Rosters for the Lowell City Golf Tournament determined

LOWELL — Topping last year’s thrilling tournament may be a tall order.

But with the amount of talent ready to tee it up at the Lowell City Golf Tournament, who knows?

The four 12-member teams are set after recent qualifying at Vesper Country Club, Mt. Pleasant Golf Club, Long Meadow Golf Club and Nabnasset Lake Country Club.

The 99th Cities (no tournament was held 1943-45 due to World War II, so last June marked the 100th anniversary) will be held on Wednesday, June 19 at Vesper, Friday, June 21 at Mt. Pleasant, and Saturday, June 22 at Long Meadow.

Nabnasset Lake’s Brandon Gillis is back to defend his title. Gillis put on a show for the ages last year, as his 208 three-round total (7-under) tied the event record set in 2003 by Long Meadow’s Doug Parigian. Gillis birdied three of the last four holes to capture the tournament.

Gillis needed every one of those closing birdies, as Mt. Pleasant’s Chris Gentile, who played in the group in front of Gillis, finished at 6-under. Gillis also captured the 2021 title.

Gentile’s total would have won every nearly every one of the previous 99 Cities, but it wasn’t quite good enough.

A motivated Gentile is back in this year’s field.

Lurking right behind were Vesper’s duo of Andrew Conway and John DeVito, who finished at 5-under and 3-under, respectively. Conway and DeVito are again members of Vesper’s team.

The Smith sisters are also back and looking to continue to amaze, showing they are more than capable of playing from the back tees and challenging the tournament’s top male golfers.

No female had played in the tournament when Morgan Smith made history in 2019. Now the Smiths are staples of the Cities.

Morgan Smith finished third in 2022 and tied for sixth last June. Younger sister Molly used two strong rounds to take the fifth spot last year. Both are coming off strong freshman seasons in college.

Both have finished in the top 10 over the last two years.

Last year also featured a rare occurrence in the team competition. Vesper held a stranglehold on the team title, winning the championship every year from 2004-22, and many of the wins came in a runaway fashion.

Mt. Pleasant, however, edged the Tyngsboro club with impressive play, prompting many cheers after the scores were tabulated. Later, a party was held at the Staples Street club in Lowell that went on to the wee hours.

Here is this year’s field:

Mt. Pleasant: Chris Gentle, Molly Smith, Jason Howarth, Dean Trahan, Brian Corbett, Trevor Green, Mike Corbin, Andrew Mierzwa, Matt Asselin, Ben Asselin, Tyler Schermerhorn and Colin Underwood.

The alternates, in order, are Ken Gys, Dave Desmond and Jack Crowley Jr.

Long Meadow: Trevor Drew, Nate Crowley, Doug Parigian, Morgan Smith, Patrick Cote, Nate Sayer, Phil Smith, Matt Tramonte, Reed Bourgeois, Colin Pickett, Eric Quinn and George Vergados.

The alternates, in order, are David D’Entremont, Keegan Cote and Brian Barry Jr.

Vesper: John DeVito, Andrew Conway, Chris Herrick, Chris Wachel, Connor Calhoun, Dan Villemaire, Ryan Brogan, William Adie, Andrew Young, George Popp, Jeffrey Corbett and Griffin Brown.

The alternates, in order, are Justin McLear, Jeff Monahan and Ryan Hart.

Nabnasset Lake: Brandon Gillis, Mike Walker, Cam Sheedy, Mike Schnyer, Derek Anderson, David Walshe, Rick Moreau, Eric Young, Travis Kellegrew, Nick Wilder, Jack Ryan and Rob Burndrett.

The alternates, in order, are Chris Lerra, Dan Ahern and Marc Herrmann.

Drew qualifies

Former Tyngsboro High star Trevor Drew recently qualified for the Mass Amateur. Playing at Hyannis Country Club in a talented field, Drew fired an even-par 71.

Drew tied for fourth place.

Massachusetts Open

Brendan Hunter of Red Tail Golf Club and Phil Smith of Long Meadow are representing the area at the 114th Massachusetts Open Championship.

Teeing it up in the opening day Monday at Willowbend in Mashpee, Hunter was tied for 19th after shooting a 2-over 72, while Smith was in a tie for 136th after a 15-over 85. The 156-player tournament concludes Wednesday.

It’s the only Mass Golf championship that features both professionals and amateurs and features a $75,000 purse.

Walpole native Jack Boulger was the leader after the opening round after firing a course-record 6-under 64.