Steven DiLisio thought, for an instant, that stopping Friday’s Massachusetts Amateur Championship after 18 holes might be preferable to going another full round in the searing heat.
In the end, he kept going. And while the Swampscott native didn’t quite make through another 36 at The Country Club in Chestnut Hill, it’s only because he didn’t have to. He clinched the title after the 34th hole to defeat Hopkinton’s Jimmy Hervol 3 and 2 to win the 111th championship.
In so doing, DiLisio became the first North Shore golfer since Ted Carangelo in 1965 to capture the Mass. Am.
DiLisio had a methodical approach all week, figuring his best bet was to focus on his game, and beating the golf course, rather than his opponent, from the early stroke-play format to the concluding match play portion.
DiLisio is a Phillips Exeter graduate who also attended St. John’s Prep. He will be a senior at Duke University, where he plays on the men’s golf team.
Friday, he shot eight birdies in his 34 played holes, led by as much as 5-up and held on despite a fierce comeback effort by the recent UConn graduate Hervol down the stretch that saw him win two of his final four holes.
After Hervol sunk a 14-foot on the 34th hole — the par-3 16th hole at The Country Club — DiLisio countered with a difficult 5-foot birdie putt to officially clinch the championship.
“It’s awesome. It’s exciting. I’ve been playing in (the Mass. Amateur) since I was 12 or 13 years old with my brother and this is my first win,” said DiLisio. “It’s a long week … you’re hoping it’s a long week. I’m just super excited.”
Friday’s final began with an 8 a.m. tee-off and finished just before 4 p.m. The golfers got a break between rounds.
DiLisio wasted no time once he got underway, quickly taking a 1-up advantage after the first hole when he sunk a 15-foot birdie putt that Hervol couldn’t match.
Hervol won the third hole to bring the match back to all square, but the 21-year old DiLisio regained momentum by winning the next three holes in the match, on 6, 10 and 12, respectively, to move to 3-up.
That advantage remained intact until the 18th hole, when Hervol’s key 12-foot birdie putt dug into DiLisio’s lead ahead of nearly a 40-minute long break at the midway point of the Championship match.
Despite the two-hole score differential, both competitors grinded through the excessive heat.
“It was hard,” DiLisio said. “Part of me wanted to keep going (after 18) and part of me wanted to call it for the day because it was so hot. I just tried to come out and play as well as possible, and I had to against Jimmy.”
In the second round, after DiLisio had increased his lead to a day-best 5-up by the 30th hole, key putting from Hervol extended the match for additional holes. Needing to at least tie the hole, Hervol tapped in a par putt on Hole 31 and won the 32nd with a conceded eagle putt to bring the match within two. But after they both carded pars on the par-4 33rd hole, DiLisio finished off Hervol with his 5-foot birdie putt on the par-3 34th hole.
After a few days of rest, DiLiso and Hervol will both compete in the Porter Cup, one of the country’s most prestigious amateur events, next week at Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, N.Y. Following that, they’ll both compete in the Ouimet Memorial Tournament conducted by Mass Golf.
DiLisio will also compete at the 2019 U.S. Amateur Championship in mid-August before returning for his senior season at Duke, while Hervol says he plans to turn professional this fall after advancing to the regional round of the NCAA Tournament in his final year at UConn this past May.
