Billy Walthouse grabbed a share of the lead (URI photo)

A four-way tie for first place should make for a very entertaining championship round.

Additionally, players today turned in fifteen under-par rounds, the most in one day so far in the championship at the challenging Metacomet GC, despite losing well over half of the field after cuts on Wednesday afternoon.

Kevin Silva, our opening two-day leader, has fallen out of the tie for first that he held with the University of Rhode Island’s Billy Walthouse. Silva, the reinstated amateur, shot a 2-over-par 72 in the third leg of his campaign.

It would be another grind today for Silva, who made five bogeys in his round, two more than he had made in the previous 36-holes. He would manage these bogeys with birdies on 5, 7, and his third consecutive birdie of the tournament on the par-4 15th, keeping the trophy well within reach.

ANYBODY’S GAME

What do collegiate players Billy Walthouse, Jackson Lang and Matt Paradis, and decorated mid-am Bobby Leopold all have in common? Well, for starters, they are all exceptional golfers, and they are all in pole position to close at the New England Championship this afternoon.

The group are at 3-under-par and set to tee off beginning at 1:54 PM ET with the last of the leaders leaving the first tee at 2:39 PM ET.

PREVIOUSLY POSTED

EAST PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (July 19, 2017) -- Kevin Silva posted an even-par 70 today at Metacomet Country Club to stay on top of the field moving into round three. The Rhode Island native’s scorecard wasn’t as pretty the 4-under-par, bogey free 68 he shot on Thursday.

But Silva's three bogey/three birdie effort keeps him out front of the prestigious championship -- that includes the best players from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine -- giving him time to sleep well into the morning tomorrow.

"If it had been a round where I really had to grind and shot 70, I’d be happy," Silva told the Mass. G.A. "I know this is a treacherous course. Seventy is a good score here, but I hit the ball well. I thought the way I hit the ball I should have been in the 60s.’’

He's got company on the top of the leaderboard.

University of Rhode Island player Billy Walthouse -- The Hornblower Memorial champion from Longmeadow CC in Mass. -- shot his second-straight 68, putting him at 4-under-par for the tournament and tied for the lead.

"That tournament [The Hornblower] is a lot like this one," said Walthouse. "It gets a lot of the best players in New England."

Walthouse last year earned a berth as an individual in the NCAA Tournament and won three college tournaments. He was the New England Player of the Year. Just last week, he was a semifinalist at the Massachusetts Amateur Championship.

After a bogey on the short par-5 second hole, only 490-yards, Walthouse bounced back to birdie Nos 6, 9, 11, and 12. Thirteen wasn’t his lucky number today though. If not for a bogey on the 422-yard 13th hole, Walthouse would be alone in the lead rather than holding a share.

Framingham Massachusetts’s own Max Ferrari and Drake Hull of Rutland Vermont were able to reach 5-under-par for the day, the lowest rounds recorded in the tournament during the first two rounds of play at the difficult Metacomet track.

The pair would combine for a total of thirteen birdies and three bogeys during their efforts today and sit comfortably in 3rd and T6 respectively.

Forty-eight players will tee it up tomorrow as many of the field will leave disappointed this afternoon after Wednesday’s cuts, which will be made on a surprisingly high number of 7-over-par.

Only five players in the field are under-par.