The Massachusetts State Amateur Championship or Massachusetts Amateur is a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

championship held in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

for the state's top

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

golfers. The tournament is run by the Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA) in mid-July each year. The amateur championship is the biggest and most subscribed event on the MGA calendar. Tournament entries are open to any amateur golfer who holds membership in an MGA member club and has an up-to-date MGA/

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

GHIN Handicap Index not exceeding 4.4.MGA Amateur Championship page
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History

The first event was held in 1903 at the

Myopia Hunt Club Myopia Hunt Club is a foxhunting and private country club in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, northeast of Boston. In the early years of the U.S. Open, the club hosted it four times: 1898, 1901, 1905, and 1908. History Myopia Hunt Club was foun ...

and won by Arther Lockwood. Thirty eight contestants entered from the 42 MGA member clubs. Today the tournament holds a field of 144 players from 400 golf facilities across the state. The Championship starts with two days of stroke play. The low 32 scores continue on to

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

competition. Since 1992, five Massachusetts Amateur Champions have turned professional: Trevor Gliwski, Flynt Lincoln,

James Driscoll James Driscoll (born October 9, 1977) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Driscoll was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest of seven children. He grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, outside ...

, Jim Salinetti and

Rob Oppenheim Rob Oppenheim (born January 12, 1980) is an American professional golfer. Early and personal life Born in Salem, Massachusetts, his parents are Jim and Karen Oppenheim. Oppenheim played for the Andover High School golf team, where he made the ...

. The most famous winner of the championship was six-time champion

Francis Ouimet Francis DeSales Ouimet () (May 8, 1893 – September 2, 1967) was an American amateur golfer who is frequently referred to as the "father of amateur golf" in the United States. He won the U.S. Open in 1913 and was the first non-Briton elected ...

, the most successful golfer ever from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Other notable winners include Jesse Guilford,

Dick Chapman Richard Davol Chapman (March 23, 1911 – November 15, 1978) was an American amateur golfer. ''Time'' magazine crowned Chapman "the Ben Hogan of amateur golf". Chapman was born in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was the 1940 U.S. Amateur golf ch ...

and

Eddie Lowery Edward Edgar Lowery (October 14, 1902 – May 4, 1984) was an American caddie, amateur golfer and multi-millionaire businessman. Lowery is best known as the 10-year-old caddie of Francis Ouimet during the 1913 U.S. Open, held at The Country C ...

. Fred Wright holds the record with seven titles (1920, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, and 1938). 2008 marked the 100th playing of the Massachusetts Amateur.

References

{{reflist

External links

Massachusetts Golf AssociationList of winners
1903 establishments in Massachusetts Amateur golf tournaments in the United States Golf in Massachusetts Recurring sporting events established in 1903 Sports competitions in Massachusetts