MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — After four brutally long and hot days at the Essex County Club, a pair of familiar faces will play in the finals of the 115th Massachusetts Amateur.
Matt Naumec and Ryan Downes survived 36 holes of stroke play and four rounds of match play to be the last two standing and force a rematch of a quarterfinal from the 2022 Amateur, won by Downes 2 & 1. This time, however, the Massachusetts Cup will be on the line.
Downes, who lost to Connor Willett in the championship match a year ago, might have been expected to be in the final. Naumec, on the other hand, wasn’t many people’s pick entering Thursday.
That was especially true when he had to face top-seed John Broderick in the semifinals. In a match that was tight most of the way, Naumec won four out of five holes midway through the match en route to upsetting Broderick 3 & 2.
“John is such a good player and I knew it was going to be a challenge going against him,” Naumec said. “I got a little bit of a break on the 11th and from there it was all about hitting fairways and greens.”
The two traded 1 up leads through the first eight holes, but on the ninth an errant drive from Broderick and then a lipped-out par putt allowed Naumec to draw even heading to the back nine.
After halving the 10th, the two headed to the diabolical par 3 11th where the momentum of the match changed for good.
Both players hit tee shots within 12 feet on the 178-yard hole. Broderick’s putt from above the hole rimmed out, giving Naumec a chance to strike and he did by rolling home his uphill out to take the 1 up lead.
“I was able to get one on the ninth and then to win again on 11 was nice to keep the momentum,” Naumec said.
After the duo matched birdies at the 12th, Naumec made a brilliant up and down on 13 which Broderick couldn’t match. And when Broderick missed the 14th green and couldn’t get up and down, the lead suddenly ballooned to 3 up and Naumec was on his way to the final.
“I’m just a guy who has a desk job and a lot of my co-workers are great in helping out so I can be out here having fun,” Naumec said.
Downes, on the other hand, rode a fast start to a huge lead against Joe Harney, giving him some wiggle room to work around a couple of mistakes on the back nine.
“I feel like I’ve definitely improved as a player from when I was here last year,” Downes said. “I felt like I played really solidly on the front nine (Thursday).”
Playing solidly might have been a bit of an understatement. Birdies on the third, fifth, seventh and eighth holes helped Downes go out in 3-under par 33 for a 4 up lead on Harney.
Harney fought back with wins on the 11th and 12th to cut the lead in half. But Downes restored his 3 up lead at the 13th before icing the match in style.
Taking advantage of a fortuitous break on an errant tee shot at 15, the Longmeadow senior hit his approach to six feet and drained the ensuing putt to go 3 up. One hole later, it was another close approach shot, this one to just outside 10 feet for a match clinching birdie.
“I got fortunate on 15 that I ended up on the 16th fairway and could put some spin on it,” Downes said.
The two finalists will tee it up at 7 a.m. for a 36–hole final.