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PORTLAND, Conn. (July 30, 2023) – For the first time this season, the Men’s Open Division has a repeat winner. Justin James takes the title at WLD Connecticut after beating Mark Costello 403-387 in the finals. James hit the longest ball of match play with a semifinal blast of 409 yards. He also had the longest drive of the tournament at 418 yards.
Mai Dechathipat captured her first win of the 2023 season with a 329 yard drive in the final round to beat world No. 3 Phillis Meti. Dechathipat outdrove Cassandra Meyer 332-300 in the quarterfinals, then beat Kelly Rudney 311-309. For the event, Dechathipat hit 25 out of 48 balls in play, averaging 304 yards per drive with a longest of 332.
Jeff Gavin makes it back-to-back Senior’s Division titles, finishing the event with a longest drive of 356 yards. Gavin, ranked No. 2 in the world, was head-to-head with top-ranked Eddie Fernandes throughout the event. Fernandes edged out Gavin 341-339 in the quarterfinals (top two players from the group advanced). Gavin and Fernandes tied in the semifinals with 349-yard drives. Both men advanced to the final where Gavin beat the Southington, Connecticut, native 356-352.
In the Amateur Division, Jack Abbott captured the WLD Connecticut title with a 365-334 win over Casey Steed. This is Abbott’s second Amateur Division title this season (WLD Mesquite Vol. II).
RANKINGS UPDATES
With his run to the semifinals, Martin Borgmeier climbs to No. 1 in the Men’s Open Division world rankings.
The Women’s Division has a new No. 1 as Monica Lieving now sits atop the world rankings.
See below for updated world rankings.
MISCELLANEOUS
The longest drive in the Women’s Division was 345 yards by Kelly Rudney.
Eddie Fernandes hit the longest drive in the Senior’s Division at 357 yards.
UP NEXT
The next World Long Drive event is WLD West Bountiful, scheduled for August 10-12 in West Bountiful, Utah.
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