After two grueling rounds of stroke play and then another four rounds of match play, the finals for the 112th Massachusetts Amateur Championship have been set as Nick Maccario (Bradford CC) will face off against Matthew Organisak (Nashawtuc CC). The two remaining competitors will face off for 36 holes of match play beginning at 8 a.m. Friday at The Kittansett Club.
Thursday opened with the quarterfinal round, with Maccario taking down Benjamin Spitz (George Wright GC) by a score of 1-up and Organisak beating Andrew McInerney (Charter Oak CC) by a score of 3 and 2. The other two winners of the quarterfinal round were Matt Parziale (Thorny Lea GC) and Chris Francoeur (Amesbury G & CC).
In the semifinal round, Maccario — who played his high school golf at St. John’s Prep before playing collegiately at St. Anselm — was matched up with Parziale in a battle of former Massachusetts Mid-Amateur champions (Maccario won in 2019; Parziale won in 2015 and 2016). After remaining tied through the first three holes, Parziale — who won the US Mid-Amateur in 2017 and played in the 2018 Masters — took a 3-up lead after seven holes. Maccario slowly whittled away at the deficit, and by the turn to the back nine Parziale was just 1-up. The score remained there until Maccario tied things up on the 13th hole with a par. After remaining tied for two more holes, Maccario took the lead with the eventual match-winner on the 16th hole, making birdie on the 403-yard par 4 to win 1-up.
The second matchup was much more back-and-forth. Francoeur — a former St. John’s Prep star who currently plays his college golf at Rhode Island — took a 1-up lead on the fourth hole before giving it right back to Organisak on the sixth hole. Organisak — who won the 2019 Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament — remained in the lead until the ninth hole, when Francoeur tied it back up with an eagle on the 411-yard par 4. But Organisak retook the lead on the 11th hole and eventually stretched it to 3-up by the 14th hole. Despite a late run by Francoeur that tied the match up on the 17th hole, Organisak was able to get the 1-up win after making par on the par-4 18th.
Maccario and Organisak will play 36 holes of match play to determine the winner of the 112th Massachusetts Amateur Championship. The pair will tee off from the first hole at The Kittansett Club at 8 a.m. Friday.