A little home cookin’
Bornhorst moves into quarters on his local course
NEWTON — A little local knowledge has gone a long way for Christopher Bornhorst during the first three days at the 113th Massachusetts Amateur. Playing on his home Brae Burn Country Club course, the 23-year-old posted a pair of decisive victories on the opening day of match play to gain a spot in the quarterfinals, joining seven others who survived not only two opponents but the hot conditions on Thursday.
“It’s been really great, especially the support,” said Bornhorst of Brae Burn hosting the event. “Everyone coming out and following me has really amped me up.”
Neither of Bornhorst’s matches made it past the 14th hole as he took care of Dan Head in the morning in the Round of 32, 6 and
5, and Daniel Brooks in the afternoon in the Round of 16, 6 and 4, crediting his putting and game plan. “I had my speed dialed in,” said Bornhorst. “A lot of tricky pins out here so being a member I really knew how to manage that and give myself looks when I needed but not to really press it. Some of these pins, you can’t make birdie, so I really managed myself.” Bornhorst, who just finished up his collegiate career as a graduate student at Colorado after starring at Babson, has qualified for the Mass. Amateur six straight years but had yet to win a
match after advancing through stroke play the previous three championships.
“It’s definitely good to get the monkey off the back,” said Bornhorst. “I really wanted to win the morning match and get that first win so that kind of gave me some momentum going into the second match.”
He’ll face Sudbury native Eric Lifson of Nashawtuc CC, the lowest seed left at No. 21, in the quarterfinals this morning. Lifson posted wins over Anthony Vecchiarelli (2 and 1) and Ricky Stimets (3 and 2).
A pair of past champions will meet in the marquee quarterfinal matchup, Ben Spitz of George Wright GC and Matt Parziale of Thorny Lea GC.
Spitz, the top seed after earning stroke-play medalist honors, had to fight in both of his matches, falling 3 down to Colin Spencer in the morning before winning 4 and 2 and then holding off Joe Harney, 2 and 1. Parziale took care of Kevin Gately in the morning, 3 and 2, and amateur legend Frank Vana, Jr. in the afternoon, 5 and 4.
In the bottom of the bracket, Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen still looms. After tying the competition course record on Wednesday with an 8-under 64, he beat fellow Wellesley CC member Alex Snickenberger (4 and 2) and Dan Howard (5 and 3), stringing together a sizzling nine straight birdies over the two matches.
He gets Michael Amari of Northern Spy GC, who just finished his freshman year at Hartford and got through with a 6 and 5 victory over Andy Luther after closing out A.J. Oleksak on No. 18 in the morning.
Weston Jones had the longest day of the quarterfinalists, playing 35 holes. A recent Lincoln-Sudbury grad bound for Rutgers, he went 18 with former champ Ryan Riley in the morning before winning 1 up and edged Christian Emmerich to grab the final spot, 2 and 1.
Chris Francoeur, a former St. John’s Prep star now at URI, awaits him after a 3 and 2 win over Kyle Tibbetts. Francoeur had the quickest match of the day with an 8 and 7 victory in the morning over Ryan Downes, the youngest player in the tournament at 15.
The semifinals will be held this afternoon after the conclusion of the quarterfinals. The 36-hole final is scheduled for Saturday.