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Scores
SHAVERTOWN, Pa. - The first day of the Pennsylvania Golf Association's (PAGA) 112th Amateur Championship featured some incredibly impressive performances at Huntsville Golf Club, led by Matthew Mattioli (Pittsburgh Field Club), who fired a 10-under-par 62 to hold the overnight lead.
Mattioli, who just finished his senior season on the men's golf team at Miami University (Ohio), played a largely mistake-free round, birdieing eight holes in total, adding an eagle on hole No. 12, and capping it all off with a birdie on 18 to earn the lowest competitive round of his career.
"I had a lot of fun and hit it really good all day," said Mattioli. "I've been kind of fighting my driver but I drove it pretty well today, which helped. I hit it close and made most of the putts I looked at, like on 18 -- I knew where my round was at and I had a good look below the hole. I was able to get a little bit of pace, have a confident stroke."
Mattioli is looking forward to some relaxation before gearing up for round two tomorrow.
"I'm staying at Harvey's Lake with some close friends of mine and it was hot out there today, so I'll probably jump in the lake and enjoy it for a little bit," said Mattioli. "The gameplan doesn't really change for tomorrow. This golf course speaks to hitting the ball off the tee and just go fairways and greens, fairways and greens. That's the plan for the rest of the week and hopefully I can just keep it going."
Just one stroke behind the leader is Oakmont Country Club's Rocco Salvitti, whose nine-under 63 also included an eagle on No. 12 and seven other birdies, on 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, and 13. Salvitti just wrapped up his sophomore season on the golf team at Notre Dame, while another Division I golfer, West Virginia's Nicholas Turowski (of Hannastown Golf Club and the recent PAGA R. Jay Sigel Match Play champion), ended the day in third place with an eight-under 64. Turowski began the day on hole No. 9, with a birdie on 16 the only one of his front nine, and then got into some trouble on 18 that may have been the turning point of his round.
"I had hit it into the trees, chipped out, and had maybe 20 feet for par," said Turowski. "I ended up making it and it felt like an eagle for me. The goal today was not to make a bogey, and keeping that bogey off the card was huge to keep all the momentum going."
Turowski then got hot on his back nine, carding six consecutive birdies from holes 1 to 6, then made things interesting on his last hole of the day, finding himself in the greenside bunker after his first two shots on No. 9.
"I needed the range finder for that one," recalled Turowski. "It was a 45-yard bunker shot with the pin on the back of the green. Hardest shot in golf, and I couldn't just chunk and run, I had to fly it there. I had to decide before I hit it... do you want to hit it out to the left, make par probably, or do you want to try to go for it and shoot 29? So I went for it, hit it to two feet, made it, and got 29 on my back nine. My dad was on my bag today and it was his birthday, so the entire goal today was just to have a lot of fun and I hope I made him really happy."
Plenty of other competitors are still in the hunt, though, including Huntsville Golf Club's own Michael Lugiano, whose five-under 67 puts him in sole possession of fourth place. Past him are four golfers tied for fifth place with four-under 68's, including David Mecca (Country Club of Scranton), Hunter Stetson (Aronimink Golf Club), Andy Butler (Huntingdon Valley Country Club), and Timothy Peters (USGA/Western Pennsylvania GC.)
At the end of Tuesday's second round the field will be cut to the low 40 players and ties.
The Pennsylvania Golf Association would like to thank the staff and membership of Huntsville Golf Club for the hospitality shown during today's rounds. Additional thanks go to DICK’S Sporting Goods for sponsorship of the event as the title sponsor of the PAGA.
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