OSTERVILLE, Massachusetts – Massachusetts’ quest for a record 15th straight victory in the annual Tri-State Matches against teams from Rhode Island and Connecticut got off to a great start on Tuesday at Oyster Harbors Club as the 16-member Bay State squad combined to collect 48 points in two rounds of foursome matches.
With their total, the Bay State team is tied with both their opposing teams and will rely on the final round of singles matches slated for Wednesday on the same Cape Cod course to take home the title.
Consisting of the state’s top-10 mid-amateur competitors and the top six senior amateur competitors based on Richard D. Haskell Mass Golf Player of the Year points and George M. Cohen Mass Golf Senior Player of the Year points, the Massachusetts squad was led by the efforts of Colin Brennan (Indian Ridge CC) and Mike Calef (Pine Oaks CC), who compiled a total of 5 1/2 of a possible nine points in the morning round. For both the morning and afternoon rounds, a Nassau style scoring format was in place – giving each match the opportunity to earn one point for winning the first nine holes, another point for winning the second nine holes, and a third point for winning the overall match.
For the leading group in the morning round, the ability to find a groove with each other was key to their opening round success.
“It’s just really easy to play with Mike,” said Brennan, who was representing Massachusetts on the Tri-State team for the second straight year. “Our personalities sort of click, and we enjoy playing with each other. We both just played simple golf, hit a lot of greens which in alternate shot is important and we capitalized on some good shots.”
Brennan added, “Mike hit a couple of quality irons, and we made four birdies and our attitude were key. We never got down on ourselves or played the blame game.”
Following the morning round foursome matches that saw the team of Brennan and Calef collect a team leading 5 ½ points and the team of Matt Parziale and Steve Tasho (Thorny Lea GC) add another 4 ½ points, both of which factored into a tie with Rhode Island at 25 points apiece, the Bay State received contributions from several competitors in the second round afternoon matches, where mid-amateurs and senior amateur competitors were paired with – and against – competitors in their respective divisions.
Team #MassGolf dawning the 🔴 as we kick off the first round of the 85th annual Tri-States Matches against @RIGAlinks & @CSGALinks at Oyster Harbors Club!
Follow: https://t.co/Z64BuFp63e pic.twitter.com/saP3N6uB7s
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) October 16, 2018
The mid-amateur team of Nick Maccario (Bradford CC) and Patrick Frodigh (Dedham C&PC) the reigning Massachusetts Amateur Champion from Westwood, collected five points in their afternoon match while the senior amateur team of Frank Vana, Jr. (Marlborough CC) and Steve Tasho (Thorny Lea GC) added to the Bay State total with another five points to finish with 23 total points to increase their team total to 48.
After the Connecticut squad of Mike Kennedy and Dan Murphy led their team’s efforts in the morning round with 5 1/2 points that guided them to 23 points in the morning round, Murphy and James Sheltman and the duo of Glenn Boggini and Patrick Griffin tallied six points apiece to get back into a three-way tie atop the leaderboard.
Mike Arter, a Massachusetts resident who competes at Swansea Country Club, a dual-state member club, and Hermen DaCones led the charge for the Rhode Island squad in the afternoon round.
Led by Brennan and Calef in the morning round, and the duos of Vana, Jr. & Tasho and Frodigh & Maccario in the afternoon round, #MassGolf tied with Rhode Island and Connecticut at 85th Tri-State Matches at Oyster Harbors.
Recap: https://t.co/XF1OCIfs5r pic.twitter.com/avZulQ5kAu
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) October 16, 2018
STAY INFORMED
Mass Golf will be on site for the final round of the Tri-State Matches, being held Wednesday at Oyster Harbors Club. The single matches format will begin with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. Visit MassGolf.org and follow Mass Golf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@PlayMassGolf) for more information and join the conversation by using the #MassGolf.
