Michael Martel’s par putt dropped at the ninth hole, and while gathering his ball out of the cup, the Nashua Country Club golfer took a quick glance at the scoreboard.
He was 4-under for the New Hampshire stroke play championship, two shots back of leader Damon Salo. And suddenly, the deficit wasn’t looking all that steep.
“I got that sense after 9,” he said. “I was 5-under on the front, so I figured it’s anybody’s game right now. I’m right in it.”
It took the round of his life, but Martel was as accurate in his assessment as he was on the shots he fired all over Beaver Meadow Golf Course. The New Ipswich resident closed with three straight birdies to pull even with Bretwood’s Salo, then prevailed on the third playoff hole to earn his first stroke play state title.
Martel’s final-round 65, which consisted of 10 birdies, put him at 6 under for the tournament. It placed him into a 72-hole tie with Salo, who shot a 65 in the morning’s third round to begin the final round three shots ahead of the field – and three clear of Martel.
“The second round (Wednesday) I played well. I shot 1 under, I played well. Didn’t make too many mistakes,” Salo said. “I didn’t give up too many strokes at all. Mikey played a hell of a round. Ten birdies, that’s just insane.”
Manchester Country Club’s Ryan Tombs – who was 9-under for the 36-hole day – finished third at 5 under, and Ridgewood’s Jim Cilley and Bretwood’s Cameron Salo were tied for fourth at 4 under.
Concord Country Club’s Matt Paradis, in danger of missing the cut after an opening-round 81, had his third straight par-or-better round with a 69 to finish sixth at 3 under.
They all seemed to be playing for second place behind Salo – until Martel made his charge. Three down with three holes to go, he made a tricky putt on Beaver Meadow’s undulating 16th green, then sank a 12-footer on the 17th to head to the 18th needing one more birdie to force the playoff.
“Both of them were snappers. About a foot and a half of break,” he said about the putts. “After I made it at 17, I was like ‘I’m going to birdie 18.’ I was locked in, I was set.”
There was never a doubt. He blasted his drive to the end of the fairway just shy of the green, setting up a textbook up-and-down for even more golf at the end of a 36-hole day.
Martel could feel the pressure. And he was feeding off of it.
“It was more like motivation,” he said. “I was definitely nervous. I mean, I’m nervous every time I tee it up. But you can use it as a good energy, you know?”
Salo and Martel parred the 10th, then the 18th holes to force a return to the par-5 10th for the third playoff hole.
Salo smashed his drive down the fairway but pushed his second shot left, and with tree branches impeding his motion, left his chip short. A duffed fourth shot opened the door for Martel, who took the win with a two-putt for par.
“I can’t remember a stretch where I’ve stayed in it (like that),” he said. “Mentally, I was very strong the whole day. I was rolling the rock great all day. And finally, they dropped at the end.”
It was the kind of effort necessary to deny Salo, who made nine birdies of his own in the rain-soaked third round to take the three-shot lead over his brother, Cameron, and Tombs. And Salo made it a point to keep the field at bay; he used a 2-iron on shorter holes to stay out of trouble, and when he did find it, it was almost by design.
“Throughout the tournament I just focused on what I could miss and where I could miss,” said Salo, a runner-up at this tournament to Chelso Barrett in 2013. “That helped me out a lot, because a lot of it’s really thin, the grass out there. … I knew where I could miss around the green, which was big.”
Even when the field seemed to be threatening, Salo responded. He rolled in putts of more than 20 feet for birdie on 8 and 9.
After a bogey on 14 trimmed his lead to two, he bombed his drive on the long par-4 15th, stuck his approach shot and came away with a clutch par to protect the advantage.
“I tried as hard as I could to give myself more looks at birdie, like I did the (third) round,” Salo said. “I missed a few more greens, and I had longer birdie putts. … The putter saved me.”
Two putts got away, however – one that lipped out on the first playoff hole that would have given him the win, and another on 18 that would have sealed a regulation win.
“I said ‘I need to make this birdie,’ ” he said. “I had a four-footer, and I was like ‘I need to make birdie. I don’t want them to mess up.’ ”
The putt slid just wide, and Martel had his opening.
“I’m really fortunate where I finished,” said Salo, who briefly considered withdrawing after an opening-round 79. “I wasn’t really expecting to be this close.”
Cilley began the two-round day in a tie for second, one shot back of Cameron Salo, but couldn’t keep up with the winning pace despite shooting a final-round 68.
“I’m proud of myself for the way I hung around and made some birdies in the afternoon,” Cilley said. “Finally got it going.”
It could have been better. A scoring error gave him a 5 instead of a birdie 4 for chipping in on the 16th hole, and a poor drive that resulted in a triple-bogey 7 on the 15th in the morning presented another if-only.
“That was really the only bad swing,” he said. “Take that away and make a par there, and don’t have a clerical error on the scoring table … I could have had a shot to be in it.”
Loudon’s Travis Landry was tied for fifth at the start of the final round after a morning 69, but a 2-over 74 brought him to 4 over for the tournament and a tie for eighth.
Pembroke Pines’s Josh LaCasse and Loudon’s Bob Landry finished tied for 14th at 10 over, Pembroke Pines’s Ricky Bergevin was tied for 32nd at 24 over and Beaver Meadow’s Eric Saucier was 34th at 25 over.
(Drew Bonifant can be reached at 369-3340, abonifant@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @dbonifant.)