Swampscott’s Steven DiLisio has been tearing it up at The Country Club in Brookline.
DiLisio, a St. John’s Prep graduate who is entering his senior year at Duke, made it through a very busy day Thursday, and when the dust settled, he earned a berth in the finals of the Massachusetts Amateur Championship.
Six Round of 16 matches were completed following Wednesday’s suspension of play before the start and eventual completion of the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. When it was all said and done, DiLisio and Hopkiton’s Jimmy Hervol were the only ones standing.
DiLisio has another all-day affair on tap Friday, when he and Hervol tee off at 8 a.m. They’ll play 36 holes in heat that has been forecast to be above 90 degrees.
DiLisio was competing in his first career Massachusetts Amateur Championship quarterfinal match Thursday and took down Brockton’s Matt Parziale, the former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion and 2018 U.S. Open low-amateur, 7 and 6, before defeating Walpole’s Jack Boulger of the University of Connecticut in the semifinals, 4 and 3, to punch to the final.
On the opposite side, Hervol tapped in a four-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to defeat Andover’s Brett Krekorian, 1-Up. The 21-year old Hervol, the 2015 Massachusetts Junior Amateur champion, had previously defeated Alejandro Soto, 5 and 3, early Wednesday in the Round of 16 before his defeat of Nick McLaughlin, the 2015 Massachusetts Amateur champion, in the quarterfinal round.
In Thursday’s semifinal, DiLisio and Boulger were even through the first four holes before DiLisio took the first lead of the afternoon by carding a par on the par-4 fifth.
After Boulger answered with a birdie on the par-3 seventh hole, DiLisio entered a stretch of three straight wins on holes 9, 10 and 11 — highlighted by a conceded eagle putt on the par-5 11th hole that saw DiLisio move to 3-up.
Despite Boulger getting one back with a par on 12, trouble on 14 and 15 paved the way for DiLisio to capture the match.
Boulger’s tee shot on 14 landed at the base of a pine tree on the right side, which led to him taking an unplayable lie stroke, and after eventually chipping out of the rough, his approach shot missed wide of the green, providing a pathway for DiLisio to increase his lead back to 3-up.
On the subsequent 15th hole, more trouble off the tee for Boulger allowed DiLisio to capitalize on the par-5 straightaway, and following a successful 10-foot par putt, DiLisio was victorious.
Earlier in the day, DeLisio led Parziale from the word “go.” Playing each other in the match play for the second straight year, DiLisio did not lose a single hole in the 12 played. He collected four birdies on holes 2, 6, 10 and 11 and picked up wins on holes 7, 9 and 12 with pars.
Earlier in the day, Another St. John’s graduate, Chris Franocoeur, fell to Brett Krekorian of Andover, 2 and 1, in the round of 16. After losing the first hole to Amesbury’s Francoeur, Krekorian settled in nicely to the round, picking up victories on holes 4, 5, 6 and 9 to take a 3-up lead headed into his back nine.
Krekorian added insurance with a win on hole 14. Francoeur made it more interesting than Krekorian would have liked, picking up back to back wins on holes 15 and 16. A half on 17 ended Francoeur’s week and sent Krekorian to the semifinals, where he fell to Hervol.