By Hank Gola
Despite having grown somewhat apart in recent years, Marc Delzio and Chris Calabro knew how well their games and personalities meshed from their days playing on the men’s golf team at Manhattan College. When Delzio learned about the new MGA/MetLife Doubles Championship, and that the winners would be invited to the U.S. Doubles Golf Championship, he knew he had the perfect partner for the scramble format event. A few months later, Jack Nicklaus was handing them hardware as national champions.
The pair recorded a winning score of 18-under for the 27 holes played over two days at the Bears Club in Jupiter, Fla., erasing a one-shot deficit over the final nine holes. It was a fantastic end to an interesting journey, marked by a little serendipity.
“We’d met in college and always remained friendly … played a ton of golf together,” Delzio says. “But in the last five years, he got married. I got married. I had a daughter last September. He had a son last January, so we were just busy with life, and we hadn’t really got a chance to play a bunch. So, when I reached out to him to play (in the qualifier), it was like, ‘Hey, this will be a lot of fun … Let’s just kind of catch up and have a good time together.’ And we played some really good golf.”
Luckily, they saved their best golf for last. Delzio, who plays out of Mahopac, and Calabro, a six-time club champ at Knollwood, placed third in sectional qualifying at Hollow Brook and then were runners-up to Kevin and Kenneth Li at the MGA/MetLife Doubles Championship at The Seawane Club in mid-October.
“We kind of looked at each other like, ‘That was a ton of fun,’” Delzio recalls. “And then three days later, we get a phone call, and they’re like, ‘Hey, first place guys can’t make it. Can you guys do it?’”
The Lis’ scheduling conflict led to an easy decision.
“I was shocked, but we didn’t even hesitate,” Calabro says. “As long as it was okay with them, we were going.”
By then, Delzio and Calabro had developed a strategy.
“I could get us in the fairway, and then he could kind of let it fly on the second one,” Calabro adds. “And then on the putting, he went first. He was really comfortable that if I saw the line, I could make my putt. That comfortability in him allowed him to free flow and he made a lot of putts.”
By luck, they were paired with the defending champions, allowing them to gauge how they stacked up against the field. Their playing partners began the round with what Delzio called “the most stress-free eagle” he’d ever seen, followed by a birdie on the ensuing par 3. But Delzio and Calabro soon found their game. They ran off four straight birdies on the inward nine and quickly noticed the sudden change in the defending champs’ disposition. Calabro stuffed one to 15 feet after a forced carry into 18, with Delzio draining the putt for eagle.
“After I made that putt, I looked at Chris and said, ‘Dude, we can play with these guys,’” Delzio says.
When the groups were repaired for the final nine holes on the second day, they found themselves teeing off on No. 1 in the shotgun start.
“From the first time we played Hollow Brook to the last nine holes that we played, we improved every single nine,” Calabro notes. “That was so cool. I even said to him the night before the final nine holes, ‘Marc, we’ve trended positively every single nine. Tomorrow shouldn’t be any different.’”
It wasn’t. They started the nine with four straight birdies and closed with three more birds over the final five to coast to a four-shot win. Accepting the trophies from Nicklaus was an added treat.