By Dalton Balthaser

 

CRANSTON - It’s not always about how you start. It’s about how you finish.

 

Sitting at 1-over-par after seven holes, the Shelter Harbor Golf Club duo of David Boggini and Terry Huffman needed to make something happen and fast.

 

“A big key for us to start building momentum was that our playing partners Pete Sozek and Mark Zyons were rolling in birdies early,” said Boggini, 56, of Glastonbury, Conn. “They were 3 under through six and Terry and I told each other we needed to catch up.”

 

They made up ground quickly and made six team birdies on the final 11 holes to shoot a best-ball 66 and seize the Day One lead in the 28th Senior Four-Ball (Gross) at Cranston Country Club (par 71, 6,109 yards) Tuesday.

 

They hold a three-shot advantage over a trio of teams: Agawam Hunt’s Dean Parziale and Bruce Heterick, Mike Soucy (Valley Country Club) and Paul Quigley (Green Valley Country Club) as well as Rob Grossguth (West Warwick Country Club) and John Napolillo (Potowomut Golf Club). Each team finished at 2 under.

 

This was the first trek around Cranston for both Boggini and Huffman.

 

No prior experience, no problem. Once they got accustomed to the greens, it was smooth sailing.

 

“The golf course played fabulous,” said Boggini. “The superintendent and his staff deserve a lot of credit. For early in the season, the grass is growing nice. I didn’t have a bad lie all round.”

 

Boggini started the birdie binge with back-to-back on Nos. 8 (par 3, 120 yards) and 9 (par 4, 410 yards). He rolled in a 20-footer on the island green eighth and a 30-footer on the ninth.

 

Nos. 13 (par 5, 475 yards) and 14 (par 4, 349 yards) was where Huffman took the proverbial relay baton.

 

He smoothed a 48-degree pitching wedge to three feet on No. 13 and canned a 15-footer on No. 14.

 

Boggini then finished strong with clutch approaches on Nos. 16 (par 4, 369 yards) and 18 (par 4, 355 yards) that resulted in birdies. He stuffed a 9-iron from 140 yards to 15 feet on No. 16 and a wedge from 100 yards to six feet on the closing hole.

 

The story of how Boggini and Huffman became golfing buddies is an interesting tale. 

 

“Terry and I met at Shelter Harbor a few years back,” said Boggini. “We played for a couple of years without really knowing each other. Suddenly, people kept calling us by the wrong name. They would call me Terry and they would call Terry, David. Then our golf professional Dave Tiedemann told us we had to get together and start playing. It’s been a love affair ever since.”

 

“The best part about playing with David is knowing that he isn’t going to miss a shot,” said Huffman, 65, of Charlestown, R.I. “If he misses a shot, he still finds a way to make a par. It makes me play a lot looser.”

 

Huffman and Boggini have their sights set on their first RIGA win. One that will be earned if they can seal the deal. The duos of Heterick and Parziale as well as Soucy and Quigley have won a total of three Senior Four-Ball titles as teammates. Heterick and Parziale are looking for a three-peat.

 

“No matter where we are on the leaderboard, our mindset and attitude won’t change,” said Huffman. “We put the tee in the ground and hit it. We don’t think much when we are out playing. We have hundreds of rounds played together. There’s no need to complicate it just because it is a tournament round.”