New England Amateurs Now in The History Books
Brian Higgins Captures First Career New England Amateur Championship Title at The Course at Yale
New Haven , CT - He was playing against competitors many years his junior but experience and poise won out on Thursday afternoon as Brian Higgins (Franklin CC) captured his first New England Amateur Championship title at The Course at Yale.
Higgins, a 35 year old from Bellingham, entered the third and final round three strokes back of the leaders but emerged - thanks to a final-round score of 3-under par 67 - in first place overall with a three-round total of 6-under par 204.
For Higgins - the 2008 Richard D. Haskell MGA Player of the Year and two-time Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Champion - the victory is especially sweet since it marks his first major New England victory since he was reinstated as an amateur back in 19
John Hadges Captures Second Career Mass Amateur Championship
For the second time in three years, John Hadges, can call himself the Massachusetts Amateur Champion. And, for the second time in three years, the prototypical 49-year old Baby Boomer beat a talented 28-year old Generation X up-and-comer, Dan Head, in the final match of the most prestigious amateur event on the golf calendar.
The final match on July 16 at the 102nd Mass Amateur at steamy Myopia Hunt Club, which has hosted four U.S. Open Championships since its opening back in 1894, once- again pitted age vs. youth, successful veteran vs. rookie and skilled shotmaker vs. raw talent. In the end, experience won out as Hadges (Thorny Lea GC) defeated Head (Wellesley CC), 2 and 1, in 35 holes.
John Hadges becomes only the 19th player to claim two Massachusetts Cup titles since its debut in 1904. He also became the fifth Thorny Lea GC member to win the prestigious title joining Ed Connell (1965), John Tosca (1959,’70), Bruce Douglas (1975,’76) and Steve Tasho (1985).
Nick Taylor Wins 108th Connecticut Amateur
WATERBURY, CT (June 25, 2010)--After Nick Taylor, Heritage Village Country Club, just missed a chip for par on the thirtieth hole, Bernie D’Amato found himself in elite company. D’Amato, from Wheeler Park Golf Club, earned an 8&6 victory to win the 108th Connecticut Amateur.
D’Amato started the day by hitting the fairway and landing his next shot on the green. This would be a trend that he repeated throughout the day. Despite his consistent play, which included hitting all seven fairways and all nine greens on the opening nine holes, Bernie found himself down one after the first nine.
D’Amato’s victory will catapult him into the top five in the Dick Tettelbach Player of the Year standings. Both players also earned an exemption into this year’s 76th Connecticut Open Championship to be held later this summer at Country Club of Fairfield.
Gay comes from behind to win 2nd Maine Amateur title in three years
Thanking his grandfather, who passed away last summer, for introducing him to golf, Ryan Gay graciously accepted the 2010 Maine Amateur Championship trophy Thursday afternoon at the Kebo Valley Club in Bar Harbor. It was his second trophy in three years, as he also won the event at Biddeford-Saco Country Club in 2008.
Gay's title was hard-earned over fellow Augusta Country Club member Jason Gall, who had a superb tournament and the tournament's low 18-hole score for the three days with a first-round 67. Gall and Gay spent most of the final day tied before Gall made birdie to take a one-shot lead on 15. But a miscue double bogey on 17 flipped the lead going into the final hole. Gall made a valiant attempt to try to force a playoff, hitting his second shot to about six feet. His birdie putt just lipped out and Gay was able to two-putt for the championship.
Nick MacDonald Wins 107th New Hampshire State Amateur
GRANTHAM, N.H. - Nick MacDonald may have graduated from the University of Hartford, but his golf career is far from over. The 2010 Division I PING All-Northeast Region performer and Lebanon, N.H. native won the 107th New Hampshire State Amateur Championship , defeating Ken Nilson in a 36-hole match play final at Eastman Golf Links, 7 and 5.The victory marked the third straight summer in which a University of Hartford golfer won his home state's amateur title. Brian Albertazzi, a Killington, Vt. native, claimed the Vermont Amateur Championship in 2008 and 2009.
All told, 132 golfers competed in the 107th New Hampshire State Amateur Championship, with the top 64 in a two-round stroke play qualifier advancing to the match play tournament. MacDonald was seeded fourth overall in the tournament. In the Round of 16, he defeated Hartford commit DJ Lantz, 3 and 1, to move onto the quarterfinal.
Garrett Medeiros wins 105th RI Amateur
EAST PROVIDENCE —Wannamoisett Country Club, Garrett Medeiros captured the 105th Rhode Island Amateur Championship 8 and 6 over Ben Tuthill.
The 22-year-old Rumford resident and recent Wofford College grad had his hands full when he met Ben Tuthill the 2000 champion in the title match of the 105th R.I. Golf Association Amateur. The St. Raphael grad, who plays out of Metacomet, had a hard fought battle with Tuthill, in the 36-hole match at Wannamoisett with thunderstorms threatening.
Medeiros responded with one of the best performances in his career with birdies on 2,3 and 4 which are some of the toughest holes on the course. Then on the 7th hole and carded a 30 on the front nine. With his 65 in the morning set the pace for a 6 shot lead going into the second 18. In the second round Garrett birdied the 2nd hole for the second time and the birdied 4 and 5 which pushed his lead to 9, before the match closed out on the 30th hole.
Devin Komline Wins The Vermont Amateur
Manchester, Vermont, Brothers Devin and Casey Komline for three days at the Manchester Country Club battled and spent hours afterward reviewing each others rounds. In the end Devin posted a 5 under par 67 final round score to win the Vermont Amateur by 6 shots. Tied with his 17-year-old brother and Joe Toland entering the day’s second 18, Komline shook off a host of problems and errant shots that plagued him for the better part of 54 holes, tying his brother’s course record in the closing round for the victory over Toland.?Toland had rounds of 74 and 73 on Thursday for a 291 total (plus 3). Rutland Country Club’s Jimmy Levins posted 70 and 73, finishing in third at 292, followed by Corey Jozefiak of Mount Anthony (72-73-294), Evan Russell of the Country Club of Vermont (76-70-294) and Jack Lessing of Ekwanok (74-74-297).??Komline, 20, became the first Dorset Field Club member ever to win the event and, at least in the memory of writers and Vermont Golf Association members whose experience in this event dates back to the 1960s, is the first left-handed player to be crowned state champion.
