And then there were two
Maccario, Organisak battle for Mass. Amateur Championship
MARION — Steady golf goes a long way over the course of a week-long tournament like the Massachusetts Amateur, especially when it is being contested at a site like The Kittansett Club that does not offer many easy birdies.
After four rounds of match play over two days, Matt Organisak and Nick Maccario have handled William Flynn’s links design and the wind better than anyone else and will decide the Massachusetts Cup over 36 holes on Friday.
Organisak, last year’s Ouimet Memorial Tournament champion, has been steady while Maccario has grinded his way past three past champions to reach the final, including his 1 up victory over 2017 winner Matt Parziale in Thursday’s semifinal.
Maccario, last year’s state mid-amateur champion, dispatched 2006 winner Benjamin Spitz 1 up in the morning quarterfinal and had scored a 6 and 5 win over defending champion Steven DiLisio on Wednesday evening.
Organisak held off Chris
Francoeur, who had been a co-medalist with Parziale, 1 up in the semifinals after bouncing Andrew McInerney 3 and 2 in the quarters.
The recent Emory graduate said the biggest thing has been avoiding the big mistake.
“Keep the ball in front of you. It’s similar to the mindset I took with stroke play. In stroke play, if you keep the ball in front of you and you don’t make any mistakes, then as long as you play OK things will go alright, you’ll make it into match play,” Organisak said. “Since we’ve been in match play, if you can put some pressure on your opponent — I haven’t particularly gotten off to great starts, but that’s OK, this golf course has some teeth early on — just keep it in there, keep the ball in front of you, sometimes your opponent will make a mistake, sometimes you’ll be set up for a good birdie look or something like that. If you keep it in front of you, anything can happen.”
After losing his ball with a wayward drive at the ninth hole that left the match tied at the turn, Organisak was steady coming in, winning Nos. 11, 13 and 14 with pars and taking advantage of mistakes to go 3 up with four to play.
Francoeur did not go quietly, however, hitting driver-4 iron to set up a 25-foot eagle at the par-5 15th. He then stuck a 50-degree wedge to about 6 feet at the 16th for a birdie.
A bogey at 17 for Organisak, his only one on the back nine, left the match tied heading to the last.
With the wind blowing hard left to right, Francoeur had his drive go right and was unable to find it in the allotted three minutes.
Organisak played two solid shots to about 20 feet and was conceded the match when Francoeur was unable to make a long bomb from the back of the green that would have been for a par.
“It really just came down to that tee shot,” said Francoeur, who is heading into his senior year at Rhode Island. “I lost the ball right, the wind is blowing hard off the left. I just tried to do what I could to keep it from cutting too much… It’s a tough wind and the wrong time to make a bad swing.”
Francoeur had knocked off Rob Owen, a member of Kittansett, 4 and 2 in the morning.
Maccario was 3 down through seven holes after Parziale made birdie at Nos. 6 and 7, but won the next two to pull within 1 down at the turn.
“It was one of those things where it was still really early,” Maccario said. “I was kind of fighting off some fatigue earlier, it was nice to get that one back (at No. 8), get one on nine and then get into the back nine only one down… I told myself if I could be on the last three holes pretty much even that would be a good goal to set.”
Maccario pulled even with a par at No. 13 and grabbed his first lead of the match rolling in a 20-foot birdie at No. 16.
He was able to hold off Parziale at the par-5 18th by getting up and down from the back left of the green for birdie after Parziale missed a long eagle bid of about 40 feet.
“I’ve definitely worked on my driver hitting it straight and more consistent,” said Maccario, who reached the Round of 16 last year and played in the U.S. Amateur. “My iron play has been really good and my putting has been spotty, but has come through when I needed it. This place rewards good ball striking, especially with the wind.”
The final duo are not strangers with one another, having been paired together during stroke play on Monday and Tuesday.
“I will be tomorrow,” Maccario joked about being sick of seeing his competitor yet again. “He’s good. He struck it real well. His game was super impressive in stroke play so tomorrow is going to be more of the same, just a grind, who puts the ball in a better place and we’ll see what happens.”
Said Organisak, “We had a blast, all three of us (the threesome also included Christopher Tarallo) made match play, which was tons of fun. I’m just looking forward to it, hope we can hit some good golf shots.
“(Maccario) definitely played some good golf to get here, beating three Mass. Am champions is pretty darn impressive, I didn’t have to do that, that’s OK, that’s how it works sometimes and I’m definitely excited and see what happens.”