​Portland’s Luke Stennett competing in the 2024 Connecticut Junior Amateur. Luke and dad Zac competed in the 92nd Connecticut Open held at Country Club of Fairfield July 27-29, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Connecticut State Golf Association / Contributed photo)
FAIRFIELD – Portland’s Luke Stennett has played many rounds of golf alongside his dad Zac. They have played in several Father-Son tournaments together, too.But Zac, the head pro at Tallwood Country Club in Hebron, could not recall ever competing in the same tournament against his son, especially one as prestigious as the Connecticut Open. Both Stennetts competed in the Open tournament this week held at Country Club of Fairfield.”That was the whole goal this year,” Zac Stennett said about playing in the same tournament as his son. “This was kind of the motivation, to play with him to tell you the truth, I’m happy to be able to watch him now.”Luke is an NCAA Division I golfer. He spent two years playing for the University of Rhode Island men’s golf team and transferred in June to Memphis. In fact, being asked about it makes Luke a little emotional.”I got exempt and he got exempt. The second we saw that, you should have seen the hug,” Luke said. “It means a lot more (than he can say). It’s awesome. It’s very cool.”Luke was exempt for finishing among the top players in last year’s CSGA Player of the Year standings. Zac’s club hosted a CSGA event – the organization normally awards spots to courses who do host their tournaments or qualifiers.Fathers and sons competing in the same Connecticut Open has happened before. Jim St. Pierre, the 2002 winner of the Connecticut Open, played in the 2018 Open with son Kyle at New Haven CC in 2018. Kevin and Geno Giancola also played in the Open that year. Jan and Ian Wivestad played last year in the Open held at Black Hall Club.Luke was a four-time GametimeCT all-state, All-Shoreline Conference and coaches all-state selection while dominating the competition at Portland High. Following his graduation, Stennett won both the Connecticut Junior and the Borck Junior in the summer before heading to URI.He won three times at URI, twice last fall, both coming in Connecticut: at Great River GC in the Sacred Heart Fall Classic and at Wethersfield CC in the Ryan T. Lee Memorial Collegiate. Stennett was the Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Year in 2025.Stennett said that the rough winter didn’t allow him to get out and practice on a live course until the end of March. He said he “wanted to go to a place where it would be warm and play all year round.””It was really great for what URI did for him. They gave him the opportunity to showcase himself,” Zac said. “I really think what did it (Luke’s reason for transferring) was this last winter, just hitting balls into a net all winter and not seeing a ball in the air, not being able to chip, not being able to really putt in grass.”Stennett said approximately a dozen schools reached out to him after he entered the t