What began as a field of 144 was trimmed to just 32 following the stroke play portion of the 108th Massachusetts Amateur Championship, which is being held this week at Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown.
Those 32 competitors advanced through the 36-hole qualifying stage and will now look forward to the start of match play on Wednesday beginning at 8:00 a.m. This year’s cut line fell at 5-over par 147 with the final six spots being decided in a nine-man sudden-death playoff on Tuesday evening.
Weather permitting, the first two rounds of match play — round of 32 and round of 16 — will be contested on Wednesday in Williamstown. The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place on Thursday with the finale coming on Friday when the last two competitors standing will compete in a 36-hole final match.
There seemed to be little doubt about whose names would appear at the top of the leaderboard. After all, from their first tee shots on Monday, Peter French (Maplegate CC) and Jake Shuman (Blue Hill CC) played like men on a mission.
For French, this year marks his final MGA Amateur Championship appearance (he plans to turn pro later this year), while Shuman is looking to continue what was a breakout sophomore season at Duke University this past spring.
The longtime friends were paired together for two days and matched each other shot for shot. In the end, French and Shuman claimed co-medalist honors with two-round scores of 3-under par 139.
The last time co-medalists were crowned at this event was in 2013 (Andy Drohen and Colin Brennan). The last time that a medalist went on to win the championship was 2015 (Nick McLaughlin).
