Three-peat for Thresher
MASS. OPEN
HAMPDEN — When a challenger emerged in the final round of the 109th Massachusetts Open, Jason Thresher was there to turn him away.
Thresher birdied two of the final four holes yesterday at GreatHorse to shoot a 2-under-par 70 to finish at 11-under 205 and hold off a final round charge from Evan Harmeling by 1 shot. Thresher is just the fifth player and first since Dana Quigley in 1982-84 to win the state open three years in a row.
“When you’re in the hunt on the last day and a lot of pressure is on, I’ve always found that I hit a lot of good shots when I get that feeling tingling in my fingers and hands,” Thresher said. “It was no surprise to me today that back nine I was able to pull through.”
He hopes to continue that momentum today in a prequalifier for the Travelers Championship.
Thresher reclaimed the lead at 10-under with a birdie at the 112-yard, par-3 15th, sticking his tee shot to within 3 feet.
“It was a perfect, smooth 54-degree wedge,” he said. “I hit it really good, right at the flag. I thought it was going to be long, it actually landed a foot past the flag, back on the fringe, spun back onto the green.”
Both Harmeling and Thresher scrambled to make par at the difficult par-4 16th.
Harmeling, an Andover native living in Vermont, pulled even at No. 17, sticking a wedge to about 12 feet. He just snuck his putt inside the left edge to get to 10-under.
Thresher was in the middle of the fairway, unable to see exactly what was going on at the elevated green.
“I heard a little bit of an applause,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was for a birdie or for saving par or something else.”
Thresher then fired a pitching wedge to about 7 feet.
“For some reason I had a lot of pitching wedges today, I had already hit that one four or five times during the round, so it was a real comfortable shot,” he said. “I knew with the wet greens it would skip back there and it ended up pin high.”
He knocked in the putt to reclaim the lead.
Thresher made things a bit interesting on the 54th hole, missing the fairway to the right, leaving the ball about a foot above his feet. But much like the challenge Harmeling provided, the Connecticut native delivered in the clutch.
His shot from 190 yards out landed on the slope in front, the ball kicking left to the middle of the green, where he 2-putted from about 8 feet to secure the win and the $15,000 payday.
“I had 8-iron out, but then I thought I’d be swinging too hard to get to the front and it might not scoot back (to the pin),” Thresher said. “So I did an easy 7 and hit it low, I guess it took a nice skip in and ran up perfectly.”
Harmeling, the 2013 champion, started the day 6 back, but thrust himself into title contention with birdies at Nos. 4, 5, 7 and an eagle at No. 8 (when he hit two 3-woods to 15 feet) to go out in 31.
“I was putting it really well out there,” said Harmeling, who has conditional status on the Web.com Tour and had a top 10 on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica this spring.
Clark Robinson finished third at 5-under while firstround leader Matt Campbell was fourth at 4-under.
Brett Krekorian captured the Massachusetts Cup as the low amateur, finishing in a tie for 18th at 3-over 219 after a final-round 74.