BERNARDSTON — The final nine holes of his round on Tuesday were not kind to Jonathan Elkins.
The South Deerfield resident carded a 5-over 41 over the back nine of his second round, finishing outside the cut with a two-round total of 10-over 154 at the 101st Massachusetts Junior Amateur Championship at Crumpin-Fox Club.
“Nothing dropped today,” admitted Elkins, who shot 3-over 75 on Monday and followed with a 7-over 79 on Tuesday. “It was a real grind. The course was so much firmer today. The setup wasn’t much harder but the rain (Monday) definitely made things different then compared to today.”
The 18-year-old finished in a tie for 30th overall, four shots out of a spot in the final 16. Golfers at 6-over 150 or better advanced to today’s Round of 16 match play portion of the event. The semifinals and finals are set for Thursday.
Elkins, who teed off on No. 10 for his Tuesday round, started bogey-bogey but regrouped with a birdie on No. 14. He missed a short putt on No. 17 for another bogey, and took the turn at 2-over for his round, 5-over for the tournament.
“The theme of my front nine was that I wasn’t aggressive enough with putts,” Elkins said. “I should have been in better position than I was (going to the other nine holes).”
At No. 1, Elkins’ 10th hole of the day, he had a par putt lip out, and ran into some serious trouble on the par 4 second hole. His approach missed long, and landed on a downslope. With not much of an angle to work with, his chip went through the green and back down into the fairway. From there, he made double bogey, really putting the pressure on at 5-over for his round.
“I caught a flyer and it took off,” recalled Elkins of the chip on No. 2. “But for me, that bogey on (No. 1), that self-inflicted error was really what turned the round south. I used a gap wedge instead of a pitching wedge and that three-putt just killed everything.”
Needing to make a bit of a move to get back into contention, Elkins rattled off three straight pars to settle down. At the par 4 sixth, he stuck his approach and sank an eight-foot birdie putt to climb back to 7-over for the tournament. With three holes left, he knew he likely needed one more birdie to stay alive.
“At that point, I was digging as deep as I could,” he said. “After that birdie on six, I thought I had a chance.”
He gave himself a long look at birdie on No. 7, but another three-putt dropped him back again. He closed with a par on No. 8, and knowing he needed an ace on the par-3 ninth hole, went at the pin and wound up missing the green for a double-bogey that closed out the 7-over 79 (10-over 154).
Dedham Country & Polo Club’s John Broderick shot 69 on Tuesday, the low round of the tournament, and finished as stroke play medalist with a 2-under 142. Defending champion James Imai of Brookline wound up in solo second place with a 1-under 143, followed by Joseph Lenane and first-round leader Trevor Lopez who tied for third place at even-par 144.
Elkins, who will be a senior at Taft School (Conn.) this fall, has already committed to play collegiately at Villanova in 2020. His playing partners on Tuesday are collegiate-bound this fall, as Danvers’ Jared Mscisz (13-over 157) is headed to Southern New Hampshire University and Southborough’s Jack Tobin (10-over 154) will attend Siena University.