A historic weekend has just come to a close. The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism just hosted the largest by autism, for autism music festival in the world. As a part of the weekend of festivities, the Foundation’s STARS of the Spectrum Golf Tour held its second tournament of the year at Granite Links in Quincy, Massachusetts. 

What went down this weekend goes beyond winning and losing. A golf community is forming within the Flutie Foundation, and I have had the chance to witness the makings of it. Our golfers spent the entire weekend together and it was an incredible bonding experience for them.

“Every time I see these guys, it’s like coming home to family,” golfer Ian Kelley said. “We bring out the best in each other. We have a lot of fun together. We laugh. We smile. We talk. It’s just like home.”

That didn’t change the fact that the competition on the golf course was closer than ever. Keep reading to find out how the entire tournament unfolded, and what’s next for the tour. Note that the tournament was scored using net score, which reflects all scores described below (unless otherwise specified).

Steele enters with a bang

Daniel Steele is the tour’s newest golfer, and it was unknown how he’d stack up with the competition. However, Steele put himself in the lead within just a couple holes after a birdie on hole 1 and a par on hole 2.

It was clear early on that even if Steele did not end up in 1st place, he’d be right in the heat of the competition throughout the day. Steele has been practicing with his dad for hours at a time, and it appears to be paying off!

Steele’s success continued after his early lead with this strong approach shot on the 3rd hole.

Things get tight

Steele remained near the top of the leaderboard for most of the tournament, but things got very close very fast. As the two hour mark of the tournament approached, 9 golfers sat within 3 strokes of each other on the leaderboard. This included a four way tie for first place between Steele, Thomas Cleek, Tyler Lagasse, and Carter Bonas. A birdie by Lagasse on the 3rd hole was a driving factor in his early success:

Ryan Lewis also put up an impressive start and was just 1 stroke out of first place through 7 holes. See my interview with Lewis conducted at the STARS of the Spectrum Music Festival on Saturday below:

Klumb’s birdie streak

Through 6 holes, Klumb was 3 strokes out of first place, which had him in 9th on this insanely tight leaderboard. However, Klumb got into a groove down the stretch of the front nine and birdied three consecutive holes to take the lead. Here’s a couple of shots from Klumb’s 9th hole performance:

Klumb’s day had not started off on the strongest note, as he double bogeyed the first two holes to start +4. However, his wife and plus-one on the course, Sara Klumb, helped him stay calm and focused down the stretch.

“My wife Sara told me to recenter myself and forget about those two holes, and then I got into a groove,” Klumb said.

Klumb had an impressive total of -1 on Holes 3-9. This stretch placed Klumb atop the leaderboard at the midway point, and set the stage for Klumb to have his shot at a prize. 

8:30 Group speeds to the finish

The 8:30 tee group in this tournament consisted of Anthony Adelizzi, Bonas, and Kelley, and this trio was playing significantly faster than our other two tee groups. As the 8:40 and 8:50 groups were just beginning the back nine, the 8:30 group was in the homestretch.

Kelley was lagging behind the pack in his first nine holes, finishing the front nine +12. However, Kelley turned it on in the back half with birdies on 4 out of the 9 holes. Here’s a few shots from his birdie on the par 5 hole 17:

Kelley was -3 on the back nine to finish the day with 80 net strokes (+9). This led the 8:30 tee group. Check out my post-round interview with Kelley here:

Adelizzi and Bonas also finished strong, contributing to the fast pace of this group down the stretch. Here’s a putt from Bonas and a long drive by Adelizzi that helped them out in the last few holes:

In addition to competing in golf, Bonas ran a table selling his own merchandise at Saturday’s STARS of the Spectrum Music Festival. I caught up with him about his booth and his performance at the event:

While the 8:30 group had a great day, the 8:40 group was arguably performing even better, and they had two holes remaining once the first group was done.

A Dead Heat in the 8:40 Group

As the 8:30 group finished, the 8:40 tee group (consisting of Vincent Egan, Klumb, Lewis, and Steele), were beginning to catch up to them. Heading into hole 17, Steele led the pack, but Klumb was right on his tail. On this hole though, it was Vincent Egan who took the spotlight. 

After landing just a few feet from the hole in 2 strokes on a par 5, Egan landed this putt that placed himself right into the mix:

With a stroke subtracted due to handicap, Egan finished the hole with a net albatross. 

Heading into the final hole, Steele narrowly led at +5, with Egan and Klumb right behind at +6 and +7, respectively. However, Steele had to pick up his ball after double bogey, and Egan just barely missed the hole on a putt from the fringe, leaving him with a tap-in for bogey. Klumb’s par was enough to make it a three-way tie for the lead as the 8:40 group finished their day. However, the 8:50 group still had one last chance to catch up.

Lagasse right on top three’s tail as 8:50 group wraps up

As the 8:50 group (consisting of Lagasse, Cleek, and Peter Condon) headed into hole 18, Klumb, Egan, and Steele had finished their days at +7 in the prior group. Tyler Lagasse stood right behind at +8. A Lagasse birdie would turn this three way tie into a four way tie, and an eagle would win him the tournament outright. While it would be an uphill battle, Lagasse still had a chance to win this whole thing.

Unfortunately, this final hole was tough for everyone in the 8:50 group. Lagasse was able to manage par with a strong putt, but would have needed to chip in for birdie to have a chance at the top 3 in this tournament.

Lagasse finished in 4th place as he remained at +8, and the tour’s tiebreaker rules would be used to settle the three-way tie at the top before closing ceremonies.

Cleek and Condon were slightly behind Lagasse on net score, but Cleek led the pack on gross score, shooting an 83. Condon also put up a nice performance, finishing with a net +14.

“[I felt like my performance] was pretty solid,” Condon said. “It was fun playing with Thomas and Tyler.”

Klumb comes out on top, wins trophy belt

After the golfers’ scores were put through tiebreakers, it was determined that Scott Klumb had finished in 1st, followed by Steele in 2nd and Egan in 3rd, placements that were announced at a closing ceremony held on the stage at Six Strings Patriot Place. Steele and Egan each received a trophy made by Gregory Chabolla from Gregory’s Special Creations. The leader in gross score from each tee group (Kelley, Egan, and Cleek), won additional trophies from Gregory.

As the tournament’s winner, Scott Klumb won a custom trophy belt from TrophySmack.

I had a chance to catch up with Klumb at Jersey Mike’s the day after the win. Check out the full interview here:

While Klumb finished with the victory, it was a strong day for all 10 of these golfers, and the closing ceremonies were an opportunity to celebrate each and every one of their accomplishments. Below is the tournament’s leaderboard that was announced live.

While the tournament had concluded, the weekend had only begun for these golfers.

Golfers enjoy weekend of STARS of the Spectrum festivities, look forward to what’s to come

The golfers had the chance to spend more time together over the next couple days, grabbing a meal at Jersey Mike’s and going bowling the day after, and making an appearance on stage alongside myself at the STARS of the Spectrum Music Festival.

On stage, the golfers had a chipping competition for the chance to win Jersey Mike’s or a Get Air outing for various autism charities. I had the chance to do play-by-play for the competition with STARS Fest emcee Britini D’Angelo as my color commentator.

These golfers are all very excited to see each other when the next in-person tournament takes place in 2025. In the meantime, the 2024 season will be completed with two remote tournaments: one on a local golf course of the golfer’s choice, and one at a golf simulator. Who’s in the running for the season title so far? Check out the updated season leaderboard to find out:

Personally, I am very proud to have been involved in the organization and coverage of this tournament, and look forward to remaining involved. I’d like to thank the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism for making this all possible, and our golfers, families, volunteers, and host golf courses for everything they have done for this tour. More is to come very soon.