Adamonis Family, Paul Kenyon Headline 2023 RIGA Hall of Fame Class
The Adamonis Family and former Providence Journal golf writer Paul Kenyon highlight the Rhode Island Golf Association 2023 Hall of Fame Class.
The class is chosen by RIGA and was announced on Monday.
“It is an honor for my family to be recognized amongst such an esteemed group of people. Many thanks to the RIGA and the Hall of Fame board for this recognition,” said Dave Adamonis Jr. in a social media post.
The induction ceremony will be held at Kirkbrae Country Club later this year as part of RIGA’s year-end banquet.
A date and time has not yet been announced.
Adamonis Family
Dave Adamonis Sr. created the U.S. Challenge Cup in 1980 as a way to help kids get into the game of golf and play competitively.
In 2005, Dave Adamonis Jr. took over the program after Sr. was diagnosed with cancer.
He has grown Challenge Cup substantially, running over 40 events in 2022 and on pace to run just as many, if not more, so far in 2023.
The Challenge Cup has seen hundreds of kids across New England go on to play at the collegiate level and even some in the pros.
Adamonis Sr., passed away in 2009.
Dave Adamonis Jr., joined the Expand Your Brand Podcast earlier this year.
Brad Adamonis played on the PGA Tour and currently is grinding on the mini-tours and attempting to earn his Tour Card on the PGA Champions Tour.
Earlier this summer, Adamonis returned to Rhode Island to play in the Providence Open at Triggs, where he finished in a tie for 33rd.
Adamonis was also in the area to compete in the Rhode Island Open and Mass Open.
He qualified for the U.S. Senior Open this past summer, but missed the cut.
Adamonis won the 1990 RI Junior Am and took medalist honors in the 1996 RI Amateur.
Paul Kenyon
After starting his career at the Pawtucket Times, Paul Kenyon covered golf for the Providence Journal starting in 1977.
Kenyon helped tell the stories of emerging golf stars Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade.
“If you went to any private or public golf course player in the state they knew Paul Kenyon. They respected the heck out of him. He was at every tournament and treated people with the same respect regardless of who they were. Every event he covered, whether it was junior golf all the way to professional golf, he did so with great enthusiasm. That’s rare,” said Joe McDonald in the RIGA press release.
Kenyon was named Rhode Island Sportswriter of the Year in 2014.
Other Inductees
Fred Bruno worked with Faxon, Andrade and Brett Quigley during the early years of their career.
After starting as a caddy at Triggs, he moved on to work at Rhode Island Country Club, where he would stay for more than 30 years.
He retired in 2002.
Bruno was named NEPGA Teacher of the Year in 1986 and Rhode Island CC named its practice facility after Bruno in 1997.
Betty Mines won three Rhode Island Women’s Amateur Championships starting in 1959.
She won again in 1964 and then in 1969.
Mines competed in two U.S. Women’s Amateurs, including a run to match play in 1963.
She also competed in the four U.S. Women’s Opens in 1960, 61, 62 and 66.
Harry Kenworthy won three Rhode Island Amateur championships.
He claimed victory in 1910, again in 1912 and in 1915.
Kenworthy played in seven U.S. Amateur championships in his career and made match play in 1911 and 1922.