By MARK DURANT
GREENFIELD — Only one of Friday’s Championship Flight matches needed extra holes to decide the outcome, and it involved a recent champion.
Fourth seeds KC Finley of the host club and Cody Booska of Crumpin-Fox Club in Bernardston were pushed to the the brink by 13th seeds Jason Kelton and Jamie Crocker of the host club before prevailing in 19 holes during first-round match play action of the 71st Invitational Four-Ball at the Country Club of Greenfield.
Kelton and Crocker looked primed to spring the upset when Kelton drained a 12-foot birdie putt on 18, but Booska made a clutch 10-footer right after that to force bonus golf.
Booska hit his approach to 10 feet and Finley to 12 feet on the par-4 first hole, while Crocker stopped his second shot 16 feet from the cup and Kelton was out of the hole after an errant tee shot.
Crocker’s birdie attempt came up just short, and Finley ended it when he dropped his putt.
“It was a great battle of golf for us all,” said Booska. “No one got outstanding leads and it was back and fourth all day.”
Added Finley, “It’s always harder to play against current members. This match really should have been a tie but someone had to win … I’m very glad it was us.”
Booska and Finley trailed 1-down at the turn after Kelton chipped in on 9 for birdie, but pulled even by winning 10. Booska knocked in a 7-foot birdie putt on 11 to put them back in front, and they maintained that lead until Crocker knocked his approach to 6 feet on 16 and birdied to square the match. Booska missed a golden opportunity to get the lead back when his 12-foot attempt lipped out.
Booska and Finley advanced to quarterfinals against 2015 finalists and No. 12 seeds Joe Groth and Jared Goss of Tekoa Country Club in Westfield, who survived a tough match to defeat No. 5 seeds Patrick McGuire and Aaron Wheeler, 1-up. That match is set to tee of at 7:39 a.m.
Also in the top half of the bracket, defending champions and top-seeds Dave Kennedy and Nate Burdick of CCG were able to get past 16th seeds Brandon Bete and James Elliott of Crumpin-Fox, 2-up. They’ll head out at 7:48 this morning for a quarterfinal match against ninth-seeded Jeremiah Bayer of CCG and Greenfield native Jay Spofford, who posted a 3 and 2 win over eighth seeds Steve Jones and Chris Varilly.
In the bottom half of the draw, qualifying co-medalists Troy Miller and Scott Serwa, the No, 2 seeds, got their weekend off to a good start with a 3 and 2 win over 15th seeds Bruce White and Lee Craig. Miller and Serwa move on to face seventh seeds Chaki Kobayashi and Rich Kasper, a 1-up winner over 10th seeds Doug Riel and Terry O’Sullivan, today at 7:30 a.m.
Third seeds Paul Vincellette and Kevin Slyne, the other qualifying co-medaliasts, fell in their opening match as 14th seeds Brodie Conant and Max Major claimed a 2 and 1 win. Conant and Major tee it up today at 7:21 a.m. against 11th seeds Paul DeNofrio and Ron Laverdiere, a 3 and 2 winner over sixth seeds Bob Rainville and Joe Wichowski.
4-Ball Notebook: The four Championship Flight quarterfinal winners will move on to the afternoon semifinals, scheduled for 1:38 and 1:47 p.m. respectively. The Championship Flight final is set for Sunday at 1:36 p.m. … Greenfield High School graduate Mike Andrews registered a hole-in-one on the 130-yard, par-3 fifth hole using a gap wedge. Tom Herzig, Cam Merrigan and Patrick Merrigan were the witnesses. … Don Alvarez made the four-hour trip from Rome, N.Y., for the weekend, and was on hand to watch his good friend and past 4-Ball partner Brodie Conant win his match. The always classy and beloved Alvarez — a youthful 68 now — reports that his chronic back issues have subsided, and even hinted that he may try to make a comeback and play in next year’s Invitational — a comeback everybody at CCG wants to see happen. “He’s like my second Dad,” said Conant. “He’s been a role model for me and the all the boys (at CCG) for over 25 years. He’s a true gentleman in every sense of the word … just an awesome, awesome guy.”