jmorelli@nhregister.com / Twitter: @nhrJoeMorelli

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CROMWELL —  Some golfers used their first PGA Tour victory at the Travelers Championship to help jump-start their careers. Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan and Stewart Cink come to mind.

Some veteran golfers made the tournament their final tour win before moving onto the Champions Tour. Kenny Perry, Brad Faxon and Peter Jacobsen all accomplished that feat.

Fredrik Jacobson falls somewhere in between. It took him nine years to finally win on tour last year at the Travelers, shooting a 20-under-par total for four rounds, tying for second best in tournament history, to win by one shot last June over Ryan Moore and John Rollins.

Check out more on Jacobson's story, plus a video

Patrick Cantlay has received his second straight sponsor's exemption to the Travelers Championship. He was one of five golfers who received them Tuesday, including four other amateurs.
Cantlay, the world's top-ranked amateur and a sophomore at UCLA, shot a second-round 60 at TPC River Highlands to lead at the midway point of the 2011 Travelers Championship. He finished tied for 24th place.
Another sponsor exemptions went to Ryo Ishikawa from Japan, ranked 57th in the current world rankings. He has three top-25 finishes so far this year.
Patrick Rodgers is the second-ranked amateur. He is a freshman at Stanford. Kelly Kraft is the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and Bryden Macpherson is the reigning British Amateur champion.
Travelers tournament director Nathan Grube will make one last recruiting trip to the Players Championship next week to firm up some final commitments for the tournament being held June 21-24.