Recent History: Michael Thorbjornsen dominates Mass. Amateur

With the USGA back in Massachusetts this September at Brae Burn CC for the Women’s Mid-Am, I’m going to pick out some different pieces of history from the golf course. Today will cover Michael Thorbjornsen’s Mass Amateur Championship win in 2021 over Matt Parziale. It is the only state amateur championship that pitted two USGA champions against each other. As the move through the summer, we’ll move farther back into the club’s rich history.

News and Notes:

• With the PGA Championship kicking off tomorrow, Paul Burke joined me to preview the tournament and make our picks. Apple Podcasts and Spotify and YouTube.

• Andrew DiRamio and Nick Maccario won the Mass. Four-Ball in a playoff over Herbie Aikens and Matt Parziale. An incredible quartet battling down the stretch. DiRamio putts with one hand, which puts a whole different spin on last week’s newsletter about putters, loyalty, and mania.

• Dean Godek and Ed Garbacik won the Mass. Senior Four-Ball on Tuesday at Fall River by four shots. Full Recap.

• Some more Bay Staters made it through U.S. Open Local Qualifying this week. One great story is Carter Nunez, a Boatwright intern last summer, shot 69 at Kirkbrae CC in Rhode Island. In addition, GreatHorse will send three players to Final Q - Maccario, Ryan Downes, and pro Chris Tallman. Read about it here.

• Michael Thorbjornsen is playing for Stanford in the NCAA Regional this week, which wraps up on Wednesday. They start the final day outside of the top 5 and at risk of missing the National Championship. Live scoring.

• Rebecca Skoler, the 2023 Women’s Mass. Amateur champion will represent Virginia in the NCAA Women’s National Championship which starts on Friday.

• The Downes family was honored with the Rollie Jacobs Western Mass. Tee Party last week. “Red”, Billy, and Bobby have been stalwarts in the region for many years.

USGA Champs duel at Brae Burn CC

Brae Burn CC is steeped in history. Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Francis Ouimet, Beth Daniel, and Margaret Curtis have all won trophies there. The 2021 Mass. Amateur started like most state amateur events - with a buzz but no expectation that history would be made.

I happened to be at Brae Burn CC when the tournament started on Tuesday morning. Heavy rains pushed the start back one day. I was an alternate, so I was hanging around with my clubs with a thin chance of teeing it up.

I did not.

And boy, was Michael Thorbjornsen lucky I didn’t. I’m no Talor Gooch, but I’m waiting for that asterisk to appear next to Thor’s name on the past winners list on the MassGolf website.

Thorbjornsen, the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, had just finished his freshman year at Stanford and reached the Quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur in 2020 at Bandon Dunes. It was his first Mass. Amateur appearance.

The first hole is a short par 4, the type of hole that has become nearly outdated due to how far players hit the ball. But a creek and bunkers still make many players hit an iron to start their round.

I wrote this about what I saw at the first tee when Parziale and Thorbjornsen stepped up that morning in a piece I wrote following the final.

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