Nashawtuc CC Golfers Tee Off at State Am This Week

The 102nd Massachusetts Amateur Championship tees off this week at the Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton. Among the nearly 150 golfers competing for the state's highest amateur crown are Nashawtuc Country Club's Jeremy Meade and Dan Cappucci.

The State Am kicked off Monday with 18 holes of stroke play. The field of 144 golfers hail from country clubs across the state.

Meade finished the first round at 14-over 86, placing him in a tie for 131^st place.  Cappucci finished 5-over, shooting a 77 to put him in a tie for 49^th place.  Frank Vana Jr. of Marlborough Country Club is the current leader at 3-under. He has won the State Am twice, once in 2004 and again in 2005.  

The tournament's competitors range in age from 16-year-old Mickey Werenski (The Orchards Golf Club) to 66-year-old Dave Houghton (The Captains Golf Club). 

After two rounds of stroke play – the second is Tuesday – the top 32 golfers will advance to the match play portion of the competition. The round of 32 matches begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The remaining 16 advance to face off in the afternoon. 

After that, the eight who survive will move on to Thursday when the quarterfinal matches begin at 8 a.m. The remaining four players from that will move advance to the afternoon's semifinal matches, setting up the final pairing on Friday morning.   

This will be Myopia Hunt Club's fifth time hosting the event, the last coming in 1996.  The five-day event is free of charge for the general public.

Both Meade and Cappucci qualified for the tournament in nail-biting fashion after each shot a 76 at Taunton's Segregansett Country Club's qualifying round on June 9.  This forced them both into a four-for-three playoff which they both advanced out of, taking two of the last three available spots.

In their qualifying round, the two went up against more than 75 other competitors.