HINGHAM, Massachusetts – The field for Friday’s final round of the 52nd annual Ouimet Memorial Tournament at Woodland Golf Club has been officially set following Thursday’s second round of the Championship Proper at Boston Golf Club. Following the 18-holes of play Thursday, 33 competitors in the Championship Division, 15 in the Eddie Lowery Senior Division & 12 competitors in the Women’s Division will advance to the final round as they compete for respective divisions titles.
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Woodland Golf Club in Newton’s Auburndale neighborhood – the home course of the tournament’s namesake Francis Ouimet – will host the final round of the Championship Proper as it has in each of the previous 51 tournaments dating back to the inaugural event in 1968.
Championship Division Highlights
After finishing his first round in second place on the leaderboard, four strokes off day one leader Steven DiLisio, Sudbury’s Matt Organisak carded a second straight 2-under 69 mark on Thursday to jump into sole possession of the lead with one round remaining Friday. The 21-year old, a rising senior at Emory University where he is a member of the Men’s Golf Team, tallied four birdies to two bogeys to match the day-low score shot by Andover’s Brett Krekorian, Weston’s Nick Cummings, Kingston’s Herbie Aikens and Norfolk’s Andrew O’Leary.
Playing in the morning round on Thursday, the Nashawtuc Country Club member Organisak carded a birdie on his opening hole – the par-5 first – before carding three straight pars to keep his momentum. He added a second birdie on the par-4 fifth hole to move to 2-under for the day, and despite a bogey on the subsequent sixth hole, Organisak made the turn at 1-under.
In his second nine, Organisak, who through three years at Emory holds the program’s best scoring average, tallied five straight pars before carding additional birdies down the stretch. He secured his third birdie of the day on the par-5 15th hole and followed suit with a fourth birdie on the following 16th hole to move to 3-under and after making par on the 17th hole, bogeyed the final hole to move back to 2-under for the day. With his combined score from Wednesday, Organisak sits at 4-under 138 for the tournament, one stroke ahead of both Krekorian and Cummings.
Organisak most recently competed in the Porter Cup last week at Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, New York, where he finished at T55 on the leaderboard, after advancing to the Round of 16 at the Massachusetts Amateur Championship the week prior.
Eddie Lowery Senior Division Highlights
For a second straight day, North Easton’s Steve Tasho finished his round with the division’s lowest score to put himself in good standings as he enters the final round of the Ouimet Memorial Tournament Friday at Woodland. The 60-year old Tasho will look to capture his first-ever Ouimet Memorial title after shooting a 1-over 72 on Thursday at Boston Golf Club.
At 3-under 139, Tasho holds a six-stroke lead over Franklin Country Club’s Keith Smith, the division’s runner-up after two rounds, while 15 total competitors in the division will advance to the final round.
Starting on Boston Golf Club’s first hole to begin Thursday’s second round, Tasho picked up where he left off one day earlier by carding four straight pars to put him in a good position to continue his winning ways. After two bogey setbacks on the par-4 5th and 9th holes, Tasho, who plays out of Brockton’s Thorny Lea Golf Club, tallied his first birdie Thursday on the par-4 12th hole and added a second for the day on the par-3 18th hole to finish at 1-over for the day and 3-under for the tournament.
Tasho is a two-time Massachusetts Amateur champion who most recently qualified for his first U.S. Senior Amateur Championship earlier this week at The Kittansett Club in Marion. His U.S. Senior Amateur appearance later this month at Old Chatham Golf Club in North Carolina will be his 14th career USGA appearance, and his first since the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur championship.
Women’s Division Highlights
Similarly to how the second round of the Eddie Lowery Senior Division played out Thursday, there weren’t many changes atop the leaderboard on the second day of competition for the 17 competitors in the Ouimet Memorial Tournament’s Women’s Division. Day one leader Anne Walsh, a junior golfer from Jamaica Plain, shot a 3-over 74 on Thursday with three birdies, three bogeys and a double, but still holds a one-stroke lead over Dover’s Sophie DiPetrillo, who trailed Walsh by one stroke when play began Thursday morning.
Beginning on Boston Golf Club’s 10th tee to start her second round, the 17-year old Walsh bogeyed her first two holes, but rebounded with a birdie on the par-4 12th hole to get one shot back on his scorecard.
Walsh, who plays at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, made five straight pars after her birdie, and despite a double prior to making the turn, she birdied both of her final two holes to get two strokes back to keep her placement atop the division’s leaderboard.
Bradford Country Club’s Krystal Knight, a recent graduate of Merrimack College where she captained the Women’s Golf team, got one stroke back on her total Thursday after carding a 1-over 73 Thursday to remain in third place on the leaderboard.
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