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NCC golfers take the good with the bad on Wednesday

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Jul 9, 2020

Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua Country Club's Jack Poitras, left, walks off the 18th green at NCC a winner over Windham's James McKee in Wednesday's State Am round of 32.

NASHUA – Home course advantage?

Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes it looked that way on Wednesday on the first day of match play at the 117th New Hampshire State Amateur Championship at Nashua Country Club.

But the numbers didn’t quite show it.

In all, the NCC record was 5-5, but with one match having two members, when medalist James Pleat started the day by beating fellow NCC member D.J. Petropulos 5 and 4.

Still, the host course has five members playing today in the round of 32, hoping to survive two rounds to Friday’s quarterfinals. We’ll see.

Some of the matches were dramatic. Nashua’s Bryce Zimmerman lost on the second extra hole after forcing golf’s version of overtime with a birdie on 18 against Derryfield’s Austin Fox.

Zimmerman saved par with a great chip on the first extra hole, the par 4 first hole. But on the par 5 No. 2, he put his drive to the left in the rough and trees, and Fox ended up with a birdie to advance.

“I can’t tell you the last time I hit that fairway to be honest,” Zimmerman said, eliminated for the fourth year in a row. “There were a couple of shots today that definitely weren’t too great. I forced it as much as I could. … It sucks to get knocked down on my home course.

And then there’s the popular Phil Pleat, who on the front nine found himself down three holes, suffering from some putting woes. But that was before he went on a tear on the back nine, eventually winning 2 and 1 over Amherst Country Club’s Brian Nowak.

“You’ve just got to hit fairways and greens, and you never know,” said Pleat, who will face Brett Wilson today in the morning round of 32.

He won 11, 13, 14, 15 and 16 to take the match.

“He was solid all day,” Nowak said. “He hit the fairway and the green, put the pressure on me. … At the end of the day, it comes down to putting. I was a little nervy coming down the stretch.”

The biggest winner of the day was an NCC member – former Alvirne standout Jack Brown, now at Siena College. Brown dominated Concord’s Will McLaughlin, 7 and 6.

Also, on top for NCC were Eric McCoy over Atkinson’s Jeff Fay, 5 and 4; and Jake Poitras topped Windham’s James McKee, 2 up.

“It was a close one,” said the 22-year-old Poitras, who works at the Club but is studying to be a golf pro at Methodist University in Fayetville, N.C. “I made a great par putt on 15 to save the hole.

“I’m proud to be representing the club, proud of the other guys who are winning and hopefully continue to win.”

Poitras feels that there is a home course advantage. ‘I would say so, especially with the wind, a bunch of subtle things,” he said. “There’s a couple of secret spots, if the tee boxes are correct, that members can take.”

Failing to find those secret spots and getting eliminated, besides Zimmerman, included Russell Hamel, who fell to Laconia’s Ethan Emerson 2 and 1; Craig Moran, who lost to another Laconia golfer, Ryan Anderson, on the first extra hole, and Austin Baker, who fell 1 up in an all-Nashua battle to Sky Meadow’s Rick Moreau.

Other matches of interest: Defending champion John DeVito took care of Carter Country Club’s Pat Pelletier, 4 and 2, while in an all-local matchup, Nashuan Brandon Gillis out of Souhegan Woods fell to Green Meadow’s Griffin Brown, 4 and 3.

William Huang of the Country Club of New England, who was second behind James Pleat in medal play, edged Bretwood’s Bob Kearney 2 and 1.

And then we have some more of the legends crew: Derryfield’s Dan Arvanitis, Concord’s Bob Mielcarz and Portsmouth’s Craig Steckowych all triumphed. Steckowych faces DeVito this morning. Concord’s Mielcarz, who hadn’t played in the Am in five years, downed Derryfield’s Dustin Moreault, 6 and 5, in the second most convincing win of the day – after almost having to march on Tuesday while Moreault finished third in medal play.

“This tournament, there’s twice as many players who can win this tournament,” Phil Pleat said. “Match play, you’ve just got to be good enough to beat six people. I’ve lost matches (shooting) three or four under.

As an example, Pleat won 14 with a bogey and he three putted four times.

“Its great,” he said, “to survive.”

Especially at home.

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Local matches of interest in the round of 32 include James Pleat vs. Emerson at 7:30 a.m.; McCoy vs. Abenaqui’s Fletcher Sokul at 7:40 a.m.; DeVito vs. Steckowych at 8:10 a.m.; Moreau vs. Rochester’s Bobby Williams at 10, Brown vs. Atkinson’s Matt Grover at 9:50, Phil Pleat vs. Golf Club of NE’s Brett Wilson at 9:40 a.m., and Green Meadow’s Griffin Brown vs. Matt Burroughs of Derryfield at 9:20.

And, of course, the winners advance to the afternoon’s round of 16.

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