GolfNewsRI

Vesper Country Club’s Rich Berberian captured his fourth NEPGA Championship on Wednesday afternoon at Worcester Country Club. 

Berberian closed the tournament with his second straight 67 to beat Portland Country Club’s Dan Venezio by three shots. 

“I have to thank my caddie Duncan and how well he read the greens and thank you guys for getting us the yardage books that had some slope on the greens so I could have some idea. There were a couple putts early on that we had no clue on, then we started going by the book a lot and really started trusting it and started making some putts because of it,” Berberian said after the round. 

Berberian joins elite company as a four-time New England Section Champion, joining Les Kennedy (1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1952), Bob Crowley (1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967), and Dana Quigley (1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996). The Vesper CC professional has previously captured the Championship in 2014, 2015, and 2018.

How It Happened 

Berberian caught fire on the back, with a birdie on hole 12 before three consecutive birdies on holes 14, 15, and 16. From there, Berberian made par on 17 from the fescue left of the fairway and entered the final hole with a three-shot lead and made par for the victory.

Venezio played the front nine at -1 with four birdies and three bogeys and entered the final nine one-shot back of Berberian. The Portland professional carded three more birdies on the back with a lone bogey to finish with a 67 and three-day total of 206 for the runner-up position.