Jacob Zaranek is in contention after the opening round of the 112th Massachusetts Amateur Golf Championship.
The 21-year-old from South Deerfield shot a 1-over-par 72 on Monday at The Bay Club at Mattapoisett, putting him tied for 12th. Zaranek will turn around and play The Kittansett Club in Marion for his second and final round of stroke play. He’ll tee off at 11:06 a.m. on Tuesday in hopes of reaching the match play portion of the tournament for the second year in a row.
“I gave myself a lot of chances,” Zaranek said. “The greens were so fast. So much faster than what I’ve been used to playing. It was an adjustment for me — two of my bogeys were three-putts. You want to avoid throwing away strokes like that.”
Nashawtuc Country Club’s Jeremy Meade fired a 4-under 67 to take the clubhouse lead. Meade played The Bay Club, as did Andrew McInerney, who was one shot back at 68. Chris Francoeur had the low round of the day at Kittansett (68) to give him a share of second place, while Matt Parziale, the 2017 champion, and Rob Owen each shot 2-under 69s at Kittansett to earn a share of fourth place.
Zaranek’s name hovered around the top of the leaderboard for a good portion of his round. He was 2 under through 13 holes, but bogeys on three of his final five holes left him at 1 over.
“It’s kind of tough to finish the way I did with those three bogeys,” he said. “I three-putted 18 and you never want to finish a day like that. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth but it is what it is. One-over certainly isn’t going to kill you.”
South Deerfield’s Jonathan Elkins had his tournament flash before his eyes standing on the ninth tee at The Bay Club. Sitting 4 over after eight holes, the 19-year-old had just double-bogeyed No. 8, and needed to right the ship in a hurry.
“I four-putted (No. 8) and that was probably the maddest I’ve been on a golf course this year,” Elkins said. “It was one of those moments where I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole no matter how hard I tried.
“I looked at the (yardage) book standing on the ninth tee and saw there were going to be a couple opportunities for me to either make birdie or a stress-free par,” he added. “Let’s try and take some stress out of this round and go from there.”
The Villanova-bound golfer turned things around on the back nine, recording birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to offset just one bogey. His 3-over 74 has him tied for 33rd.
“I’m pretty ecstatic with the round because it was just an all-time grind,” said Elkins, who plays Kittansett Club at 11:42 a.m. on Tuesday. “I didn’t make the cut (Monday) but I certainly didn’t put myself out of it. That’s the big goal at these events; just find a way to get into the top 32.”
Northfield’s Jesse Morgan found the track at The Bay Club to be tough sledding. Morgan was 5 over through his first four holes, and wound up shooting 9-over 80 to tie for 106th.
Morgan will tee off at Kittansett Club at 9:30 a.m. in hopes of bettering that number in Round 2.
The field will be cut to the top 32 players following the second round. If there are ties for the final match play spots, there will be a playoff.