McCormick, Silva Share Lead After Round 1 of RI Amateur
Kirkbrae’s Tom McCormick and Montaup’s Kevin Silva share the lead after the first round of the Rhode Island Amateur at Kirkbrae Country Club.
Both players posted a four-under 68 to take a one shot lead over Tyler Cooke and Brad Valois entering the final round of stroke play on Wednesday.
“I struck it really well, got off to a really good start. I lipped out on 1, 3, 4, 6 and was like firing but I was only one-under. I was hitting it good enough so I just kept trying to go at sticks and be aggressive as possible,” said McCormick after his round.
McCormick, who teed off early in the morning, told GolfNewsRI after the round that he did not expect his four-under to hold up for the day.
Conditions at Kirkbrae were relatively soft given all of the rain, though the greens appeared to speed up later in the day.
Silva was five-under entering the 18th hole, but three-putted the green to fall back to four under and into a tie with McCormick.
Cooke, Valois and Andrew O’Leary each got to four under at one point or another, before falling back.
McCormick’s Round
After lipping out putts on the first few holes, McCormick finally got a birdie to drop on the par-5 sixth hole and then another one on seven to get to two under.
He gave one back on the eighth hole and saved par on the nine to make the turn at one-under.
McCormick saved par on ten and then birdied 11, 12 and 14 to get to four under for the day.
“I just really felt comfortable over the ball, it was going where I wanted it to go, which doesn’t happen all the time. The putter came alive late which was good, made a couple of six footers to save par,” added McCormick.
He tees off at 12:31 p.m. on Wednesday.
Silva’s Round
Silva leaves the first round of the tournament probably feeling like he should have the solo lead.
The two-time U.S. Open competitor opened his first round with two birdies on the front side to make the turn at two-under.
Silva then birdied 11 and 12 to tie McCormick at four under.
He dropped a birdie putt on the par-3 17th to take the solo lead before heading to the 18th hole.
After putting his tee shot in the fairway, Silva hit his second shot to the right fringe of the green with the flag in the center, just below the shelf.
Silva’s first putt nearly went in, but ran by about a foot or so. He missed the short putt to make bogey.
Silva tees off at 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday.