CHICOPEE – The Fowles brothers looked after each other.
When one hit an aggressive shot at Thursday’s PVIAC Two-Ball championship, the other played more conservatively to cover in case it went awry. That cohesion carried Northampton’s Galen Fowles and Reilly Fowles to a 5-under 66 and the championship at Chicopee Country Club.
“In this format, they can work together as a team,” Northampton coach Michael Chapdelaine said. “Nobody works better as a team than Reilly and Galen.”
The pair combined for eight birdies and recovered after what they called a rocky start on the front nine. They went out with a 34, which was still tied for the second-best score after nine holes.
“I was so stressed out and kind of down on myself because I was not playing very well at the start,” Galen Fowles said. “But (Reilly) kept saying to me that we need to try to keep this light and have a good time. Eventually, I got that through my head to kind of enjoy the last two-thirds or three-quarters.”
He didn’t let a deteriorating driver keep him down. His club head cracked on the ninth hole and completely shattered on the 14th. The shot still landed down the middle of the fairway as pieces scattered the tee box.
“I thought that was gonna make it, and it just kind of exploded,” Galen Fowles said.
“He just hit it too hard,” Reilly Fowles joked.
The Blue Devils pair closed with a 32 on the back nine. No other partnership came within four strokes over that stretch.
“We were just kind of cruising,” Reilly Fowles said. “We were making like 15-20 footers, it was pretty cool.”
Reilly Fowles finished second last year behind Amherst with a different partner, so Wednesday’s victory provided a measure of payback.
The Hurricanes duo of Piet Hartman and Nate Hawkins tied for fourth with a 75. Belchertown’s Riley Breen and Michael Murray also shot 75.
Austen Deren and Nick Hartley of South Hadley carded an 80, which tied for 13th with Chicopee Comp and Franklin Tech.
Frontier Regional’s Ryan Cetto and Alex Gochinski came in 19th with an 83. The Hampshire Regional pair of Levi Zielinski and Owen Lech was 22nd (84).
Easthampton’s Connor Perreault and Tanner Kmetz took 23rd (86).
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.