BERNARDSTON — Deerfield Academy’s Will Lodge had a rollercoaster final hour at Monday’s U.S. Open Local Qualifier.
Lodge and Roxbury Latin School senior Max Hutter each shot even-par rounds of 72 at Crumpin-Fox Club, leaving them in the mix for one of four spots up for grabs to advance to sectional qualifying for this summer’s big event. The two could only sit and wait for the remainder of the field to finish, hoping their scores would hold up.
A 2-under 70 from Birmingham, Alabama’s Jeff Curl in the final finishing group left Lodge and Hutter tied for fourth place however, leading to a playoff for the final qualifying spot.
The two played No. 1 at CFC, with Lodge reaching the green in two strokes. The DA junior missed his birdie putt but recorded a par, and Hutter wound up bogeying to give Lodge the playoff win and automatically advancing him to the next round of qualifying.
“It feels awesome,” Lodge said. “It’s a huge relief. After missing the U.S. Junior and U.S Amateur a couple times, it’s exciting to get to go see what I can do on the second stage.”
The Darien, Conn. native entered Monday’s local qualifier with the advantage of having some familiarity with the course. The Big Green golf team plays and practices at Crumpin-Fox. Knowing the ins-and-outs of the course gave him an extra edge over much of the field.
“I get to play here every day,” Lodge said. “This is our home course so it’s like a second home course for me. It’s fun because a lot of our high school matches are nine holes so it teaches you to make a bunch of birdies and I definitely made plenty of those today. It’s fun being here and knowing all the people. It was a good day.”
Lodge started the day on fire, recording birdies on three of his first four holes. He ended up with seven birdies on the day, none bigger than the one on No. 8, his second-to-last-hole of the day after teeing off on the back nine. His birdie at No. 8 got him to even-par for the day, and ultimately a spot in the playoff.
“I knew par or one-over would be in the mix,” Lodge said. “I had some magic down the stretch. I had a chip-in on seven, 30-foot putt on eight and a nice two-putt on nine. I had a five-foot putt for even on nine and my hands were shaking a little bit. I had to get that one in and I was lucky to make it.”
Michael Martel of New Ipswich, N.N. was the overall winner, firing a 3-under 69 on the day to earn solo medalist honors.
It took some time for the 2019 Massachusetts Open Championship winner to find his rhythm. Martel said he didn’t play in many competitive tournaments over the course of the last year due to the pandemic, but once he found his rhythm Monday, he got rolling.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played competition,” Martel said. “The nerves were a little iffy at first but then I locked in. It took a couple holes to get going.”
It was a consistent day for Martel, who bogeyed just one hole to go with four birdies. His birdies came on hole Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 16.
Toronto’s Matt Shubley and Curl tied for second with 2-under scores, each advancing to sectional qualifying.
Shubley said he spent most of the winter in Florida. Having to go back-and-forth to Canada required a lot of time spent quarantining, which knocked him off his game. Not knowing how his game would look going into the tournament, he said he was gratified with the results.
“It’d be life-changing if I can reach the Open,” Shubley said. “I honestly wasn't quite sure what to expect. I’ve had some time off so I wanted to see how it felt early on. Over the past calendar year I’ve probably spent about 12 weeks quarantining. Every time I’ve gotten into a groove, I’ve lost it.”
Hutter was the first alternate after losing the playoff, while Ryan Kohler of Chesterfield, N.H. won the second alternate spot after winning a four-for-one playoff that included 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Matt Parziale of Brockton.
South Deerfield’s Jonathan Elkins just missed a spot in the alternate playoff, as the Villanova rising sophomore shot a 2-over 74. Elkins earned a spot in sectional qualifying the last time the local qualifier was contested at CFC in 2017.
South Deerfield’s Keith Burch shot 8-over 80, while Northfield’s John Parsons (92) and Sunderland’s Christopher Parsons (100) also competed in Monday’s event.
The bulk of the 11 sectional qualifying tournaments will be held June 7. The closest course on the list to New England is Century Country Club & Old Oaks Country Club in Purchase, N.Y. The 121st U.S. Open is set for June 17-20 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.