It's a little soggy out this morning in Salem and we are keeping a close eye on the weather today, because we need to get both round of 32 AND round of 16 matches in today! Cross your fingers for us!
Keep track of live scoring!
And now, without further delay...here are some tidbits about your round of 32.
Match 1: Anthony Vecchiarelli v. Chris Gentle
Anthony plays for the University of Hartford where he is teammates with defending New England Amateur Champion Evan Russell. Chris plays golf for St. Thomas Aquinas College and during the summers works at his home course, Mount Pleasant Golf Club in his hometown of Lowell.
Match 2: John Kelly v. Charlie May
John played for the University of Rhode Island and hails from East Longmeadow. He is currently working as an account rep for Kellco Products. Charlie plays golf for Elon University after an illustrious high school golf career where he won multiple state championships and was named an All-Scholastic by three different newspapers.
Match 3: Brian Higgins v. Ryan Harris
Brian is one of the few veterans in the field and is an MGA past champion and player of the year. He has three big fans rooting for him at home - his three daughters! Ryan just returned from playing in the Eastern Amateur in Virginia.
Match 4: Jack Lang v. Kyle Spellman
Jack will be a senior at Lexington HS this fall and in addition to golf, he plays the piano! Kyle is from Weston and runs a commercial real estate development company. He recently won The Squirrels title at The Country Club.
Match 5: Ben Spitz v. Victor Galvani
Ben balances a job in finance and 1-year-old twin girls, but manages to get his golf in as well, he once said he gets his practice in wherever he can, even if it means making putts on the living room carpet. Victor played on the Elon University golf team and now plays his golf out of Framingham CC.
Match 6: Austin Smith v. Brian Bassett
Austin has never played in this event and lists his 2014 season highlight as making 6 birdies in 7 holes playing with my boss and a company board member. That's one way to impress the big wigs! Brian plays out of Oyster Harbors and is also a newbie to this championship.
Match 7: Peter French v. Ben Bridgeo
Although only 20 years old, we can count Peter as one of our veterans in the field - it seems like he is always in the mix! His family owns Maplegate CC and you'll see his father - his biggest fan - following him this week. Ben is the golf coach for Woburn High School and played his college golf for Providence.
Match 8: Matt Parziale v. Matt Naumec
The battle of Matt's should be a good one. Matt P. is another tournament veteran who, in his non-golf time, is a firefighter for the city of Brockton. Matt N. is from Wilbraham and was selected to play on Team Massachusetts in the New England Junior Invitational last year.
Match 9: Jake Shuman v. DJ Hynes
Jake, who will play for Duke University in the fall, plays multiple sports - soccer, baseball, and basketball - in addition to golf. He said he still plays basketball almost every day in the winter...Blue Devil walk on? (I kid, I kid). DJ has played in this event before and played his college golf at Harvard. We got a couple of smart guys in this match!
Match 10: Cody Booska v. JC Guthrie
Cody is from the northwest corner of Massachusetts - Turners Falls, and plays his golf at Crumpin-Fox. He won the Greenfield Open this year. JC owns Guthrie Brothers Landscaping which he founded in 1999 with his brother Neal.
Match 11: Bill Drohen v. Jason Short
Bill is a past champion of this event who's hobby is chasing his 3 year old daughter and 4 year old son around! He is a high school math teacher. Jason is the defending Marlborough CC club champion, the youngest player to do so.
Match 12: Jack Whelan v. Lucas Hicks
Jack is having a great year, coming off a solid spring season at St. Lawrence University. Lucas is from Milton and just graduated from Nobles, where he played on the varsity golf and ski teams. He was ranked sixth in the country in his ski event this past winter!
Match 13: John Hadges v. Doug Clapp
The battle of the veterans. John and Doug are old hats at this. John has two children that can often be found on the course at Thorny Lea getting their practice in. Doug is an attorney who in spite of billing ridiculous hours last year was able to capture the MGA Player of the Year Award.
Match 14: Thomas McCloskey Jr. v. Zack Ungvarsky
Zack played Division I golf at the University of Hartford. He is a certified personal trainer and owns Alpha Athletics in Wilmington. Thomas is from Northboro and has been having a great year, as he also qualified earlier this season for the Mass Open.
Match 15: Nick Rodriguez v. John Lazor
Nick plays golf for the University of North Texas 'Mean Green' and last season had the fourth-best stroke average on the team. John is playing in his first Amateur Championship and also plays squash and skis in his free time.
Match 16: Billy Walthouse v. Nick McLaughlin
Another Division I battle - Billy plays for the University of Rhode Island and calls Longmeadow Country Club home - he works as a caddie there over the summers. This is his first time playing in this championship. Nick is a Virginia Cavalier who played high school golf at St. John's Prep in Danvers.
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