Just like they did last year, Matthew Paradis and Jim Cilley once again started strong at the New Hampshire State Amateur Golf Championship.
Paradis, who plays out of Concord Country Club and is from Hooksett, is tied for second after carding a 3-under 69 on Monday at Laconia Country Club in the 113th playing of the State Am. Paradis is tied with Matthew Burroughs (playing for the Manchester Golf Matches Association), and the two of them are two shots behind the 67 posted by the leader after day one, Austin Fox (Legends Golf NH).
Last year, Paradis also shot a 69 on the opening day of the State Am. He was tied for fifth after two rounds of stroke play at the Mt. Washington Resort Golf Club before reaching the Round of 16 in match play.
This year’s field of 144 golfers will be cut down to 64 after today’s round.
Penacook’s Cilley, the 2011 state am champ, shot a 70 Monday at Laconia, leaving him tied for fourth with three other golfers. Cilley earned the No. 13 seed last year, going into the 64-deep match play portion of the tournament before losing to Concord’s Bob Mielcarz in the Round of 32.
Cilley (Ridgewood Country Club) tees off at 7:40 a.m. today in a group that includes one of the three he’s tied with for fourth, Ryan Tombs (Manchester Country Club), as well as Brett Wilson (The Golf Club of New England), who shot a 74 to tie him for 16th overall, in what looks like one of the strongest trios of the day.
Doug Champagne, who plays out of Concord Country Club and won the Division III 2015 individual golf title for Bow High, is tied for 10th after shooting an even-par 72. One of the golfers Champagne is tied with is last year’s champion, Connor Greenleaf (Windham Country Club). Travis Landry (Loudon Country Club) is one stroke behind those two at 73 (tied for 13th).
Matt Levins (Beaver Meadow Golf Course) is one of eight golfers who shot a 75, leaving them all tied for 26th. Sitting one stroke behind Levins at 76 are Will McLaughlin (Concord Country Club), Bo Harris (Concord Country Club) and Josh LaCasse (Pembroke Pines Country Club), who is a former teammate of Champagne’s at Bow High.
Levins’s former Concord High teammate, Kurt Eddins (Pease Golf Course), is one of 10 golfers who shot a 77 on Monday and wound up tied for 47th. Troy Demers (Pembroke Pines Country Club) and Bob Landry (Loudon Country Club) are the local golfers in that pack of 10 sitting at 77.
Other local golfers on the course Monday included Jonathan Lorden (Concord Country Club, 79, t-67th), Charlie McNeeley (Country Club of New Hampshire, 81, t-91st), Ryan Phinney (Beaver Meadow Golf Course, 82, t-101st), Travis Banga (Canterbury Woods Country Club, 82, t-101st), Thomas Aragona, Jr. (Lochmere Golf & Country Club, 82, t-101st), Jack Benson (Den Brae Golf Course, 83, t-109th), Howard Cullen (Lochmere Golf and Country Club, 83, t-109th), Ricky Bergevin (Pembroke Pines Country Club, 83, t-109th) and Derek Jensen (Beaver Meadow Golf Course, 83, t-109th).
This is the sixth time the Laconia Country Club has hosted the State Am. The first time was in 1930 and the most recent was in 2004.