Fontaine joins
Higgins at top
TCC plays tough
in opening round
BROOKLINE - The majority of the field in the opening round of the 101st Massachusetts Amateur yesterday was just happy to be playing what probably will be their only round ever on The Country Club’s famed Championship Course.
Taylor Fontaine, however, is happy that the tournament’s remaining four days are on the club’s main course, which regularly is used by members and doesn’t include yesterday’s 11th, 12th, and 13th holes. With an average length of 457 yards, the three holes were included in the opening round to let the state’s top 144 amateurs try their hand at the same course used for the 1999 Ryder Cup.
“Those were the holes I was blind going into,’’ Fontaine said after shooting a 2-under-par 69 to take a share of the opening-day lead with Brian Higgins - one stroke ahead of Thorny Lea Golf Club’s Matt Parziale. “I’m excited that we’re not going to be playing them tomorrow.’’
The 19-year-old Southbridge native playing out of Pleasant Valley Country Club made bogey on three of the first four holes. Even though he hit a 30-foot birdie putt on his second hole - the 450-yard 11th - Fontaine said he didn’t feel like he was in the groove until he birdied the 14th, just after finishing the Championship holes.
Higgins held his own on the three Championship par 4s that seemed to be black holes for everyone else. The Bellingham resident, whose home course is Franklin Country Club, parred 11 and 12 before a bogey on 13. It didn’t hurt that the 2008 Massachusetts Golf Association Player of the Year played the Championship Course during the 2003 Mass Am.
“I was happy coming out of the gate with even par through the first four holes,’’ the 34-year-old said. “I just remember you have to hit a draw around 11 and kind of keep it in the middle somewhere.’’
Aside from the Championship holes, the 17th also had the field abuzz. The pin on the par 4 was placed in the same spot (back right) as when Justin Leonard hit a 45-foot putt for birdie a decade ago to give the United States its historic Ryder Cup victory.
“I had pretty close to the same putt but I didn’t have the same result,’’ said Fontaine, who parred the hole.
Defending champion John Hadges of Thorny Lea also parred the 370-yard 17th but finished 9-over 80 on the day. Even though he’s played the Championship Course about 15 times, Hadges also struggled on 11, 12 and 13.
Afterward, he could only shake his head at the scoreboard.
“I’m a little surprised. I knew [the scores] would be high but I didn’t think this high,’’ Hadges said of the first day of stroke play. “Don’t get me wrong, there are some good scores here, but in general they are on the high side.’’
Match play will begin tomorrow and conclude on Friday.
“[Today] we’re going to play the members [course],’’ Hadges said. “I think the scores will be a little lower.’’
Hadges won last year’s tournament at The Kittansett Club by hitting a 6-foot putt to beat Parziale, 1 up, on the 36th hole of the match. Parziale was the only player besides Fontaine and Higgins to finish under par yesterday.
“This place has so much history, it’s good to be able to play here,’’ said Parziale, a Brockton native. “I had no idea what I was doing on the [Championship] holes. I was guessing, but it worked out all right.’’
Fontaine also found himself in awe of The Country Club. But he said being the University of Rhode Island’s No. 1 player this spring as a freshman taught him how to play through jitters.
“The nerves are still there,’’ said Fontaine, who finished with five birdies. “Playing all the time definitely makes you more acclimated to it.’’
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