News Release

For Immediate Release: July 12, 2005

Headline: Keller, Hadges Capture Medalist Honors at State Amateur; Field Reduced to 32 for Match Play

Manchester, MA – After two days of challenging stroke play at Essex County Club, the 2005 Massachusetts Amateur field has been reduced from 144 to only 32 players. Those 32 low scorers from the first two rounds have now earned the right to compete in the Match Play portion of the event, which begins on Wednesday morning.

The first match will commence at 7:00 a.m. with all matches to follow at nine-minute intervals. Winners from the Round of 32 will continue on to the Round of 16 which will take place during the afternoon hours.

Leading the field into Match Play were first-round leader Joe Keller (Hyannisport) and John Hadges (Thorny Lea GC), who finished as this year’s co-medalists with a scores of 1-over par 141. Interestingly, the 1-over par 141 was the exact same medalist score posted in 1993 when the State Amateur was last held here at Essex County Club.

While Keller gutted out a 4-over par 74 this afternoon to follow his tournament low score of 3-under par 67 on Monday, Hadges enjoyed success on Tuesday with a 3-under par 67 round of his own. After making the turn at even par 36, Hadges stepped on the accelerator and posted three birdies through his final nine holes to claim a share of medalist honors.

Also jumping up the leaderboard following round two was Darren Bolton (Larry Gannon Municipal GC), who posted a score of 1-under par 69 for a two-day total of 2-over par 142 and sole possession of third place.

Other notable players who advanced to Match Play on Tuesday were defending champion Frank Vana, Jr. (Marlborough CC), former State Amateur champions David Brilliant (Belmont CC), Steve Tasho (Thorny Lea GC) and Flynt Lincoln (Longmeadow CC), 2004 Massachusetts Public Links Champion Bill Drohen (Bradford CC), the 1992 MGA Player of the Year Jack Kearney (Elmcrest CC) and 2002 New England Amateur Champion Kevin Quinn (Charles River CC).

Highlights from Day 2:
- Andy Drohen (St. Anne CC), champion of this event in 2003, was unable to rebound from a disappointing 9-over par 79 performance on Monday to advance to Match Play. Drohen finished with a two-day score of 10-over par 150.
- This year’s cut line fell at 9-over par 149, which represents the fifth lowest cut-line score since the cut line was established back in 1978.
- More than 750 entries were received for this year’s State Amateur. This Championship represents the most subscribed event on the MGA Championship schedule.