By Steve Derderian
sderderian@massgolf.org
PITTSFIELD, Massachusetts (September 29, 2026) – Country Club of Pittsfield’s motto, Benigno Numine, calls for golf “under smiling skies.” Coming off a weekend nor’easter, that was asking a fair amount of Tuesday. Though the region was still drying out, the course wore the weather well, as its greens rolled true, while the chilly Berkshire air asked more of each swing than the 6,008-yard scorecard let on for the competitors.
A little sunshine finally broke through just as defending champion Steve Tasho (Thorny Lea Golf Club) reached the 18th green. From 65 yards, he had knocked a 50-degree wedge inside three feet on the lower tier of the green, leaving a tap-in par to finish at 1-under-par 70. Only tournament newcomer John McNeill (Amateur Golf Tour of NE) could match him through Round 1 of the 13th Massachusetts Super Senior Amateur.
There’s familiar company close behind. In the afternoon, Jack Kearney (Westover Golf Club) and Jeff Page (Wellesley Country Club) finished at even par. Kearney, a two-time Mass Senior Amateur winner, is four strokes ahead in the Legends Division (ages 70+). Page, Babson College’s men’s golf coach, made nine straight pars to start the day, and after “falling asleep” to start the back nine, he got it back with a three-foot birdie putt on the 15th, an up-and-down for birdie on the 16th, and a closing birdie on the 18th.
The cutline settled at 12-over 83, with the low 70 players and ties advancing to Wednesday’s final round.
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By Tasho’s accounting, he missed just three greens all day. The few detours required some adjusting, but he was content with the larger picture.
“I played pretty consistent the whole day,” Tasho said. “I made one bad swing on eight.”
That swing sent his drive astray, and a bogey putt that stopped short left him with a double bogey on the par-5 8th. A cold-topped drive on the 10th offered another chance for the round to turn on its head, but he saved par. Even after a bogey on the 11th, there was still time to make repairs.
His climb back to even par began on a steep descent. The downhill par-3 13th measured 141 yards but played some 20 to 30 yards shorter. Tasho left himself a three-foot birdie putt, then nearly added an eagle on the par-5 15th, settling for a 12-inch tap-in birdie to get back to even.
“I was lucky. I had gotten some decent spots where I could make some good putts,” Tasho said. “The course played nicely.”
McNeill, meanwhile, has been eligible for this championship for all of three weeks. He turned 65 on September 8, just in time to join a field full of familiar faces. The 2021 New England Senior Amateur champion had considerably less history with Pittsfield as Monday’s practice round was his introduction to the rollicking Berkshires layout.
“It’s great to get out here and play with some familiar names,” McNeill said. “On the card it looks 6,000 yards, but it plays a lot longer and it’s a lot tougher.”
The greens gave him a more agreeable reception than he’d been getting elsewhere this season. Starting on the back nine, McNeill made birdies on the par-3s 13 and 17, rolling in a 20-footer on the latter. He also converted a birdie putt from 28 feet, finding the kind of reward that had eluded him on the greens for much of the season.
“This year has been weird,” McNeill said. “I’ve had a lot of putts burning the edges, and they finally started going in today.”
One of the most satisfying arrived on the 8th, his 17th of the day. After three-putting from the front fringe on the 7th, McNeill had a comfortable lob-wedge yardage for his next approach. What initially looked like a shot to three feet finished about 10 feet beyond the hole, leaving a delicate downhill birdie putt. He read it inside the left edge and gave it just enough pace to reach the cup. When it dropped, he punctuated the moment with a fist pump. An up-and-down for par on the 9th then gave him a finish to match the work he had done earlier.
“It’s hard to follow up a good round with another good round,” McNeill said when asked about the focus heading to Wednesday. “But I think I figured out how to play this place.”
Founded in 1897, Country Club of Pittsfield moved to the historic Broad Hall estate in 1901, inheriting a clubhouse with a life well before golf. The late-18th-century mansion’s history intersects with Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Donald Ross laid out an 18-hole course here in 1917, but Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek gave Pittsfield much of its present character through an extensive redesign in the early 1930s. Almost every hole was rerouted, with greens repositioned and bunkers rebuilt to make better use of the rugged Berkshire terrain. Pittsfield’s golf history also includes former club professional and four-time U.S. Open champion Willie Anderson, along with Bobby Jones, who shot 69 during a 1937 visit.
Recent removal of roughly 1,200 to 1,500 trees has reopened views across the property, revealing Morewood Pond, the historic clubhouse and the surrounding hills. Those hills remain central to the challenge, particularly the steep approach into the 12th and the roughly six-story drop on the par-3 13th.
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