Twin brothers Dave and Dan Falcucci won the Walter Cosgrove Four-Ball at Green Hill Municipal Golf Course last year for the second time overall and for the first time in 18 years.
Finishing on top 18 years later was fitting considering that the Falcuccis shot 18 under par.
So do the Falcuccis plan to wait for another 18 years to win the tournament again?
“I hope not,” Dan said, “but we’re both 40 now, so I think you have to come to the realization that every win could be your last one at this point, right?”
“I hope 18 years from now, I’m still competitive,” Dave said.
The Cosgrove will be held next Saturday and Sunday, June 17 and 18, at Green Hill.
Last year, the Falcuccis shot 62-64 for a 126 total to beat Ryan Riley of Thorny Lea in Brockton and Nick McLaughlin of Far Corner in Boxford by two strokes. Riley, a Sutton native, had combined with Herbie Aikens to win the Cosgrove three times.
“I don’t want to go in there and say we’re the favorites and that we’re going to win again,” Dan said. “All you can do is put yourself in position to have a chance to win on Sunday. We shot 18 under for two rounds last year, and we only won by two. So you’ve got to play really, really good golf for two days to win.”
“The field every year there keeps getting deeper,” Dave said. “So it gets harder to win that tournament every year. So if last year was the last one we ever win, I’m completely at peace with that.”
The Falcuccis began playing in the Cosgrove in the late 1990s, and they can’t remember missing one since. They’ve played in the Cosgrove more than any other event.
The twins belong to Cyprian Keys GC in Boylston, but they grew up playing at Green Hill as junior members and have enjoyed the course ever since.
“It’s one of the weekends I look forward to the most every year on the golf course,” Dan said.
“If you grew up in the Greater Worcester area,” Dave said, “the Cosgrove is basically a major for this area. It’s always in the newspaper, it’s always at the same course. It’s just a really great two days of golf. It’s a great group of guys.”
The Falcuccis finished second in the Cosgrove several times and third another few times so they were thrilled to finally win again last year.
“It was awesome,” Dave said. “It was just an unbelievable two days of golf. To win after 18 years, especially with Dan, was obviously special. To hold off Ryan Riley and Nick McLaughlin, two former State Am (champions) and former MGA Players of the Year made it even better, and the best part was having my wife and kids there at the end.”
Dave’s wife’s name is Danielle and, yes, he gets razzed that he married someone with a name similar to his twin brother’s. They have twins of their own, 8-year-old daughters Hazel and Hope.
Dave is a minute older than Dan, and Hazel is a minute older than Hope. Dave and Dan are identical twins, and Hazel and Hope are fraternal twins.
“Hazel is very much Hope’s protector,” Dave said, “when it comes to anyone giving her a hard time or doing something they shouldn’t be.”
Dave likes to play golf with Hope at Cyprian Keyes GC in the early evenings.
“I just want her to like golf and be willing to play golf as she gets older,” Dave said. “Some of my favorite rounds of golf are the ones where I get to sneak out and go chase daylight with her late at night in the summer.”
Golf is too slow for Hazel, who prefers soccer. Dave coaches both of his daughters in soccer in Grafton.
So what’s it like to be a twin who has fathered twins?
“I don’t know it any other way, so it’s hard for me to answer that,” Dave said. “It’s really cool watching my daughters. They’re only 8, so I don’t know if they can reflect and appreciate it as much as I do, but I think it’s great to grow up with someone that close in age to you. For the lack of a better analogy, it’s a built-in best friend for life.”
Yes, Dave and Dan are best friends.
“Most days, yeah,” Dave said with a laugh.
Dave is the senior director of sales for a software company, and Dan is the Grade 9 coordinator for Burncoat High School.
Dave ranks Dan’s ability to shape shots and sink clutch putts when he’s on a roll to be as good as anyone he’s seen. Dan rates Dave as an excellent driver and a grinder who is never out of a hole because of his ability to hit recovery shots.
The Falcuccis also won the Anderson Cup together at Worcester CC. They’ve each won the club championship at Cyprian Keyes a handful of times even though they haven’t played in it for the past decade. Dan also won the 2010 Mass. Mid-Amateur, and he teamed with Brian Higgins of Franklin CC to capture the Norfolk County Four-Ball four times.
As twins, the Falcuccis know each other and each other’s golf games better than most golfing partners.
“We’ve played so much golf together that mid-round I can give Dan a swing tip,” Dave said. “Having that familiarity with each other really helps and just knowing what makes the other person tick. You know the right thing to say, you know the wrong thing to say, you know when to push him, you know when to ease off.”
“I think it helps that we’re so comfortable with each other out there,” Dan said. “We’ve played so much golf together for so long that we both know our games well and each other’s games well.”
Dave has the more dominant personality of the two, and Dan has no problem with that.
“I’m much more laid back than Dave out there, which is fine,” Dan said. “Every good partnership, they know their role. I’m happy to let Dave be the alpha dog.”
The Falcuccis know of only one other set of twins who they have played golf against in Massachusetts, but Jon and Carter Fasick are 30 years older than them. Jon, who plays out of New England CC in Bellingham, and Carter, who belongs to Westborough CC, won the Mass. Four-Ball four times together.
Dan lives in Auburn with his wife, Julie, stepson Gavin, 18, and sons Jonathan, 7, and Robby, 6. His 23–year-old step-daughter, Liz, has a 6-year-old son, Aiden, 6, and a 1-year-old daughter, Maddie. Julie’s son Robby is only 26 days older than Aiden, her grandson and Robby’s nephew.
“There’s never a dull moment in our household,” Dan said.
Dave teases Dan about being older than him and about Dan being a grandfather. Dan ribs Dave that he weighs less than him.
Dave and Dan are often mistaken for each other. Just a few weeks ago, Dave was at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Worcester, and one of Dan’s former students refused to believe that he wasn’t Dan.
“She only believed me after I took my hat off to show her how much more hair I had,” Dave said.
The Cosgrove will conclude on Father’s Day, a week later than past years to avoid being held the two days before the Mass. Open. The Falcuccis normally play golf with their father, Bob, on Father’s Day, but not this year.
Mass. Open set for TPC Boston
The 113th annual Mass. Open will be contested Monday-Wednesday in Norton at TPC Boston, which hosted 17 PGA Tour events, including 13 FedEx Cup Playoff events through 2020.
So plenty of Worcester area golfers will get the chance to win a championship on the same course where Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson did.
PGA Tour Champions golfer Fran Quinn Jr. of Holden and Worcester CC is scheduled to play. So are fellow Worcester CC members Ricky Stimets and John Pagano, both amateurs.
Another amateur, Ethan Whitney of Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg, returns after finishing fourth in the Mass. Open last year at Longmeadow CC after entering the final round in the lead. Whitney, a Westminster resident, was an American Athletic Conference All-Star as a sophomore this year at Temple University. His coach at Temple, Brian Quinn, is Fran’s brother.
Michael Kartrude, a pro from West Palm Beach, Florida, will defend his Mass. Open title.
—Contact Bill Doyle at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@BillDoyle15