DiLisio wins a birdie-fest
Outlasts Hervol on hot day in Brookline
The only thing to match the temperature was the quality of the golf played during the 36-hole final of the 111th Massachusetts Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline.
Steven DiLisio of Swampscott made 11 birdies during yesterday’s match to prevail 3 and 2 over recent UConn graduate and Hopkinton native Jimmy Hervol. Fittingly, the match ended on a hole in which each player made birdie as Hervol had eight plus an eagle on the day. DiLisio sank a 5-footer at the par-3 16th to win the title.
“I’ve learned a lot about my own game, my mental game. I did a great job this week of staying with the next thought and trying to make birdies and I think in the past that’s hurt me and I haven’t done that” said DiLisio, who is about to enter his final year at Duke. “Like I said (Thursday), trying to play the opponent a little too much, I think that is what I can contribute most of my success to. I made a lot of birdies and got it going my way.”
He got it going right off the bat in the morning, rolling in an 18-foot birdie on the opening hole.
“To start like that felt really good,” said DiLisio, who plays out of Salem Country Club. “I hit a lot of good shots on 1 and hadn’t gotten one to go.”
The birdie set the stage for the day. There were only three bogeys during a blistering morning round in which DiLisio shot a 65 and Hervol a 66 with DiLisio holding a 2 up lead. It could have been more but Hervol had a sand save from the front left bunker at 17 and won the 18th hole with a shot from 145 yards from the right rough to about 12 feet and made the birdie putt.
DiLisio was 4 up by the turn of the afternoon as Hervol was way left off the tee at the third and had a bad lie at the top of a bunker at the eighth that left him trying to make a baseball swing. Hervol was grinding his way to pars, mixing in recovery shots and solid putting.
At the par-3 12th, DiLisio stuck a lob wedge to about 3 feet and had a 5 up lead, and after piping a driver down the middle at 13 with Hervol off in the left rough, the match appeared to be nearing a conclusion.
But DiLisio’s only bad shot of the day was his second on 13, leaving it short of the green. Hervol made par to win the hole, and also won 14 with an eagle after reaching the green in 2 with an 8-iron from 190 out of the rough on the left side to about 15 feet.
The hole was too large to escape. After they both halved the par-4 15th the match was dormie with 3 holes to play.
Hervol made a 15-foot birdie putt, only to have DiLisio stick it in tight to 5 feet and clinch the victory.
“I told (my caddie) Paul, ‘I’m going to need to make this if I want to win,’ I mean Jimmy played great, he made a ton of putts — he probably made as many putts or more putts than I did, honestly,” DiLisio said. “So I knew that one was going in when he hit it earlier (in the morning) and I thought it was going in. I just tried to keep my head down and focus on that putt because I knew what it did and put a good roll on it.”
Despite coming up short, there was no disappointment for Hervol, who said he will turn pro early in the fall after playing a couple of prestigious amateur events like the Porter Cup next week in New York followed by the Western Amateur in Michigan.
“It was a hell of a match. I’m happy for Steven and honestly I’m not that upset,” said Hervol, who was the second seed. “I felt like I played great all week long and he played just a little better than I did so he beat me on the 34th hole. I’m just happy to make it this far.”