AMHERST – As he approached the 18th green, Mark Gould thought he’d have to make a perfect shot to have a chance to win the Amherst Golf Club’s men’s championship.
Turns out, he had nothing to worry about. He made an incredible approach shot and sunk his putt to win the club’s red jacket – his second in three years and sixth overall – with a two-round total 148, edging Gary Carter Sr. by three strokes and Matt Cormier by four.
“Yesterday was probably the best I’ve played all year. Today was just the opposite, I just struggled, but I tried to get the ball to the hole and keep moving on,” Gould said after accepting the championship trophy from club professional Michael Archibald and president Ken Parrell. “It was a tale of two different days, but it all added up to a win.”
Gould shot a 71 in the opening round to open up a three-stroke lead over Tom Burge while both Cormier and Carter sat four back. Gould had a solid front nine in the final day, but struggled a bit on the back nine allowing Carter and Cormier to keep pace.
“I was one over on the front nine so I thought I was in pretty good shape and then I started stumbling on the back. I bogeyed 10, 13, 15, 16 and 17 and then on 18 I thought I needed par just to make a playoff. When I got in, they said I won by three.”
Gould said the course was in ideal shape and conditions, although challenging at times, didn’t impact his game.
Cormier, who last won in 2015, was in the hunt until the final hole before hitting an errant shot on Number 18 that left him four strokes back of Gould.
“It was great to be able to play again this year after not being able to play last year,” Cormier said. “I played all right, but just couldn’t make any birdies or make the putts that I needed. I knew I was in contention and knew I had to make some good shots to catch Mark, but it just didn’t happen for me.”
Carter Sr. took low gross honours in the first division with a 151 with Cormier taking second gross at 152 and Tom Burge winning third gross at 152. Low net honours in the division went to Ken Parrell with Brad Black taking second net and Gary Estabrooks winning third low net.
Joel Stronge with a 155 claimed low gross honours in the second division with Jim Coates finishing with second low gross and Cale Burke winning third low gross. Low net in the second division as claimed by Derrick Acton with Ted Mills claiming second low net and Kurt Duggan winning third low net.
In the third division, low gross honours went to Cayne Amos at 170 with Peter McCabe claiming second low gross and Corey Skinner third low gross. Dr. Kris Bienkhowski took low net honours in the division with Eric Richard taking second low net and Bob Goldrich took third low net.
Wayne Hurley won low gross honours in the fourth division with Rod Wood winning second low gross and Roger MacIsaac winning third low gross. Low net honours went to Bill Murphy with second low net going to Charlie Seymour and third low net going to Dale Fawthrop.
The second day of the championship also saw Jeff Walsh ace the Par 3 15th hole.
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
