Mattare Going Strong at U.S. Mid-Amateur
Matt Mattare of Jersey City is the lone representative from New Jersey to advance into today’s match-play Round of 32 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at the Charlotte Country Club in Charlotte, N.C. A skin-of-the-teeth survivor of Sunday’s 16-man playoff, Mattare posted an impressive first-round win.
Mattare, who plays out of Darlington Golf Course, on Monday ousted 2017 medalist and this year’s No. 3-seed Brad Tilley, of Easton, Conn., 2 and 1 in the Round of 64. Mattare has some history in the U.S. Mid-Am, having been the 2013 stroke-play medalist.
More recently, Mattare was runner-up to Peter Barron of Stone Harbor in the 2017 NJSGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck. He was T10 at the NJSGA Open this summer. On Tuesday, Mattare defeated Brett Tomfohrde of Chicago, 2 and 1, to move into Wednesday's Round of 16.
New Yorker Darin Goldstein, a member of the Bayonne Golf Club, on Monday conceded his match to Rusty Mosley, of Vidalia, Ga., after nine holes due to a back injury. Mosley held a 3-up lead at the time of the concession.
2016 U.S. Mid-Am champion Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Cal. – but with many ties to this region – is still alive in this year’s event. Hagestad has New Jersey caddie John Doherty (a.k.a. JD) on his bag and together they cruised to an 8-and-6 first-round victory over Bradley Wohlers of Vadnais Heights, Minn.
Hagestad, 27, joined reigning U.S. Senior Amateur champion Jeff Wilson, 55, of Fairfield, Calif., and stroke-play medalist Stephen Behr, 25, of Florence, S.C., in the next round. Wilson and Hagestad squared off in the Round of 32 on Tuesday morning with Hagestad winning, 3 and 2.
