Steven DiLisio (David Colt/Mass Golf)
Playing in his first Mass Golf Championship since winning the 111th Massachusetts Amateur Championship on July 19, Swampscott’s Steven DiLisio aced his final hole and went 4 under over his final four holes to finish the first round of the 52nd Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament at 6-under 65 and lead the field of 53 competitors in the championship division.
Playing in the largest of the three divisions, DiLisio got out to an early start Wednesday by making birdie at the first hole. He added a second birdie on the par-3 sixth hole and made the turn at 1-under 34. Once to the back nine, he tallied two more birdies in addition to an eagle on the par-5 17th before putting an exclamation point on his day with an ace on the par-3 18th hole.
The rising senior at Duke, who earlier in the day was named a Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar for the 2018-19 season, registered his third career ace with the 18-hole tally Wednesday afternoon.
DiLisio leads Old Sandwich Golf Club’s Charlie DuBiel, a rising junior at Cornell; Charles River Country Club’s Conner Willett, a rising junior on the Belmont Hill School boy’s golf team; and Nashawtuc Country Club’s Matt Organisak, a rising senior at Emory, by four strokes apiece after the trio each carded rounds of 2-under 69. DuBiel registered five birdies to three bogeys while Willett, of Wellesley and the 2016 Massachusetts Young Golfers’ Amateur champion, tallied six birdies to four bogeys. Orgsanisak had seven birdies in total.
Dubiel and Organisak were both exempt into this year’s Ouimet Memorial Tournament as a result of their performances in last year’s Ouimet Memorial Tournament, while Willett was exempt into this week’s Championship Proper as a result of his quarterfinalist finish at the 2018 Massachusetts Junior Amateur Championship.
Eddie Lowery Senior Division Highlights
Two days after qualifying for his first U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at The Kittansett Club, in his first attempt nonetheless, North Easton’s Steven Tasho, who plays out of Thorny Lea GC, came out of the gates firing on Wednesday, carding a 4-under 67 to lead the contingent of 29 seniors in this year’s championship. The 60-year old, a two-time former Massachusetts Amateur champion, tallied six birdies to two bogeys to jump out to a five-stroke lead over Plymouth Country Club’s Don Foberg and Franklin Country Club’s Keith Smith, a fellow first-time U.S. Senior Amateur championship qualifier earlier this week.
Women’s Division Highlights
After finishing her first round of the Ouimet Memorial Tournament at 1-under 71, the only competitor in the women’s division to finish under par, Jamaica Plain’s Anne Walsh holds a one-stroke lead over recent University of Richmond graduate Sophie DiPetrillo, of Dover, who had tallied four birdies to two bogeys and a double to finish at even-par.
The 17-year old Walsh, who is coming off her first year at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., got off to a slow start Wednesday after bogeying three of her first five holes, but quickly found her groove by playing par or better on her remaining 13 holes.
View results for Francis Ouimet Memorial
ABOUT THE
Francis Ouimet Memorial
This 54-hole stroke play tournament honors
Francis Ouimet, considered America's First
Golf
Hero and one of the most important figures in
the history of golf. His victory in the 1913
U.S. Open in a stunning playoff upset of
Harry Vardon and Ted Ray is viewed as the
turning point in American Golf. The event, first
played in 1968, one year
after Ouimet's death, is held at
three top Boston-area courses, with the final round
always taking place at the 6,721 yard Woodland Golf
Club (Mr.
Ouimet's home course). The most notable winner to
date is Brad Faxon,
who captured the 1980 event. There are three
divisions: Men, Women, and Senior.
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