From the Bench: Patrick Marozzi's Unique Local Golf Connection that Ends with Hole In One and $25,000
By Jeff Toquinto on October 06, 2024 from Sports Blog
Patrick Marozzi has been playing golf now for a quarter of a century. The Bridgeport-based businessman said he started when he was a 16-year-old.
When he got into the game, he had no idea what would unfold. And he knows what he did this week was rare even with his own unique local ties to the game.
“There were a couple of reasons I got into golfing. The first was grandfather played golf and gave me my first ever golfing bag,” said Marozzi, the regional manager for Advantage Technology out of the company’s Bridgeport office on Johnson Avenue.
The second reason has the aforementioned unique local tie. During the construction of the Pete Dye and during its earliest days of operation, Marozzi was a regular there getting his first lessons and more due to a good reason set into motion long before he ever thought of golfing.
“My grandmother’s sister was married to James D. LaRosa,” said Marozzi. “I was the fortunate kid who happened to have a great uncle that owned the Pete Dye Golf Club. I wasn’t there a lot because I knew even as a youngster, I didn’t want to be the kid to take advantage of the situation.”
Still, the game tickled his fancy. During high school, he figured the best way to hang out with some of his friends for prolonged periods of times was to hit the golf course. After that, he teamed up with former Fairmont State golf Coach Michael Walker and was playing regularly at the Clarksburg Country Club. By this time, he was hooked on the game.
Fast forwarding a few decades to today, Marozzi still likes what the game provides. His youngest son golfs with him regularly, he gets to do an outdoor activity that helps with exercise, and it is a regular component that pays from a networking standpoint on a business front during the multitude of warm-weather tournaments in the area.
“It does pay off to be involved if you’re a businessperson because you get to have a good time and talk a little business as well,” said Marozzi.
In Marozzi’s case, saying the game can “pay off” now has an additional meaning. This time around, it is literal.
On Monday, Sept. 30, Marozzi was among more than 100 golfers participating in the 6th Annual United Hospital Center Pro-Am Golf Tournament at the Bridgeport Country Club. While the forecast was not exactly favorable and also correct, Marozzi’s golfing and financial forecast were about to make a positive turn.
His foursome, which also included Bridgeport’s Justin Caroli, John Goff, and the pro-am player in University of Toledo standout Dylan Van Fossen approached the fifth hole. It is a hole Marozzi described as “the most difficult” he’s played.
The hole is a 186-yard, par 3. Before pulling out his 3 Wood to make his drive, he noticed the “prize hole” sign, but did not give it a second thought. While Marozzi said he generally does not get off a lot of good shots, he felt good about this one.
“I knew as soon as it got in the air that it was good, but I didn’t know how good,” Marozzi said. “I heard Justin Caroli say, ‘be as good as it looks.’ I do remember everyone tracking it.”
Then it happened.
“It took one bounce on the green and went directly into the cup. I just remember seeing it bounce and disappear and then saw the UHC employees that were watching the prize hole react,” said Marozzi. “One of the guys about fell out of his chair and nearly rolled down the 
hill.”
hill.”
The 41-year-old was initially excited as he had done something that even top-of-the-line golfers sometimes never do – he had recorded an ace. But there was more excitement and a whole lot of shock still to come.
“My boss (Goff) had hit first, and he said where he hit was really wet so I might want to move a bit to the left or right, so I moved maybe a step or two to the right and teed it up,” said Marozzi. “I know I was still thinking about the hole in one as everyone was high fiving me and mentioning the money, which I didn’t even think about probably for 15 seconds.
“I seriously didn’t think a thing about it because after seeing the sign I was certain there was no chance,” he continued. “Then I pieced the excitement, what was being said to me, and the guys in my group going crazy together. I think I briefly went into shock.”
He quickly came out of shock. And had he not, he now had $25,000 to get himself out of shock as nailing down a hole in one on the money hole for the tournament.
“I got my wits and thought ‘holy crap,’ I just won $25,000. I then called my wife who didn’t believe me, which is my fault because I always tell her a tall tale,” said Marozzi, whose name sound familiar to many as he coached the Notre Dame High School baseball team for eight years from 2010-2017. “My 9-year-old was excited, but quickly pivoted to ask me I how much money was he going to get.”
Marozzi said the closest he ever came before to an ace was within five or six feet. He did, however, know a bit about the excitement as he was in a group with his Uncle Curtis Palmer and friend Danny Phares two summers ago when his uncle turned the trick.
“I was super excited for him and thought it would be neat to do the same thing one day,” said the Stonewood resident. “It feels even better when you personally do it.”
Marozzi said his phone lit up as word spread on social media. And he said it has not slowed down a whole lot in the days that have followed, and he expects it to continue for a while.
For Marozzi, one of the legitimate good guys who has been involved in youth sports, it will be the one thing he can hold over the head of his youngest Dante who started playing three years ago. It is also a delightful story for the work circuit and in his side gig of running the West Virginia Miners Baseball Travel Team organization.
“As much as I loved coaching high school baseball, I love this even more,” said Marozzi of the travel organization. “I get to work with a lot of kids and a lot of age groups.”
It should also be noted that Marozzi accomplished the feat on the day after the Pittsburgh Pirates – his beloved baseball team – capped off yet another losing season with a loss to the Yankees on the final game of the season. And in typical fashion, the bullpen blew it.
“It was another disastrous season,” said Marozzi with a laugh. “The hole in one 100 percent eased the sting.”
That, and of course, $25,000.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Patrick Marozzi with the prized ball in front of the cup, while he is shown with his foursome in the second photo. Marozzi is in the front and in the back are, from left, Justin Caroli, John Goff, and Dylan Van Fossen. Bottom photo is a business portrait shot of Marozzi.
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