NASHUA, N.H. — James Pleat just keeps rolling along at the New Hampshire Amateur.
The 2013 Dartmouth College graduate cruised to an easy victory on Wednesday morning as the match-play portion of the state amateur golf championship began at Nashua Country Club.
However, the opening day of matches cost the Upper Valley its only other competitor still in the tournament.
Pleat had no difficulty in Wednesday’s opening match, dispatching fellow Nashua competitor D.J. Petropulos, 5 and 4. Pleat took the lead by winning the fourth hole, then gained command with birdies on 7, 8 and 9. Pleat clinched the win on a halved 14th hole.
Pleat won match play’s top seed with a 13-under-par 129 through two rounds of qualifying stroke play earlier this week.
He also won top seed the last time the state am came to Nashua in 2011, eventually losing to Hanover Country Club’s Nick MacDonald in the semifinals.
Pleat will meet 32nd-seeded Ethan Emerson of Laconia CC — a 2-and-1 winner over Nashua’s Russell Hamel on Wednesday — in a round-of-32 match at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Carter’s Pat Pelletier, the fourth seed in the 64-golfer draw, saw his tournament end with a first-round match loss to defending state am champ and 61st seed John Devito, 3 and 2.
Devito, of Litchfield’s Passaconaway Country Club, jumped to a four-hole lead by the turn and held off a comeback attempt from Pelletier, who reduced the deficit to two holes on the back nine but could get no closer.
Round-of-32 winners will compete in round-of-16 contests on Thursday afternoon.
STOWE, Vt. — After two days as playing partners, Kimball Union Academy gradaute Evan Russell and five-time Vermont Mid-Am champ Garren Poirier find themselves both in the Vermont Amateur championship picture at Stowe Country Club.
As the sun set on Wednesday’s rain-slowed second round, Rutland Country Club’s Poirier held the 36-hole tournament lead at 12-under-par 132 following an 8-under 64 that matched the championship’s low round.
With 36 holes to be played on Thursday, Russell remained in the hunt at 6-under 138 following a second-round 68.
Despite several past appearances in U.S. Golf Association national tournaments, Poirier is still seeking his first Vermont Am title. He converted eight birdies in Wednesday’s second round, including the final two holes that gave him a four-shot lead on Mount Anthony’s Cory Jozefiak (72-64-136).
Russell is tied for third with Dorset’s William Hadden. A 2012 KUA graduate, Russell played 4-under golf on the front side, helped by an eagle on the par-5 sixth hole, but an even-par back nine kept him from gaining more ground.
Wilder’s Jay Zanleoni (80-73-153) made the cut for Thursday’s final day on the number. Montague’s Bill Wilkinson (84-78-162) and Lake Morey’s Erik Lindahl 76-81-157) and Brady Hathorn (85-86-171) both missed the cut to continue.