Rob Henley (New Hampshire Golf Association Photo)
Concord, NH – With the memory of last year’s New Hampshire Amateur runner-up finish still looming, Rob Henley stepped up to the first tee in the final match of the 121st New Hampshire Amateur Championship presented by Davis & Towle Insurance Group hoping to get the job done this time around. Both Henley and Stephen Goodridge had an opportunity to win across the 35 holes the two played, but it was Henley who held on long enough to close out Goodridge on the 35th hole of the match, winning 2&1 to capture his first New Hampshire Amateur title and an exemption into the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship.
Maybe the nerves of the first tee got to him, but Henley stepped up and put his first tee shot out of bounds on the right side of Concord’s first hole. Goodridge very quickly went to 1up in the match and went 2up after three holes when he rolled in a birdie putt on the short par-4, 3rd hole. Henley wasn’t going to let him get away that easy, he won the next two holes to tie the match again, but Goodridge earned another 1up with another birdie on the par-4, 6th hole. After Goodridge bogeyed the 8th hole to tie the match again, he had an uphill battle to climb as Henley was settling in.
Henley took full advantage of any mistakes Goodridge was making and grabbed a hold of the lead. He got himself to 5up after 17 holes, but Goodridge won the 18th hole for Henley to sit a 4up after the first 18 holes. This is a position Henley has been in before – last year, he was 4up over Jack Pepin after 18 holes and let that lead slide away in the second half of the match.
Henley went to 5up again after sticking his approach shot on Concord’s second hole a foot from the hole for birdie. From there, it was like a repeat of last year where he let his lead slip away from him. Goodridge started winning more and more holes as Henley began being the one making mistakes. Henley commented, “I made a bunch of bogeys and a couple doubles, I was hitting the ball everywhere and not making any putts, so I was just trying to play golf again.”
Goodridge got the match back to tied after the 31st hole of the match, Concord’s 13th hole, where Henley put another tee shot out of bounds. They went to battle from there, both making the important putts to tie holes when they needed to. Henley’s turning point was on the 15th hole. He stated, “I made a big up and down on 15 that kind of changed the momentum a bit and brought things back around. I was basically making nothing and hitting bad shots, so I needed a little spark there.”
Both players hit tee shots on the 15th hole, the 33rd hole of the match, to the fairway. Goodridge put his tee shot on the green while Henley’s landed in the left greenside bunker. He said, “My only play was to chunk it out to about 20 feet, and I had a downhill putt.”
“I knew I needed to make it, so I hit it at the hole and it went in”, continued Henley. “It was the only long putt I made today, so it was definitely the best today.”
That is where the momentum truly shifted. They headed to the 16th hole where Goodridge put his tee shot onto the cart path left of the green and was not able to get up and down successfully for par. Henley landed in the rough on the left side of the hole but got up and down for par to go 1up. Henley ultimately won the 35th hole of the match, winning the match 2&1.
After last year’s downfall, Henley found some redemption in this victory. He commented, “It feels good. Last year I had a great tournament, disappointing at the end but it was a good week. To get back this year was good.”
This is Henley’s first New Hampshire Amateur Championship title. With this, he secured a spot into the U.S. Amateur Championship field, a tournament taking place at Hazeltine National next month.
The other star of the show this week was Concord Country Club. The golf course was in pristine condition and provided a true test for the best amateur golfers in the state. The New Hampshire Golf Association would like to extend a sincere thank you to the entire staff at Concord Country Club for the work they have done all week for this championship.
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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