Matt Paradis (NHGA photo)
HANOVER, NH (July 13, 2018) - Matt Paradis (Concord Country Club) has made three-straight visits to the final match of the New Hampshire Amateur Championship presented by Audi of Nashua. This is the first year he has claimed the title; he defeated the top seed, Pat Pelletier (Carter CC), 6 & 5 in the 36-hole final held at Hanover Country Club.
For Matt Paradis, he has faced numerous tough competitors in the State Amateur, including 2016 and 2017 champions, Chris Houston and Mike Martel. This year he wasn’t leaving anything on the table as he fought hard to get back to the match that very few have advanced to. This was very clear in the first 18 holes of play as he was four under on the front nine and two under on the back nine, going bogey free.
Paradis won six of the first ten holes of the match getting himself to 6up by not losing any holes in that stretch. One of the highlights was an eagle on the par-4, third hole after driving the green and draining his putt. By the time the first 18 holes were done, Paradis had a comfortable 7up lead on Pelletier. Pelletier was going to need to make a run early in the second half of the match to have a chance.
Despite an eagle on the third hole the first time around, Paradis pulled his drive out of bounds the second time around and ended up making a six. Seeing that Paradis was likely out of bounds off the tee, Pelletier played it safe, keeping it in play and was conceded his birdie after Paradis couldn’t get up and down. At that point, Paradis was still 6up.
Pelletier bogeyed the 8
th hole the first time around and did it again the second time around giving Paradis his 7up lead back. The two made pars on 9, 10, and 11 in the second half. On the par-3, 12
th hole Paradis put himself in a tough position, missing the green right. His chip up fell on the fringe and he failed to make his par putt. Pelletier cozied his putt up and made par to get one back. At this point, Paradis was dormie; Pelletier needed to keep winning to extend the match but matching pars on their 31
st hole of play ended it with Paradis victorious, 6 & 5.
The final hole of the match was the drivable par-4, 13
th hole of Hanover Country Club. Without fail, Paradis pulled out his driver. Taking us through his mindset behind that, he stated “I just figured I’d stay aggressive out there. I felt confident enough in my swing and I hit a decent one on 13 so it was definitely the right play for me.”
One of the key elements that seemed to be working for Paradis was his putting. He was able to make a few 30 and 40-foot putts in this final match. He commented after the match saying, “I haven’t made a putt that long all year in all the rounds I’ve played, so to be able to drop three of them in this match is huge; it’s pretty lucky.”
The Southern New Hampshire University golfer has been to the final match of the New Hampshire Amateur three times now. After being unsuccessful the first two times, he made it happen the third time. When asked what it was this time that helped in this victory Paradis said, “A little experience gave me some confidence, I knew I could get it done out there. I’ve been hitting it so good all week.”
It has been a few years since Pelletier has played in the New Hampshire Amateur, but with his familiarity with Hanover Country Club, he knew he had a shot at the title this year. While he put up a good run the entire week, earning medalist honors and cruising through his matches, he came up short in the final match.
View results for New Hampshire Amateur
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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