Wednesday was one of Jonathan Elkins’ toughest days on a golf course.
The 19-year-old South Deerfield resident had two holes remaining from Tuesday’s suspended (darkness) second round of stroke play at the 112th Massachusetts Amateur Golf Championship at The Kittansett Club in Marion. He was 3-over for the tournament when he teed off on No. 17, one shot above the cut to reach the match play portion of the event for the first time.
Elkins successfully navigated the difficult 17th hole, making a 6-foot putt for par. Standing on the 18th tee, he knew what was on the line. A par would clinch a spot in the match play field, though a bogey would have him in a playoff at the very least.
“I was feeling really good about it,” said Elkins of his par on No. 17, which played as the second toughest hole on the course.
The par-5 18th hole at Kittansett Club measures 489 yards. There’s a road out of bounds to the right, and with the wind howling left to right, Elkins knew he couldn’t miss that way. The hole runs parallel to the first fairway going the opposite direction, but a narrow creek separates the two holes.
“I should’ve just blasted it down (the first fairway),” Elkins said. “I said I was going to do it the whole time and then I tried to hit something I shouldn’t have.”
His drive went into a creek left, and when he tried to blast out from there, the ball went into a sand dune where it got partially stuck. He thought he’d be able to knock it out from there, but he eventually got stuck in a cross bunker about 60 yards short of the green. Elkins eventually found his way onto the green, but missed a 10-foot putt for bogey. His double-bogey finished off a round of 2-over 73, dropping him to 5 over for the tournament. He tied for 33rd place — one spot out of a match play berth. His tournament was over.
“It’s tough to just throw it away like that,” Elkins said. “You play a lot of difficult golf shots and grind for 35 holes, then finally you take a breather on 18 and toss it away. I was legitimately at a loss for words in the scoring tent afterward. I couldn’t even speak.”
South Deerfield’s Jacob Zaranek waited overnight to see if his score would be good enough to get into a playoff. The Country Club of Greenfield golfer had an up-and-down second round on Tuesday, though he recovered on the back nine at Kittansett and finished just before darkness overtook the coast with a round of 75 (5 over for the tournament). He headed back to the course on Wednesday, but fell just short of making the playoff when 32 golfers finished at 4-over for the tournament. He joined Elkins in a tie for 33rd place.
Three golfers who finished right on the number to get into the match play bracket recorded birdies on their final holes of the second round. If just one of those players hadn’t done so, the cut line would have moved to 5 over, and both Elkins and Zaranek would have gotten into a playoff.
Chris Francoeur and 2017 champion Matt Parziale split medalist honors at 3 under.
Like Elkins, Zaranek had one hole he’d like to have back. That would be the par-5 No. 7 during Tuesday’s second round at Kittansett, as the 21-year-old had to take two drops en route to a triple-bogey. After hitting his tee shot into a hazard, he thought he hit a fine shot after taking a drop. But Zaranek and his playing partners were unable to find that ensuing shot, and he wound up taking another drop. The hole had some residual effects, and Zaranek said he let the frustration get the best of him with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 8 and 9.
“I thought I hit a good shot and we just never found it,” he said of the issues on No. 7. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s what you get. You have to keep moving forward. What’s more frustrating is that I got frustrated after that and it led to me making a bad swing on (No. 8) and a compound of errors to end that (front) nine after playing really solid for the first six holes.”
He did right the ship on the back nine, but finished one stroke shy of getting back into match play after qualifying in his Mass. Am debut in 2019.
Elkins said that despite the difficult finish to his tournament, he knows he’s headed in the right direction. After missing the cut by eight strokes in 2018 and nine strokes last year, he was very much in the mix right up until the end this week. He’ll play at Villanova this fall.
“I think knowing that I’m going to have a full strength and conditioning program and a lot of support from people over the next four years, I know I’ll be able to get back and hopefully dominate at this event for a long time,” he said. “I fully believe that.”
It was quite the list of golfers that got in right on the number this week. Defending champion Steve DiLisio, who plays at Duke, was one of those who birdied his final hole to earn a spot in the match play bracket. Patrick Frodigh, the 2018 champion, also finished 4 over for the tournament to get a spot in the final 32.