New Hampshire Amateur winner Mike Martel (R)
(NHGA Photo)
KEENE, NH (July 15, 2017) - The New Hampshire Golf Association (NHGA) is proud to announce that Mike Martel is the 114th New Hampshire Amateur presented by Audi of Nashua Champion. Martel defeated Matt Paradis, the tournament’s number one seed, 2 & 1 to earn the title.
The first nine holes of the match could not have been more back and forth. Paradis and Martel exchanged holes all the way through to the 9th hole. Martel started to take control of the match on the 10th hole when he made birdie to win the hole. Following that, he birdied four holes in a row, 13 through 16. Impressively he got to 4 up after the first 18 holes.
With all that momentum, Martel was pushing for a short break to keep the pressure on. He said, “It’s obviously nice to have a good cushion but at the same time I still need to stay aggressive because I know Matt can run four straight off as well.”
Coming back at it, he kept plugging away only slipping up one time with a bogey on their 21st hole after pitching it up close from the left side of the green. With an eagle on the par 5, 5th hole, he regained his position.
Entering to the 30th hole of the match, Martel hopped on the bogey train and couldn’t shake it until the 33rd hole. He gave Paradis 3 holes, bringing himself down to 2up after being at 5 up just a few holes prior. Paradis needed to continue to win holes in order to advance the match beyond the 35th hole, but came up shy to a previous State Amateur champion.
Reflecting back on a tough position when the momentum shifted Martel stated, “I tried to stay aggressive. I didn’t hit a lot of bad shots when it got tight, I just had a tough break in the bunker and three putted 13. That putt I made on top of him on 15 was the difference maker.”
Although Paradis finished in the runner-up position for the second year in a row, he played a solid week of golf which cannot be overlooked.
The New Hampshire Amateur Championship is a six-day event, beginning with 36-holes of stroke play qualifying on Monday and Tuesday to determine the 64 players who will be advancing to the match play rounds beginning on Wednesday. One round of matches will be played Wednesday, two rounds of matches will be played both Thursday and Friday, and the championship concludes with a 36-hole final match on Saturday.
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ABOUT THE
New Hampshire Amateur
Competition will be held at ten pre-qualifying
sites and will be 18 holes at Stroke Play.
The
low qualifiers and ties from all the sites
along
with the players exempt from
prequalifying, will
be eligible for the 36-hole qualifying on
the
first two days of the tournament proper.
Sixty-four players will begin match play the
following day. Entries are open to males
who
are members in good standing of member
NHGA
Clubs who are legal residents of New
Hampshire. An eligible non-resident can
play in
NHGA Championships if he has been a
member
in good standing of an NHGA member club
for
the last three complete golf seasons and
has
played a minimum of 25 rounds of golf at
this
club in each of the three seasons. A letter
signed by the President of the member
club
must accompany his first entry, stating
that
the player complies with NHGA eligibility
requirements.
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