Ferullo's Albatross Jumps Him Up NH Mid-Amateur Leaderboard to Lead After First Round
Litchfield, NH – After taking a summer off of NHGA tournament golf, Jamie Ferullo jumped right back into it and did not seem to miss a beat. Carding a 68 (-3), which included an albatross on Passaconaway’s 6th hole, Ferullo leads the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur Championship at Passaconaway Country Club after the opening round. Harvin Groft and Jack Kelley trail Ferullo by two strokes, each shooting one-under par 70 to sit in a good position with a lot of golf left in the tournament.
Starting out on Passaconaway’s 10th hole, Ferullo went birdie-birdie to get off to a strong start in his first round back to competitive golf. Despite running into two bogeys on his opening nine, he rolled in an additional birdie to make the turn at one-under par, among the leaders of the tournament.
“I got off to a really good start”, stated Ferullo. “I made a ten-footer on the first hole and hit the flagstick on the second. I haven’t been playing much golf so getting back into tournament mode is always a little bit difficult.”
By the time Ferullo had played his 12th hole, Passaconaway’s 3rd hole, he was one-over par as he made two bogeys in the first three holes of his second nine. However, he made easy work of the par-5, 5th hole with an albatross to add some excitement to his round and jump back up the leaderboard to get to two-under par. With a birdie on his final hole, Ferullo closed out his first round of the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur with a 68 (-3) to lead by two.
Ferullo commented after the round saying, “I made some good putts out there and held it together when I didn’t have my best.”
“Not having seen the golf course before, I missed in the right spots and tomorrow I’ll try to do the same. Overall, I’m very happy with the way the round went”, Ferullo continued.
While he has not played as much competitive golf this season, his personal accomplishments keep stacking up. On top of welcoming his first child early in the summer, Ferullo had his first hole-in-one and now adds his first albatross. He said, “It doesn’t really get much better than that.”
The New Hampshire Mid-Amateur always has a strong field, and this year is no different. Ferullo has a strong field of golfers sitting behind him on the leaderboard as they look ahead to the next round. He said, “There’s a lot of great players out here. I just hope tomorrow to come in and put another solid round together. You never know what can happen on the last day so putting yourself in a good spot to start is exciting.”
Two of those strong competitors behind Ferullo are Jack Kelley and Harvin Groft, who fired one-under par rounds of 70 to be the only other golfers to find themselves in the red numbers. Kelley had one of the steadiest rounds of anyone on the course with just one bogey on his front nine, accompanied by eight pars. He then rolled in two birdies on the back nine with seven more pars to finish the day with a 70 and just two shots back of the leader.
Groft’s round included some peaks and valleys, but he managed to hold it together enough to be among the top three golfers on the leaderboard. Starting on the back nine, one of Groft’s peaks was carding birdie on his first hole but he found some disappointment with a double bogey on Passaconaway’s 13th hole. He was able to roll in one more birdie before making the turn to remain at even par with nine holes left. His second nine consisted of four birdies, one bogey and one double bogey to finish at one-under par. He will look to improve on his errors for round two to put himself in a position to lead the tournament.
The field looks ahead to the second round of the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur at Passaconaway Country Club. After 36 holes are complete, the field will be cut to the low 40 golfers plus ties for the final round.
NH Mid-Amateur | Leaderboard
Starting out on Passaconaway’s 10th hole, Ferullo went birdie-birdie to get off to a strong start in his first round back to competitive golf. Despite running into two bogeys on his opening nine, he rolled in an additional birdie to make the turn at one-under par, among the leaders of the tournament.
“I got off to a really good start”, stated Ferullo. “I made a ten-footer on the first hole and hit the flagstick on the second. I haven’t been playing much golf so getting back into tournament mode is always a little bit difficult.”
By the time Ferullo had played his 12th hole, Passaconaway’s 3rd hole, he was one-over par as he made two bogeys in the first three holes of his second nine. However, he made easy work of the par-5, 5th hole with an albatross to add some excitement to his round and jump back up the leaderboard to get to two-under par. With a birdie on his final hole, Ferullo closed out his first round of the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur with a 68 (-3) to lead by two.
Ferullo commented after the round saying, “I made some good putts out there and held it together when I didn’t have my best.”
“Not having seen the golf course before, I missed in the right spots and tomorrow I’ll try to do the same. Overall, I’m very happy with the way the round went”, Ferullo continued.
While he has not played as much competitive golf this season, his personal accomplishments keep stacking up. On top of welcoming his first child early in the summer, Ferullo had his first hole-in-one and now adds his first albatross. He said, “It doesn’t really get much better than that.”
The New Hampshire Mid-Amateur always has a strong field, and this year is no different. Ferullo has a strong field of golfers sitting behind him on the leaderboard as they look ahead to the next round. He said, “There’s a lot of great players out here. I just hope tomorrow to come in and put another solid round together. You never know what can happen on the last day so putting yourself in a good spot to start is exciting.”
Two of those strong competitors behind Ferullo are Jack Kelley and Harvin Groft, who fired one-under par rounds of 70 to be the only other golfers to find themselves in the red numbers. Kelley had one of the steadiest rounds of anyone on the course with just one bogey on his front nine, accompanied by eight pars. He then rolled in two birdies on the back nine with seven more pars to finish the day with a 70 and just two shots back of the leader.
Groft’s round included some peaks and valleys, but he managed to hold it together enough to be among the top three golfers on the leaderboard. Starting on the back nine, one of Groft’s peaks was carding birdie on his first hole but he found some disappointment with a double bogey on Passaconaway’s 13th hole. He was able to roll in one more birdie before making the turn to remain at even par with nine holes left. His second nine consisted of four birdies, one bogey and one double bogey to finish at one-under par. He will look to improve on his errors for round two to put himself in a position to lead the tournament.
The field looks ahead to the second round of the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur at Passaconaway Country Club. After 36 holes are complete, the field will be cut to the low 40 golfers plus ties for the final round.
NH Mid-Amateur | Leaderboard