Later this month in Colorado, when Woodmont teaching pro Wayne DeFrancesco playsin the U.S. Senior Open, he hopes to find the course more manageable than his last foray into a Champions Tour event.
Playing at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. in the Senior PGA in May, DeFrancesco shot 78-79 — 157, 17-over-par. He missed the cut, but was in good company. Also going home early were Hale Irwin, Fuzzy Zoeller, Dana Quigley, and Donny Hammond.
Oak Hill was so daunting that week that major championship winners Curtis Strange and Ben Crenshaw withdrew after playing practice rounds. Champion Jay Haas was the last man standing. His four-round score was 7-over-par.
“Everything about it was tough,” said DeFrancesco. “You name it –the weather, the wind, the cold, the rough, the greens, the trees. You get on a course like that and you know you don’t have the game for it.”
Local golf fans might be surprised to hear of the struggles of DeFrancesco — the area’s best schoolboy player at Langley High in the late 1970s and the area’s most consistently successful club pro over the last two decades.
Since turning 50 last August, DeFrancesco has been nearly unbeatable in local senior competition. In September, he won the Maryland Senior Open. When he took the Middle-Atlantic PGA Senior title, it came on top of his MAPGA Championship for all ages.
So it was no surprise last week when DeFrancesco shot a bogey-free 35-32 – 67 to take medal honors in U.S. Senior Open Qualifying at Musket Ridge. Now he will tackle the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, July 31-Aug. 3.
“If I finish in the top 25, that would be great. I’d cash a nice check,” said DeFrancesco. “But for me as a teaching pro, if I made the cut, that would be a nice achievement too.”
While others might view a slot in the U.S. Senior Open as a launching pad for Champions Tour success, DeFrancesco knows better. He’s dipped his toe into the deep end of the talent pool — playing in nine Kemper Opens and five PGAs — and is satisfied with life as a teaching pro.
“It’s a great job. It pays well and gives me the freedom to play and compete,” said DeFrancesco. “I wouldn’t do anything else.”
