Competitive Course Record Set in Mass Am at Taconic Golf Club
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — It didn’t take long for memories to be made and records to be broken at the 108th Massachusetts Amateur Championship.
During round one of the Massachusetts Golf Association’s marquee amateur event, Jake Shuman (Blue Hill CC) fired a competitive course record score of 7-under par 64 to set the pace at Taconic Golf Club.
Shuman, a rising junior at Duke University, carded seven birdies and zero bogies on Monday to post a score that is three strokes better than the course record previously held by Bill Hadden and set during the 2016 club championship.
“Controlling the trajectory and distance is huge on these greens,” said Shuman, who was named to the 2015-16 All-ACC Academic Team. “There is so much slope in them. I didn’t make a birdie putt over 10 feet today. Everything was inside of that, so it speaks to the ball-striking side of today.”
Among golfers of local interest, Robert Linn (Berkshire Hills) carded a plus-4 round of 75 to tie for 42nd in the 144-player field. Jake Mahoney of Greenock in Lee carded an 8-over 79, and Forest Park’s Chad Alibozek finished the first round at plus-11 82.
Stroke play concludes with Round 2 on Tuesday starting at 7:30 a.m. The low 32 move on to match play with two rounds on Wednesday, the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Thursday and the 36-hole final on Friday.
On Monday, Shuman found an early rhythm and a clear comfort level on the historic Williamstown layout that was originally designed in 1927 by Wayne Stiles of Stiles & Van Cleek and renovated in 2009 by renowned golf course architect Gil Hanse of Hanse Golf Course Design, Inc.
On his first hole of the day – the 470-yard, par 5 1st hole – Shuman found the green with a mid-iron approach to set up a two-putt birdie. Two solid wedge shots on the 6th and 7th holes led to birdies and allowed Shuman to make the turn at 3-under par 32.
He continued his stellar play on the back nine which featured the three hardest playing holes on this day. Shuman played his final nine holes at 4-under par.
“When I got out of position, I made a couple of good eight-foot par putts which was great,” said Shuman. “I have been working hard with my coach [Brendan Walsh, head golf pro at The Country Club] and it worked out today.”
Shuman was also quick to credit the two competitors he was paired with on Monday, who are very familiar faces to the Needham native. After all, Shuman, Patrick Frodigh (Dedham C&PC) and Peter French (Maplegate CC) grew up playing the New England junior circuit.
“Playing with Peter and Patrick made it a pretty easy going day for us,” said Shuman. “It felt like a tournament but lower key because I know them and don’t have to go through the whole ‘Who are you?’ kind of thing. It was fun.”
