GolfNewsRI

For the second straight year, Bobby Leopold captured medalist honors at the Rhode Island Amateur on Tuesday at Warwick Country Club. 

Leopold finished the medal play portion of the vent at three-under par to edge out Jonathan Cooper and Bennett Masterson by one shot. 

“I didn’t have my A-game today but my short game was really good today which is nice because going into match play it is nice to know that if you put yourself in trouble, you can get up and down,” said Leopold after the round. 

Leopold, the defending champion, will enter the match play portion of the event as the number one overall seed. 

“It doesn’t matter at the end of the day. Once you get to match play it is anyone’s game. I was the 64-seed in the U.S. Amateur and took down the number one seed 15 years ago and the guy played, probably ten shots better than me. Match play is a weird animal,” Leopold told GolfNewsRI after the round. 

At the time of this posting, players are still on the course and the brackets have not yet been set.  

Scoring HERE 

Leopold’s Final Round 

Unlike on Monday, the winds were significantly greater on Tuesday and the greens a little faster, making conditions tricky for the players. 

Leopold opened with a birdie on the second hole to get to five-under for the tournament. 

He gave it back with a bogey on five, but got that back with a birdie on six. 

However, Leopold bogeyed both the seventh and eighth holes to fall out of the lead. 

“I was leaking a little oil type of thing, I’m not going to say I was getting tired but the sun and the wind beating down on you. The course, the greens looked really firm and fast and they were not as firm and fast as they looked,” explained Leopold. 

Leopold would save par on the ninth and then par out the rest of the way to stay at the three-under number. 

“I just had to tell myself, you’re playing good, you’re hitting it good, just keep hitting the shots that you know you can hit. I steadied the ship on the back nine, had some chances to make birdies, but made some good up and downs so it was kind of nice,” said Leopold. 

Now he awaits his first round opponent for a match that will take place bright and early on Wednesday morning. 

Bennett Masterson 

Of course, there is another side to this story and that is Bennett Masterson. 

While Leopold bogeyed seven and eight, Masterson birdied seven, 11 and 13 to get to six-under par for the tournament. 

He had a three-shot lead standing on the 14th tee. 

However, Masterson bogeyed the par-5 16, doubled the 16th and bogeyed the 17th to fall one shot back of Leopold.

“No it was not a super fun finish, a couple of bad tee balls. The wind sorta switched on me on 16. 17 was playing really hard so I wasn’t really mad at that and I played 18 well. It’s really just one bad swing, but the course was playing super hard today and 70 is a good score,” Masterson told RIGA after the round.  

On 18, Masterson had a good look at birdie and a chance to tie for medalist honors, but the putt just slid by. 

Masterson finished in a tie for 2nd with Cooper and will be the third seed heading into match play.