2024 MassGolf Champs

+ five highlights from the championship season

The final MassGolf championship concluded on Tuesday when Don Reycroft won the Super Senior Amateur Championship at Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg.

The Tri-State Matches between Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island will officially wrap up the season at Worcester CC for the men and Woods Hole Golf Club for the Women.

Here are the winners of the 2024 MassGolf Championships. I also included the New England Golf Association winners and my five highlights from the championship season.

Men’s Champions

Mixed Four-Ball Championship for the Stone Cup: James Pleat and Tracy Martin

Mass. Four-Ball: Andrew DiRamio and Nick Maccario

Senior Four-Ball: Dean Godeck and Ed Garbacik

Mass Open: Brandon Berry

Mass. Amateur: Mattthew Naumec

Young Golfers’ Amateur: Wes Paine

Ouimet Memorial: Jack O’Donnell

Mass. Public Links: Joey Lenane

Mass. Junior Amateur: Josiah Hakala

Mass. Mid-Amateur: Jake Ratti

Senior Amateur: Doug Clapp

Super Senior Amateur: Don Reycroft

Women’s Champions

Women’s Stroke Play Championship for the Baker Trophy: Tara Joy-Connelly

Women’s Four-Ball for the Townshend Cup: Megan Buck and Shannon Johnson

Ouimet Memorial: Isabel Brozena

Girls’ Junior Amateur: Isabel Brozena

Women’s Amateur: Morgan Smith

Women’s Senior Amateur: Pamela Kuong

Women’s Mid-Amateur for the Keyes Cup: Megan Buck

New England Amateur Champions

New England Amateur: C.J. Winchenbaugh

Women’s New England Amateur: Carys Fennessy

Senior New England Amateur: Andy Drohen

Women’s Senior New England Amateur: Tara Joy-Connelly

Boys’ New England Junior Amateur: C.J. Winchenbaugh

Boys’ New England Junior Team: Massachusetts

Girls’ New England Junior Amateur: Carys Fennessy

Girls’ New England Junior Team Amateur: Rhode Island

FIVE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

How about those juniors?

Isabel Brozena, Carys Fennessy, and C.J. Winchenbaugh were all sensational this past summer. Brozena, who is now playing at Xavier, dominated the Ouimet Memorial by eight shots. She was the only player under par after shooting 66-66-71 (-7). Toss in her Girls’ Junior Amateur and a Round of 64 appearance in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur, and it seems Brozena should make waves at Xavier.

Fennessy, who is aiming to win her fourth New Hampshire High School Championship this fall, is getting comfortable with winning. She won the NH Women’s Amateur by 18 shots this summer and won it by 15 shots last year. The College of Charleston commit also qualified for the LPGA’s FM Global Championship and played at Pebble Beach in the PURE Insurance championship which has a partnership with First Tee. She finished T6 among the First Tee girls participating and shot a 61 in the second round.

Speaking of shooting 61. Winchenbaugh lit up Laconia CC in the final round of the New England Amateur and broke the course record. A 29 on the back nine launched him uup the leaderboard and he beat John Broderick, a fellow Belmont Hill alum, in a playoff.

It’s hard to imagine two juniors have won both the New England Junior Amateur and the New England Amateur in the same summer. That’s what Fennessy and Winchenbaugh did this year.

Jake Ratti’s final flourish for the Mid-Am title

73 and 71 aren’t going to put you into contention in the Mass Mid-Am these days. That’s what Ratti shot at Cranberry Valley over the opening 36 holes; he carded six birdies and too many bogeys. However, Ratti has the ability to get hot, and that’s exactly what happened in the final round. A bogey on his 37th hole of the tournament would be his last. The last 17 holes were a breeze for Ratti. He ripped off seven birdies and then capped off the event with a 50 yard hole-out eagle on 18 from a bunker to finish 8-under par for the tournament and sign for a closing 64.

It wasn’t a bunch of no-name scrubs behind him, either. Ricky Stimets (-5), Matt Parziale (-3), and Joe Harney (-3) seemed like the trio who were going to duel for the championship. Ratti outshined them all down the stretch and nabbed his first MassGolf victory.

Joey Lenane dominates at The Ledges

On day one of the Mass. Public Links Championship, Joey Lenane beat me by 23 shots. When the dust settled after the final round, Lenane won the tournament by 11 shots. He shot 64-67 (-13) and made more eagles (2) than bogeys (1). Insane stuff. It wasn’t a fair fight.

Lenane is super talented and has admitted that when he gets a little close to the sun, his wings can start to melt. His 2023 New England Amateur win was a breakthrough, and his ability to go low is scary.

MassGolf pulled out the wildest stat of the week from Lenane’s win. He could have taken the worst score on each hole he played in the two rounds and still won the tournament if he just signed for that score twice. He would have shot 70 twice (-4 total) and won by two shots.

James Imai nearly wins Mass Open as an amateur

It’s been 25 years since an amateur beat the pros in the Mass. Open. Kevin Quinn won in 1999, and Kevin Johnson won in 1986. To find the third most recent occurrence, you would have to go back to 1932. That’s when a fellow named Francis Oiumet won at Oyster Harbors.

It was looking like Imai, who recently turned professional, was on the brink of making history. Brandon Berry made a double bogey on the short par-4 17th at Willowbend. Imai made par, giving him a one-shot lead heading to the par-5 18th. However, Berry stuffed his second shot to about 15 feet and Imai was making a mess of the hole and had 50 feet for par.

Imai made his bomb, putting all the pressure on Berry, who stepped up and nailed his eagle putt to win by a shot.

After John Broderick was in the final group in 2023 at TPC Boston and Imai’s performance this year, it feels like an amateur is going to break through soon.

The Smith Sisters continue to make history

Morgan Smith won her second Mass. Women’s Amateur this August at Taconic in rather dominant fashion over Julia Imai. The most anticipated match was against her sister Molly. They dueled in the semi-final and needed 19 holes to settle the match.

For the second straight year, Molly Smith qualified for the Mass. Amateur. In 2023, she became the first female to qualify for the event, and now she’s done it two years in a row. It’s easy to lose sight of how impressive that achievement is.

To top it all off, Maddie Smith, the youngest sister, helped the Smith family make even more history. They became the first trio of sisters to ever compete in a USGA event at the same time when they all made it to the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills.

I opened the comments to everyone for this post… feel free to share some of your highlights from this MassGolf season.

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