The depth of amateur golf at the youth ranks is among the best it has been in Massachusetts in quite some time.
Six Bay State golfers are at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield Township, N.J., this week for the U.S. Junior Amateur, the USGA’s national championship for those 18 and under. It’s the most from Massachusetts since 1995. Only California, Texas, Florida and New York have more competitors at this year’s event.
“You’ve got the (training) academies, the Challenge Cup, NEPGA. There’s a lot of great opportunities where these kids can develop,” said Mass Golf executive director Jesse Menachem.
Mark Turner of Gloucester led a Massachusetts sweep of the three qualifying spots last month at Crumpin-Fox in Bernardston. The recent St. John’s Prep graduate, who will be heading to Dartmouth, turned in a 1-under-par 71 to take medalist honors. He is making his second appearance at the championship.
Andrew DiPetrillo of Dover, who graduated from BB&N and will be playing at Emory University, and Peter Bowie of Northampton, a Wilbraham & Monson graduate heading to Bryant, took the remaining two spots in a playoff after shooting 72.
At St. Clair Golf Club in Michigan, Brookline High senior James Imai topped a field of 66 with a 6-under 66. It will be his second Junior Am, appearing previously in 2015.
Dillon Brown of Halifax, a recent graduate of Silver Lake heading off to Maryland, placed second at Oxford Greens in Oxford, Conn., with a 4-under 68.
Michael Thorbjornsen of Wellesley was exempt from qualifying because he is in the top 400 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The junior at the IMG Academy in Florida ranks 192nd, the second highest for someone from New England behind Brockton’s Matt Parziale (138th).
After one round each on the Upper Course and Lower Course, all the action shifts to the Upper Course and Thorbjornsen, Imai and Turner all advanced.
The success is not limited to just those six, however. Junior golfers are also coming off a successful run at last week’s Mass. Amateur at George Wright. Andrew O’Leary, a Norfolk resident who won the MIAA Div. 2 state tournament at Catholic Memorial and will be heading to Notre Dame, was a co-medalist and reached the semifinals.
While O’Leary came up short of making it to Baltusrol, he is part of the field at the New England Amateur in Falmouth, Maine, that started yesterday and runs through tomorrow.
Justin Turbeville, who won the Div. 3 Cape & Islands tournament as a senior last fall at Sturgis West, reached the Round of 16.
Brown and Turner also reached match play, with Brown bowing out in the Round of 16 and Turner in the Round of 32.
It all has the makings of a strong field when the state junior amateur marks its centennial at Belmont Country Club from Aug. 6-9. Most recently, the champion has been decided over 54 holes of stroke play, but this year will return to its match play roots with the top 16 players advancing after two days of stroke play qualifying.
“It’s an opportunity to introduce another event with match play,” Menachem said. “It’s great way for juniors to learn the game and experience the game.”
He said the idea of returning to match play came five years ago when the tournament was at Essex County Club in Manchester. Club member and 1947 Junior Amateur champion Jack Nies inquired about going back to match play.
“This is the 100th playing of it this year so we felt let’s work on it for a couple years and let’s see how it could play out, make sure we could find the right facility to kick things off and we were able to pull that together and it seemed like the right year to do it,” Menachem said.
The U.S. Junior Amateur has been match play since first contested in 1948.
