Parziale rolls into quarters
Eliminates medalist Aikens in 1st round
BROOKLINE — Herbie Aikens might have been the medalist, but he received the toughest draw in the 32player match play bracket of the Massachusetts Amateur at The Country Club, facing friend and four-ball partner Matt Parziale in the opening round.
As part of an 8-for-2 playoff, Parziale needed five holes – four played Monday night before darkness and one Tuesday – to settle the final match play spot with Mark Turner, making a par at the par-3 16th. The 2017 Mass. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur champion kept the winning going, bouncing Aikens 3 and 1.
“It’s match play. That’s this tournament. You’re going to run into him at some time,” Parziale said. “He’s playing the best golf of the week so far, and if you want togo far, you are going to run into him at some point.”
Parziale won four straight holes beginning at No. 3 to go 3-up and put Aikens in a hole he couldn’t escape. Aikens cut the lead to 1-up, but Parziale won No. 9 and pushed it back to 3-up with a birdie at the 11th.
Aikens won the 14th with a birdie but ran out of chances and conceded the match after missing his par putt at the 17th.
“It’s tough. It would feel a little different if it were the finals or something, but just to get paired up against your friend and one of the best amateurs in the country, and maybe the world, it stinks. Especially in the first round,” Aikens said. “I just couldn’t get any rhythm. We were waiting on every shot.”
Parziale moved through to the quarterfinals for the third straight year by blitzing Cody Booska, 7 and 6, in the afternoon. Parziale won the first five holes with four birdies in the stretch and shot 29 on the front.
When he walked off following Tuesday’s stroke play round, he thought he was on the wrong side of the cut following rounds of 75 and 73.
“The first day was really my only complaint. Really it was only the first nine holes. I played well after that and I had a couple bad breaks on the back nine (Tuesday),” Parziale said. “I was pleased with the way I played in the playoff, had a lot of chances to get through earlier, they just didn’t go in. I have no complaints other than the slow play.”
The Brockton native will face Duke rising senior Steven DiLisio in a rematch of the first round a year ago at George Wright, won by Parziale 5 and 3.
They will get to see plenty of each other as both have spots in the Porter Cup next week in Lewiston, N.Y., and next month in the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst.
DiLisio held off Sean Fitzpatrick, 1 up, in the morning, winning the 18th with a par. He saw a 3-up lead disappear at 15-17, including his only two bogeys of the round. He then knocked out the youngest player in the field, 15year-old Weston Jones of Sudbury, 6 and 4. DiLisio was steady in the afternoon, only losing one hole and making three straight birdies to close out the match.
At one of the country’s most celebrated courses, the Swampscott resident has been enjoying his longest stay at the event.
“It’s awesome. They’re doing a few things with a few of the holes to make them a little bit more interesting, pushing the tees up on 5 and 2 as well.”
He birdied the fifth, which played nearly 200 yards less in the afternoon than the morning, hitting a 2-iron from about 290 yards to the green.
Play was halted by weather at 3:40 p.m. with six of the eight second-round matches still on the course.
Jack Boulger of Walpole and a rising junior at UConn has a 1-up lead on Norfolk resident and Notre Dame rising sophomore Andrew O’Leary on the 15th. In a battle of mid-ams, Mike Calef leads Ben Spitz 2-up at 14. Recent UConn graduate Jimmy Hervol of Hopkinton is 2-up on Newton resident and Colgate rising senior Alejandro Soto playing the 13th. Nick McLaughlin is 2-up against Nick Maccario playing the ninth. Amesbury’s Chris Francoeur, heading into his junior year at Rhode Island, is 3-up with eight to play against Brendan Cronin of Sutton. Matt Organisak of Sudbury, entering his final year at Emory, has a 1-up lead on Brett Krekorian of Andover and Limestone College through seven.