Concord’s Ryan Sylvester scored the biggest upset of the 120th New Hampshire State Amateur Championship on Thursday, but Laconia’s Evan Rollins picked up an even bigger one on Friday at Manchester Country Club.

Sylvester (Concord Country Club) upset No. 3 Will Ducharme (GC of New England), 1 up, and went on to defeat No. 14 Austin Fox (Derryfield CC) later on Thursday to book a spot in Friday’s quarterfinal.

Rollins (Laconia CC) took down No. 1 seed Mathew Gover (Atkinson), 3 and 2, on Friday morning to punch his ticket to the final four. Rollins won the second and fourth holes to take an early lead, and won two more on the back nine to secure the victory.

Sylvester’s run fell just short of that mark, losing to two-time champion James Pleat (Nashua CC), the 22nd seed, 3 and 1. The pair split the first two holes of their match, but Dartmouth College graduate Pleat (the 2020 and 2021 champion) went on a run, winning the fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes.

Sylvester won the 10th to get one back, but nobody claimed the next six holes. Pleat pared the 17th hole, while Sylvester bogeyed, clinching Pleat’s spot in the semis.

Rollins was slated to play No. 21 Rob Henley (Lake Sunapee), a New London resident, who won five holes on the back nine to defeat No. 36 Jon Dyer (Nashua CC), 3 and 1. Dyer birdied the eighth hole to go up by two holes before Henley mounted his comeback.

Pleat and No. 7 Jack Pepin (Atkinson) were the other semifinal pairing after Pepin defeated No. 2 Ryan Brown (Passaconaway CC) in the quarters.

Semifinal results were not available at press time.

The two winners will play two full rounds of 18 holes on Saturday morning to determine the state am champion.

]]>