Semifinal Matches Set for Thursday at 91st Four-Ball Championship at Hamilton Farm GC
Pictured: Zach Arsenault
GLADSTONE, N.J. - Wednesday at the 91st Four-Ball Championship was action packed, highlighted by a slew of upsets and stellar golf. In the semifinals, John Havay and Erik Diamond will play Kevin Silvesrti and Matthew Kronisch, while in the other match, John Browndorf and Jack Skirkanich will face Beau Guarino and Zach Arsenault.
Caddie manager at Trump National Golf Club - Bedminster, John Havay and his coworker, Erik Diamond made one of the biggest splashes on the day, taking out top seed Conor Casey and Stephen Walsh in the quarterfinal to advance to the semifinal.
“They're a good group of guys,” said Diamond. “We knew we were going to have a lot of fun. We knew we had to make birdies because yesterday Connor dropped eight birdies, and Stephen made an eagle. We knew it was birdies or bust.”
Although not their first tournament as teammates, the duo is making their first appearance together in the semifinals of the Four-Ball.
“We're around each other 10 hours of the day, so nothing out of the norm playing golf with each other,” laughed Havay.
For Beau Guarino and Zach Arsenault, the duo grinded through both of their matches but their ultimate test came against 2020 Amateur Champion Austin Devereux and his partner, Michael Puorro. They earned their way to the round of 16 via a playoff on Tuesday.
"We get into the playoff yesterday, and then we have this tough match against Austin, who is probably a top three player in the state, so we knew that coming in,” explained Guarino. "Obviously we went into 19 holes, so we feel like we've just kind of had our backs against the wall this whole time, so it feels like house money, but we believe in ourselves as well.”
With their quarterfinal match on the line and 1-down, on the 18th hole, Arsenault stuck his approach shot to four feet to win the hole and extend the match.
“Honestly, not a lot was going on in my head,” recalled Arsenault “I was trying to think about staying focused. I believe in myself, I believe in him (Beau). I had a good feeling we were going to push it to extras.”
The duo is prepared and excited to take a trip to the semifinals.
“I'm just excited to play this course tomorrow,” said Guarino. “I can't wait, this place is awesome and to wake up tomorrow and have a chance at a semifinal match, I think we're both feeling really good about it.”
Jack Skirkanich and John Browndorf head to the semifinals after taking down their opponents in 19 holes and 2&1, respectively. In the morning, after leading 3-up at the turn, the duos lead dwindled as Robert Weise and Jeremy Wall knotted the match on the 18th hole. It took a par on No. 1 to determine the winner of the match.
Kevin Silvestri and Matthew Kronisch round out the semifinal matchups. In their Round of 16 match, the tandem won their match 3&2 and then took out Jonathan Chang and Martyn Wallace 2&1.
Semifinal matches begin at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday and the finale will follow.
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