Cody Paladino and Rick Dowling arrived at the Country Club of Darien on Friday morning with hopes of adding to their past success in the Connecticut Amateur. Paladino was the 2013 champion and Rick Dowling won in 2017 and 2019; he was also the 2022 runner-up.
After the dust settled, Dowling exorcised his demons of a year ago and won this third Connecticut State Amateur championship after beating Paladino 2-and-1.
The path to the final is a long one. Competitors play 36 holes of stroke play, then the field is cut to 32 players for match play. Chris Fosdick led the way with rounds of 71-69. Dowling slipped into the third seed after carding 72-71. Paladino settled into the middle of the field shooting 77-75.