HAMILTON, Bermuda – For the second straight year, the top amateur finisher at the Goslings International Invitational came from Massachusetts.
Manchester’s Nick Maccario (Bradford CC), 28, who won the 2019 Mass Mid-Amateur Championship and 2019 Mass Four-Ball Championship, finished with a score of 4-over par 216 to finish T6 overall following the third and final round of the Goslings Invitational on Thursday.
Rockland’s Herbie Aikens (Old Sandwich GC), last year’s top amateur, finished as the second-best amateur and was six strokes back of Maccario to place T13 overall.
The field included 40 amateurs and 32 professionals scattered across the U.S., Canada, England and Bermuda. The competitors battled wind gusts above 20mph for all three days.
ONLINE: GOSLINGS INVITATIONAL LEADERBOARD
After shooting a 1-over 72 at Mid Ocean Club in the first round and a 4-over 75 at Port Royal in the second, Maccario birdied six times to card a 1-under 69 at Belmont Hills in the third round. He birdied four of his last nine holes, including one on the par-5, 537-yard 12th hole.
Overall, Maccario sank 11 birdies but also had nine bogeys and three double bogeys. He went 1-under on the front nine Thursday with birdies on the 1st and 8th holes.
Maccario finished second in the Richard D. Haskell Mass Golf Player of the Year standings with 666 points. Brockton’s Matt Parziale (Thorny Lea), who earned Player of the Year honors, finished as the fourth-best amateur at Goslings. He shot an even-par 70 in the final round to finish T25 overall at 17-over 229.
England’s Harry Smart won the tournament, as he closed with a 67 to finish 4-under for the tournament.
The Bay State had several players represented throughout the tournament, including Dartmouth’s Mark Purrington (22nd, +15) and Westport’s Nick Jagoe (T32, +24). Glenn Kelley (Sankaty Head GC) finished 2nd Low Gross in the Senior Division. Nantucket amateurs Brian Secia (Miacomet GC) and Stephen Visco (Miacomet GC) competed alongside fellow amateurs: Ashland’s Dan Jenkins (Marlborough CC), Easton’s Brian Gouldrup (Thorny Lea GC) and Framingham’s Richard Ellis (Marlborough CC). Shannon Johnson (Thorny Lea GC), the 2019 NEWGA champion, finished T40, finishing with back to back 78s in the final two rounds. Easton’s Megan Buck (Thorny Lea GC) a quarterfinalist in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, finished T48.
