10.5.202623rd Annual Assman Open8th Annual Glen Ellen Reunion Tournament
Golfers gathered at the 2025 AssMan Open

2025 AssMan Open

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Est. 2004

One last big time
before the snow flies.

What began as a birthday skins match became an annual tradition shared by hundreds of golfers.

History — archive 1History — archive 2

The story of the AMO

History

Back in November of 2003 Glen Ellen had a senior rate for anyone 50 years of age or older so on a beautiful, sunny 55 degree November 15th, the day I turned 50, I rushed over to Glen Ellen to play at my reduced rate (I think I saved $10. BIG DEAL). I teamed up with some great guys in Tim Smith, Steve Brovelli and Ray Hart and we played a spirited skins match where I took each of them for a few pesos! Post round at the 19th hole Timmy made the suggestion that I should have an end of year tournament to celebrate my birthday and get the boys together for one last BIG TIME before the snow flies. Hence the tournament was conceived. And here we are, hundreds of golfers have participated and we’ve had memorable events every year since. And just as luck would have it Tim Smith teamed up with Ray DiCarlo to become the inaugural champions in 2004 at Red Tail when we had 16 guys withstand a frost delay to kick off this annual event.

Nickname — archive 1Nickname — archive 2

The story of the AMO

Nickname

So once we decided to have an annual event we needed a name for it. Well it didn’t take long to figure out what we should call it. The Assman Open is a direct result of the Connors Brothers, Shawn and Chris, having branded me with the nickname Assman a few years prior. If you know the Connors Brothers you know that they’re not shy and they’re certainly not soft-spoken. They started calling me Assman because they would always heckle me when I was walking up to receive a prize at any tournament we played. After my name was called or I won a raffle prize they were always yelling “hey look it’s skillet ass, no it’s frying pan ass, he has the ass of a 50 year old Jewish woman” because of my lack of any ass cheeks. In other words I inherited my Nebraska No-Ass from my dear old Dad. So they just combined all the non-ass references into The Assman, which just happened to be an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer gets the New York state license plate inadvertently at the DMV. And that’s why we adopted the license plate as our official logo.

The Plaque — archive 1The Plaque — archive 2

The story of the AMO

The Plaque

Back between 2009 and 2010 one of my Dad’s uncles passed away and in true Irish tradition the family offered a walk-through of old Uncle Ermond’s home to see if there was anything the family wanted to keep. So I did my family duty and went through with my cousin Ellen and found some things that would fit nicely in my home. As we were finishing up Ellen brought me down to Ermond’s workshop and she pointed to this plaque hanging on the wall that was the Hudson Elks Pitch tournament winners from 1942 through 1947. And sure enough in 1943–1944 there was E McCarthy who was part of Cuneo’s Champs and Ellen went on and on about how much that plaque meant to Ermond. So she asks me, “Do you think you could do something with this to keep this family heirloom meaningful?” And indeed I did. With the help of Tall Paul Lemieux, who took the plaque and sanded and varnished this keepsake, the AMO Plaque was created. After the tourney in 2010 I brought this over to my parents’ house when Ellen was visiting and showed her what we had done with the plaque. The three of them, with tears in their eyes, thanked me profusely for making this happen. With all that being said I am so honored to have my name on there a few times and I hope all of the past champions feel the same way!

Historical Moments — archive 1Historical Moments — archive 2

The story of the AMO

Historical Moments

Every year something unique happens but let’s start this history with the events of November 12th, 2010. I had the pleasure of being in the foursome with my buddy Jim Botsford from Orleans, Mass and I witnessed his hole in one on the 10th hole at Turner Hill. It was the third hole in one I’ve witnessed (still none that are my own) and I think I was more excited than Jim was even though this was his first. We were all kidding around about how he just wrapped up the closest to the pin trophy and was sure to win some decent skins money. We went to the 11th hole and slashed our way up the long par 5 and were still brimming with excitement when we got to the 12th tee. Just then the beer cart ladies for the day, Caitlyn and Charlene, pulled up to the teebox and said, “Hey, we just saw a hole in one on the 10th hole.” My response: “I know, we were with the guy that got it, Jim.” Their response: “No, it was Joe Ryan who just got the hole in one.” Lo and behold, two aces on the same hole 15 minutes apart and the closest prize gets split and the skin gets squashed. Are you kidding me? Now that’s AMO history!

The record book

Past Winners

Every name on the plaque, from the frost-delayed inaugural event to today.

2025Marlborough CC
  • Greg Dowdell
  • Sean McCaffrey
  • Rick Doyle
  • Donnie Santos
2024Shaker Hills
  • Steve Corda
  • Byron Sweeney
  • Rick Doyle
  • Mike Wilkinson
2023Highfields Golf Course
  • Andy Ingham
  • Mike Niemczyk
  • Rick Doyle
  • Dan Church
2022Highfields Golf Course
  • Jim Adams
  • Tim Pike
  • Eric Spada
  • Jeff Wood
2021Dennis Highlands G.C.
  • Justin Scanlon
  • Ed Lugo
  • Tony O’Brien
  • Dave Griffiths
2020Dennis Highlands G.C.
  • Mike Dellicker
  • Ron Santos
  • Steve McCarthy
  • Chris Conners
2019Pleasant Valley CC
  • Justin Scanlon
  • John Galiardi
  • Cody Ewing
  • Chris Sweeney
2018Shining Rock GC
  • Joe McDonough
  • Wayne Kent
  • Rich Cordani
  • Mike Wilkinson Jr.
2017Shining Rock GC
  • Tom Hermanowski
  • Shane McCarthy
  • Neil Krause
  • Dan Kurzontkowski
2016Franklin CC
  • Joe McDonough
  • Steve McCarthy
2015The Captains GC
  • Joe McDonough
  • Jim Botsford
  • Mark Frongillo
  • Larry Brady
2014The Captains GC
  • Tim Crane
  • Mike Hurley
  • JC Finnegan
  • Jack Casey
2013Shining Rock GC
  • Steve Zaino
  • Rich Rogers
  • Chris Connors
2012Shining Rock GC
  • Sam Simonian
  • Tim Manning
  • Kevin Dwyer
  • Rich Cordani
2011Shining Rock GC
  • Ken Shea
  • Mike Hurley
  • Bruce Bridges
  • Brad McCarthy
2010Turner Hill GC
  • Joe Ryan
  • Jeff McCarthy
  • Paul Katigbak
  • Jeff St. Laurent
2009Turner Hill GC
  • Randy Boudreault
  • Mark Driscoll
  • Jeff St. Laurent
  • Brad McCarthy
2008LaBaron Hills GC
  • Jim Lane
  • Steve McCarthy
  • Brad Kates
  • Seth Holland
2007Pleasant Valley CC
  • Mike Albrecht
  • Rich Rogers
  • Tom Little
  • Seth Holland
2006Pleasant Valley CC
  • Ned Emerson
  • Mark Heavner
2005Pleasant Valley CC
  • Steve McCarthy
  • Steve McCarthy (I drew my own name out of the hat and I won)
2004Red Tail GC
  • Ray DiCarlo
  • Tim Smith