It was the deepest run ever for Turners Falls’ Cody Booska at the 109th Massachusetts State Amateur.
The 21-year old golfer saw his impressive march through the field and bracket at Charles River Country Club in Newton come to an end Thursday, falling in the quarterfinals of match-play.
“It was definitely a great experience,” explained Booska, who finished his week having played five rounds in four days. “And it was awesome to have my dad (Dennis) on the bag, too. We had a lot of fun. I played against some new people, met some new people. All around, it was a great experience for me. I can’t really be disappointed with anything.”
Booska’s day began with just one hole of action in the morning to wrap up his Round of 16 match that was postponed due to lightning after 17 holes Wednesday. Holding a 1-up lead over top-seed Steven DiLisio of Salem Country Club, Booska finished off the victory with a par on the 18th hole, halving with DiLisio and claiming a 1-up win to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in his MassAm career.
“I’m not going to lie, it was a little nerve-wracking,” Booska said of the start to his day. “I haven’t had nerves for awhile in golf but that was definitely nerve-wracking. Going to bed with a 1-up lead, having it all come to a head on the 18th hole. We went into it saying, ‘Let’s just go out there and make a par and try and make (DiLisio) have to birdie to beat me.’ I hit my drive down the middle, 6-iron into the back of the green and two-putted for par. He missed his birdie putt so I was able to do my job.”
Booska, seeded 16th in the field, then drew Longmeadow Country Club’s Billy Walthouse, the tourney’s No. 9 seed, with a spot in the semifinals on the line. The quarterfinal match was one of big momentum shifts, as Booska, playing out of the Country Club of Greenfield, shifted things in a hurry after finding himself 1-down after six holes. He won the next four holes, taking advantage of three bogeys from Walthouse to snag a 3-up lead after 10.
“We both kind of struggled on the front 9 and it became a short-game battle early on,” Booska said. “I was lucky enough to get a couple more balls in there and take that nice lead.”
The momentum shifted from there, however, as Walthouse won holes 11 and 12, trimming the Booska lead to 1-up. It stayed that way until the 15th, where Walthouse won the first of three consecutive holes. Walthouse, who just graduated from the University of Rhode Island, where he played for four years, birdied both par 5s (15 and 16), and came up with a par on 17 to win that hole for a 2 & 1 victory that sent him to the semifinals.
“I didnt play my best today and I kind of felt like I more or less handed it to him,” lamented Booska. “I wish I could’ve put myself in better positions to make putts that would’ve mattered. Those par 5s, 15 and 16, you have to birdie those. They’re both pretty straightforward. I gave myself a chance but not as much as I should’ve, especially against a golfer as good as Billy. Coming down the stretch, something clicked for him and he turned it on.”
Walthouse would eventually lose to fourth-seeded Matt Cowgill in a 19-hole marathon match, setting up a 36-hole championship today between Cowgill and third-seeded Matt Parziale, who also needed 19 holes to win his semifinal match.
“It’s disappointing any time you lose, but I’m looking at it as there were about 150 players in the field and I was in the top eight at the end,” Booska explained. “Every tournament I play in, I learn different things. This was huge for me. All those guys in the (quarterfinals) with me, they’ve all either won big tournaments like this or been right in these positions before. This was kind of a first time for me in a bigger tournament, so it was a really good learning experience.”
Spending the week learning a new golf course at Charles River was also a positive for Booska, who said that, despite very difficult greens, the track was outstanding.
“I love that golf course,” he offered of Charles River. “You could tell it’s one of those courses where the more you play it, the easier it gets for you. But we still had trouble reading the greens all week. They’re definitely tricky.”
While Booska plans to take a few days off after a grueling week on the links, his summer schedule shows no signs of slowing down. He’ll compete in the 2017 New England Amateur Championship at Metacomet Country Club in East Providence, R.I., beginning on Tuesday, and he’ll follow that up by playing in a qualifier for the U.S. Amateur Championship on July 24 at Crestview Country Club in Agawam. The U.S. Amateur is slated for Aug. 14-20 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.