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HAMILTON, N.Y. - Jared Trudeau and Nicole Criscone emerged victorious as the only players in the 12th NYS Amateur Mixed Team Championship to finish under par (3-under) at Seven Oaks Golf Club on Tuesday.

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Trudeau and Criscone, who are both members of Eagle Crest GC, combined to shoot a bogey-free 69 to win by three strokes. They crept near the top of the leaderboard for most of the day alongside their playing partners, Jacob Katz and Samantha Gaffney of Brookfield CC.

“We do a lot of things together,” Criscone said. “Over the summer, he’s my caddie most of the time and we’ll play in our Eagle Crest events. Doing a higher level tournament that we both could play in sounded like a good idea.”

Katz and Gaffney jumped out to an early lead with two birdies in their first four holes. Trudeau and Criscone wouldn’t put up their first red number until the sixth hole, holding steady at even-par. 

By then, a third team had entered the mix; Stafford CC’s Audrey Clarke and Jim Scorse, who rolled in back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth after bogeying the first to sit in second place alongside Trudeau and Criscone. 

The three sides stayed that way through the rest of the front nine. Trudeau and Criscone had finally caught up to their playing partners on the 12th hole with a birdie to get to two-under overall.

“Nicole’s drives put me in a great spot where I can just get a wedge in there,” Trudeau said. “Her putting is phenomenal, so it was a perfect team event.”

On the next hole, Katz and Gaffney dropped a stroke with a collective bogey, giving Trudeau and Criscone their first outright lead of the championship with five holes left. Clarke and Scorse, on the other hand, rattled off four pars to begin the back-nine and remain in a tie for second with Katz and Gaffney. 

Katz and Gaffney went on to bogey three of their next four holes to all but fall out of contention, despite ending the round with a birdie on 18. Clarke and Scorse remained steady with pars until the 16th, when a bogey brought them back down to even-par overall. 

That gave Trudeau and Criscone a two-stroke advantage headed into the final two holes. They converted a par on the 17th hole before ending with a birdie on the 18th to wrap up a three-stroke margin of victory. 

Clarke and Scorse finished in second place at even-par, while Katz and Gaffney tied for third place at one-over with Ken Cohen and Gabby Cohen of Villa Roma Country Club. Five teams finished at three-over; Megan Deblois and Michael Deblois (Cavalry Club), Alexandra Battle and Mark Battle (Ravenwood GC), Sienna Wheeler and Mike Wheeler (Pinehaven CC), Jocelyn Wintersteen and Steve Wintersteen (Cassadaga CC), and Tom O’Brien and Sarah Harms (Yahnundasis GC). 

In the Senior Division, McCann GC members Todd Jackson and Louise-Anne Morin clinched a five-stroke win thanks to an incredible back-nine 32 that included four consecutive birdies from holes 11-14.

“It means the world,” Jackson said. “It was a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work involved. We play a lot of golf together so we had a yin and a yang going today.”

Their scoring started on the second hole with a deuce on the par-3 second. They would convert another on seventh before bogeying the next two holes to bring themselves back to even-par. Going out in 36, Jackson and Morin parred the par-4 tenth to initiate the back-nine. Then came four birdies in a row to get to four-under overall.

No one else could keep up, not even Teresa Cleland (Bellevue CC) and Al Gildemeyer, who were also at even-par after 11 holes before the heater from Jackson and Morin. Andy and Bethany Bernatovicz (River Oaks GC) were also in contention at one point, sitting at one-over par through nine until a double-bogey on ten derailed their chances at contending. 

By the time Jackson and Morin were walking up to the 15th hole tee box, they had ran away with the championship. They ended their final four holes with pars, ending their back-nine bogey free and five shots clear of the field. 

“It’s nice when it all comes together and today it was pretty magical,” Morin said. “The long game was good and the putters were hot.”

Cleland and Gildemeyer finished in second place at one-over. The Bernatovicz’s finished in third place at two-over, while three teams tied for fourth at three-over; Jim Burns (Canandaigua CC) and Julie Hamm (Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club), John Miosi (Transit Valley CC) and Nancy Nappo (Brookfield CC), and Joe Mancini and Carolyn Mancini (Binghamton CC). 

The net winners in the Amateur category were O’Brien and Harms with a net 63 (-9), while Pennie and Jeff Carlo claimed the Senior net title with a 68 (-4).