Glastonbury's Goode advances to CSGA Junior Amateur final
Jul. 9—Connor Goode of Glastonbury Hills Country Club advanced to the final of the 80th Connecticut Junior Amateur Thursday at Watertown Country Club.
The 17-year-old rising senior at Glastonbury High earned a 2-and-1 win over Elias Kennon (Golf Performance Center) in the quarterfinals and a 3-and-2 win over Bennett Ostern (Hop Meadow CC) in the semifinals.
Goode, the 31st seed in the 32-golfer bracket, will play No. 4 seeed and reigning champ Matthew Doyle (Madison CC) in the championship match at a date and time to be determined. The match was originally set for today but was postponed.
In his semifinal match, Goode took the lead with a birdie on the par-4 third. Ostern tied it on the fifth, but Goode used an up-and-down to save par on the par-5 seventh to regain the lead. He led the rest of the way.
After making the turn at 1-up, Goode increased his lead to 3 up with pars at 13 and 15. Following a weather delay, Goode sank a 10-foot putt from the fringe to halve the 16th and win the match.
"A big thing about match play is just keeping the momentum," Goode said "All of those par putts I made, for example a 10-footer on 11 to tie the hole and keep my one-up lead. Those allowed me to keep my momentum and stay in control of the match."
In the quarterfinals in the morning, Goode and Kennon were tied before Goode won the ninth and 10th holes to move 2-up. Kennon trimmed his deficit by winning the 12th hole. The golfers halved the next four holes before Goode took the match with a par on the par-4 17th.
Doyle earned a 6-and-5 win over Luke Stennett of Twin Hills Country Club and a 4-and-3 win over Vasily Konachenkov in the semifinals.
