MATTAPOISETT, Mass. – Jim Clay and Dominic Scopone of New Seabury on Cape Cod shot a seven-under 64 late in the day to win the 2019 New England PGA Acushnet Pro-Assistant at the Bay Club of Mattapoisett on Monday.
Clay and Scopone made six birdies in their first nine holes and added two more coming in to top two teams who were in the clubhouse at -6.
We really got it going holes two through eight we seemed to ham-and-egg it, a lot of ham, a little bit of egg, he had six birdies,” Clay said after the round.
“We were just hitting it close,” Scopone added. “Jim hit one to about three feet on the first hole and then we just kept the momentum going.”
John Hickson and Henry Fall of Bath CC posted 65 in the morning and held the clubhouse lead for most of the day. After an opening par, the pair made four consecutive birdies, then tacked on two more on their back-nine to shoot a bogey-free 65.
“You typically hear people say they ham-and-egged it, I don’t think we really did that today,” Fall said after the round. “It was more just, we were both in play. That’s why I say we left a few out there because we were both in play so much.”
“What were we, six under? It felt like 12,” Hickson added. “But the ball didn’t always want to go in. It was nice not having a bogey scare us.”
Jeff Martin and Greg MacKay of Wollaston Golf Club matched with a 65 of their own in the afternoon, highlighted by an Eagle from Martin on the Par-5 sixth hole, their 15th of the day.
“I actually hit a good tee ball, one of the few I hit all day,” Martin said of setting up his eagle. “I snuck it around the corner and hit a nice 8-iron there to about 15 feet, and it was one of the few putts I made all day. It’s nice to contribute once in a while.”
Despite the late charge, Martin and MacKay felt they needed to go even lower to win the tournament outright over the final holes.
“On the back nine we were trying to press a little bit,” Martin said. “I made that eagle and he backed it up with a nice birdie. We knew we probably needed one more to get solo first, but we just couldn’t squeeze one out.”
The New England PGA would like to thank the Acushnet Company, Titleist, Vokey Wedges, Scotty Cameron, and Footjoy for supporting today’s event, along with the Bay Club at Mattapoisett and general manager Greg Yeomans.