We have a tight race for gold in Level 5 golf as two Flutie Foundation sponsored autistic golfers, Tyler Lagasse of Massachusetts and Matthew Glumac of Southern California are tied for first with Peter Condon of Washington just two strokes behind.
Lagasse and Condon both competed in Seattle and tied with a total score of 244. Glumac, 27, is a newcomer to the Special Olympics, and it’s the biggest tournament he’s played in. While he lost his clubs on the way here, the Flutie Foundation stepped up to get him the new clubs of his choice, and it has paid off.
The Special Olympics called the Flutie Foundation because it was known that they have sponsored golfers before including current sponsored golfer Flutie Fellow Tyler Lagasse. The Foundation also has a relationship with the PGA Tour Superstore, where Lagasse recently began working thanks in part to the Foundation. On Sunday June 5th, The Foundation learned about all the specifications of Matt’s clubs that were lost and went to the store to get Matt Glumac new clubs that were nearly identical to what he was used to. By 6PM, the night before the golf tournament started, they personally delivered the clubs to Matt.
The Foundation has now officially sponsored Glumac. Matt has a passion for sports in common with me and even has his own vlog known as “The Autistic Golfer.” He already feels welcome within the Flutie Foundation family.
“It was so generous of them to give me those clubs,” Glumac said. “I can actually keep them, that means so much. They didn’t have to go through all that just for me. I most likely was going to be using a rental set here and they went out of their way to get some good clubs for me.”
Lagasse is proud to play alongside Glumac and welcome him to the Flutie Foundation family.
“It’s so good to see that the Flutie Foundation has his back. It has not been easy (for Matt)… we’re there for each other, I don’t care where you’re from, whether it’s Boston, Massachusetts or San Diego, California.”
Today was a hot one and the competition made it feel hotter. It was a high-stakes day and tomorrow will be as well, but Lagasse hopes the three of them can relax and have more fun playing together in tomorrow’s round.
“I think the pressure made it feel hotter, and you can’t take away the temperature,” Lagasse said. “It was hot in the back nine but I think we were just putting too much pressure on ourselves. We were playing tense golf.”
Lagasse, Glumac, and Condon all teed off together on hole 1. The three of them were the only golfers placed in division 1 for the Level 5 competition. The winner of this gold medal could be considered the best Special Olympic golfer in the country right now. The golfers started off strong, with all three making par on hole 1.
After this hole, Glumac got into a groove. Despite bogeying hole 2, he birdied hole 4 and was at even par through 5. The strong start had him 5 strokes ahead of Lagasse.
Hole 7, a par 4, was a challenge for all three golfers as temps continued to rise. Lagasse bogeyed, Condon double bogeyed, and Glumac triple bogeyed. It was after this hole that the race began to tighten once again.
On hole 9, Lagasse went for a risky drive on a dog left fairway. While the green was a challenge for him, the risk paid off as he remained just one stroke behind Glumac on the day and two strokes for the tournament overall to conclude the front nine.
While Lagasse’s 84 was his worst score of the tournament, Lagasse’s back nine score of a 41 was his best yet at the tournament through three days. While the heat and pressure affected the golf today, golfers have benefitted from continuing to learn the course.
“I was willing to take risks because I knew the course a little bit more, and therefore I used driver more often and 3-wood more often,” Lagasse said.
Hole 14, a par 5, was an important hole for Lagasse. Yesterday, he bogeyed the hole after being challenged by a difficult lie. Today, Lagasse flipped the script by reaching the fringe in 2 shots and walked away with his only birdie on the day but it was a big moment for his round.
After hole 14, Lagasse, Glumac, and Condon all stood at +10 on the day, meaning Lagasse was still 1 behind Glumac for the tournament just like he was when the day began. For the first time since hole 1, all three golfers had the same score, as they made par on hole 15.
Hole 16 was another challenge for all three golfers. However, this also made the race even closer. It was a Glumac double bogey that allowed Lagasse to tie Glumac’s cumulative score.
Lagasse and Glumac remained neck and neck for the rest of the day, and Condon gained a stroke on them with a birdie on hole 17. Now it will truly be a three horse race for gold in tomorrow’s final round.
Below are scorecards and interviews of all three golfers in the running.
Lagasse’s Scorecard and Interview
Glumac’s Scorecard and Interview
Condon’s Scorecard and Interview
Other Stories around the Course
ESPN has been following the two female golfers in the Level 5 competition, Grace Braxton and Amy Bockerstette.
Braxton, a division 2 golfer, had the chance to play a hole with retired multi-sport athlete Tim Tebow.
Bockerstette, the first college athlete with down syndrome to receive an athletic scholarship, was featured by ESPN yesterday and I had the chance to interview her today.
For another funny story, Florida is known for its gators and that proved true here today. Fortunately, the golfers cleared the water trap on the par 3 hole 13 where a baby alligator was spotted along with a young turtle a few feet away.
Leaderboard Update
With these scores, the leaderboard is looking like this.
The golfers are all hoping to improve their scores tomorrow to make for some close, exciting golf.
“I need consistency,” Glumac said. “I was basically all over the place today… one thing I want to do is just go out with Tyler and Peter and try to have some fun… my heart was racing really fast today. I feel like no matter what I tried I couldn’t get my heart to stop beating. It’s a lot of tension, and Tyler’s been in it before… if I were to lose to anyone, I’d want to lose to Tyler, because he deserves to win this just as much as I do.”
Stay tuned for coverage of the final round here tomorrow.
Boston Sports Mania 
So proud to be Andrew Roberts assistant and dad. What a phenomenal reporter he is becoming and today he will finish the week of reporting for an epic gold medal run. All tied up — please follow, watch, and read!!