By Richard Rapp
rrapp@massgolf.org
WILLIAMSTOWN, Massachusetts (August 12, 2024) – In the summer months, vacationers flock to the Berkshires to enjoy a nature-induced trance brought on by lush green mountaintops, begetting a decidedly un-modern slowness of life. But if your business out west involves a tussle with Styles and Van Kleek’s alpine gem Taconic Golf Club, best not to fall too complacent.
Taconic is a rigorous test that opens with its easiest hole and grows progressively more difficult as the round wears on. The layout of the course is exacting, positing a series of difficult questions: Can you work it right to left, left to right? Throw it up in the air and land it soft? Use the occasional contour with the ground game? Err on the proper side?
But it’s as much a test of stamina, mental and physical, as it is an examination of skill. So, it wasn’t all that surprising that the leader after day one was multi-sport athlete Mekhala Costello (Blue Hill Country Club). A two-under round of 69 is admirable in its own right, but what really impressed was a two on the bearish par-3 17th hole, which she encountered just as the afternoon wind began to blow back towards the tee.
Alas, it is only day one. Every year this format reveals itself to be a five day marathon, and on this golf course, it’s more of a five day backwoods hike. Aside from the opener (and to a lesser extent, the closer), there’s not a flat hole on the property, leading to frequently discomfiting shots. Trouble can, and probably will, find you. This reality was made plain by volatility atop the leaderboard throughout the day, with big crooked numbers derailing otherwise well-plotted rounds.
Just as one of those crooked numbers can roll in out of the blue, so can storm clouds suddenly encroach on placid Berkshire skies. Encroach they did, forcing about an hour long rain delay at 1:17 p.m. The grounds absorbed the sudden downpour with impressive rapidity, and the players carried on without much bother.
Unbothered was Mekhala Costello, who was the lone player to finish under par, two strokes clear of 2022 champion Morgan Smith (Mount Pleasant Golf Club). Smith was one of only three players to birdie the par-5 10th, which played as the most difficult hole on the day, part of a two-under par 34 on the back nine, getting her in the clubhouse at even par.
Costello bogeyed the beastly 10th, but she finished off her round with consecutive birdies on the 17th (one of just two recorded there) and 18th.
“Seventeen, I was not expecting to birdie that. I was kind of between clubs, then I went with the shorter club and just hit it really well,” said Costello. “Then hit the putt, right to left, and it just went in. I wasn’t like, I was trying to make it, but I was just trying not to beat myself. Figure out speed and make sure I was safe for three, because I’d been putting the ball a little bit past the hole.”
On the par-5 18th, Costello left herself with a tricky third shot, coming in from the right rough, short-sided, about 50 yards away.
“I was kind of stressing over that wedge shot. I was like, oh, I’ll just get it on the green, it’s two-tiered and I wasn’t coming from a great angle and it was kind of a flyer lie, but I just caught it good and then it kind of just went towards the hole,” said Costello.
It’s fair to say she undersold that shot a bit. Her approach landed with perfect touch on the lower tier, bounced, and rolled out on a perfect line, threatening to creep into the hole before settling within a foot for a closing birdie, stylishly clinching a round in the 60s.
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Costello made it to the quarterfinals in 2023, and she described the confidence she’s gained year-over-year in this event: “I mean, I wasn’t expecting this good of a round. So again, my goal each year is just to make match play. Expectations have kind of increased over the past few years, playing a little bit better each year. Just trying to do the same thing I did today and just have have a good day going into match play, hopefully.”
Costello put an emphasis on keeping the ball below the hole on the infamous, sloping Taconic greens, “I’d say everything’s pretty much in front of you. You just gotta leave it below the hole.”
Costello is in good company with her strategic approach, as the same sentiment was shared by 2020 champion Allison Paik (The Cape Club of Sharon):
“Obviously I know it’s a very long week, five days with many golf rounds on the same course. You just have to be really patient out there, especially at a course like Taconic where the greens are super slopey, you’ve got to be below the hole. So I just try to give myself good looks and leave myself in good spots out there.”
Paik suffered a surprising fate in the first round of match play last year, losing on the 19th hole to Clara Chae, but she looks poised to bounce back after a solid 2-over round of 73, which included three birdies. On a day when the back nine played to an average of over six strokes above par, Paik gained strokes on the field with a 36 coming in.
She was just making the turn when the horn blew, and took a more aggressive approach on the rain-softened greens when play resumed. “I started on 10 after the rain delay with my approach shot and that green was super uphill and a huge false front and I actually left it short because it was really wet. But then you’re able to take advantage of the softer greens after the rain, because you can attack the pins more. So I tried to take advantage of that on the back nine, gave myself a few good looks,” said Paik.
One of those good looks came on the 18th, which played as the second easiest hole of the day. Paik took full advantage.
“I mean, 18 is a pretty straight forward par-5. It’s like honestly a dead straight hole. So I hit a good drive, hit a good second shot, set me up for a wedge shot. That’s a yardage that I like, around like 90 yards. The putt was a left to right breaker and I’ve been leaving a lot of those low all day. So honestly, I just played more break than I usually do. And I guess it worked out for me.”
Here are some other tidbits from Day 1 at the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship.
Same, Mekhala:
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