MASCAC Golf Championship Suspended Due to Darkness
With heavy cloud cover rolling in from the outer bands of Hurricane Helene, the first round of the 2024 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s golf championship was suspended due to darkness.
With heavy cloud cover rolling in from the outer bands of Hurricane Helene, the first round of the 2024 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's golf championship was suspended due to darkness.
On what was otherwise a picture perfect day for golf at the Ranch Golf Club in Southwick, Mass., temperatures reached the mid-70s under sunny skies before the clouds rolled in midway through the round.
Plenty of good golf was played before the stoppage with seven groups in the clubhouse and two foursomes left on the course.
Play will resume at 9:00 tomorrow (Sunday) morning, with players picking up from the tee where their round was suspended.
Defending champion Mat Gover (Atkinson, N.H.), a sophomore from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts leads among those in the clubhouse with a 1-under par 71 on the 6,600 yard course. Gover bogeyed his first hole of the day, then blitzed the back side in a 2-under 34, birdieing the 10th, 12th and 16th holes before finishing with a bogey. Gover was both the MASCAC Player and Rookie of the Year in 2023, winning the title at the Meadows at Peabody (Mass.).
Gover is one stroke up on Marymount's Chase Manion (Damascus, Md.) who carded an even-par 72. Manion recorded one bogey and birdied the 16th hole. Marymount won the Atlantic East Conference tournament last season.
Marymount (Va.) and Marywood (Pa.) are newcomers to the MASCAC this season as golf affiliates as Division III leagues continue to re-align.
Salem State's Dan Deliso just beat darkness to finish with a score of 73.
Among other finishers, Springfield's Amir Ardolino shot 75, MCLA's Paul Roeder was at 76 and Worcester State's Jack Ryan went round in 77. Host Westfield State was led by Justin Cataldo's 78.
No team had all five players finish. The field will be re-drawn after the first round is complete, with groups going off for round two at 12 noon on Sunday.
Springfield College is the defending conference team champions. The winner of the conference team title earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament in the Spring of 2025.
The Ranch was named "one of the best new courses in America" when opened and has been named a top 50 public course in America.
EDITORS NOTE (Sunday, 11:15 AM): Saturday's results are now final, and tee times are posted for Sunday's final round.