By Richard Rapp
rrapp@massgolf.org
HAMPDEN, Massachusetts (July 10, 2025) – On the 11th hole of his morning match, Ryan Downes (GreatHorse) was in a spot of bother. True, he was 5 up, but his driving iron from the fairway had ricocheted off a tree and caromed dead right into the fescue of an adjacent hole. As Downes eyed the shot at hand, his caddy ambled up towards the green. “What are you doing?” Downes asked, waving him off. “I know what I need to do.” He knocked it on the green and made his par.
When Downes needs to do something, he has an uncanny way of making it happen. Winning his second Massachusetts Amateur on his home course is clearly something he covets. Something he needs to do. It was evident on the back nine of his semi-final match with Joey Lenane (George Wright). Lenane, a rising senior at NC State, struck an imposing wolfish pose all week. Stoic and deliberate. When he poured in a long birdie putt on the 9th hole to go 3 up on Downes, his face betrayed nothing. A sizable crowd of Downes supporters groaned.
Down but not out, their local kid, who they’d seen silhouetted on the practice green since boyhood, birdied 10, then 11, then 13 and 14 to pull even. They matched pars on 15 and 16, Lenane flashing his short game to stay in it. On 17, Lenane laid back a bit off the tee, a good 30 yards behind Downes, then put the pressure on by throwing a dart up the hill to 3 feet. Downes followed with a very proper three-quarter wedge to 12 feet. Behind the 8-ball? Maybe, but he buried it for his 5th birdie of the back nine, letting out a primal “Come on!” that notched a decibel above the gallery’s roar of approval.
“Man, I really want this one for everyone who supports me up here,” said Downes. “A U.S. Amateur exemption on the line. I just want to get my name on that trophy again.”
The two matched scrambling pars on 18, sending the large crowd that had blanketed the hillside along the 18th shuffling their way towards one. Who wasn’t thirsting for a little bit more of this match? The tee box was set way back on a neatly mown rectangle attached to the practice green. From that vantage point, it looks like you’re driving off edge of a furry fescued earth.
Lenane found the fairway, but pulled his downhill approach to the back left of the green, leaving a daunting putt through the heavily swaled heart of the green. Downes’ drive was right of the cart path, but with a better angle to the center-right pin. His approach settled on a downslope, 14 feet past the hole. Lenane’s first putt slid 7 feet by, and he couldn’t hole the comebacker, marking the end of an all-timer.
“I can say confidently, it was probably one of the best matches I’ve ever been a part of. Joey and I were both playing really well. I made a couple mistakes on the front nine and kind of gave him a couple holes, but I just battled back really well,” said Downes. “Cole told me on the bag, shoot 30 on the back nine, and you can win this thing. I shot 31, and we’re going to extra holes. I feel bad, that should have been the final match is kind of how it felt like. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’ll be a fun match, but it’s kind of hard to beat today.”
Patrick Kilcoyne (Woodland Golf Club) awaits Downes for the 36-hole final. He’s the Cinderella story of this championship, and that is not lost on him. “Coming into the week, I was just trying to make match play. Match play is just a bonus. I wasn’t expecting to make it this far, but I’m really excited to tee it up tomorrow.”
The rising senior at Division III Gettysburg College has been a thorn in the side of the GreatHorse contenders all week. First, he felled the owner/president Guy Antonacci in the round of 32, then in this morning’s round of 8 he took down member Billy Walthouse. The crowd won’t be openly hostile tomorrow, it’s a classy bunch, but they’ll certainly be pulling for the prodigal son of their Head Professional.
Kilcoyne seized control of his semi-final match against Aiden Emmerich (Kernwood Country Club) with back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th.
“10 and 11 were really big for me. I hit the same pitch shot. I was right next to my divot on 10 this morning. My ball had traveled down the slope, so I took it a little further left and had a nice tap in birdie there,” said Kilcoyne. “And then the same on 11. I went for it in two and had a nice chip shot form over the green and made a nice four footer for birdie.”
The window for Emmerich opened a bit on 14 and 15, when Kilcoyne made consecutive bogeys. With his lead trimmed to 1 up, Kilcoyne rolled in a birdie putt to close out the match with conviction. The majority of the eyes will be on Downes tomorrow, that’s for sure. But Kilcoyne ought not be overlooked. Nor should his headwear, which has varied from Red Sox rope cap to BBQ joint chic.
“I just started buying hats, and if I see it and like it, I get it. I got this one from a BBQ place in Texas when we had a tournament down there (with Gettysburg). I saw the hat and I liked it. I think I’ve run out, but maybe I can surprise you tomorrow.”
Maybe he can.
View this post on Instagram
LIVE STREAM: Mass Golf will broadcast the final match live on social media. Follow @playmassgolf on Instagram to access the stream.
Hometown: Belmont, MA
School: Gettysburg College
Accolades:
ROAD TO THE FINAL
Stroke Play: 75-69–144 (E)
R32: Def. Guy Antonacci, 4&2
R16: Def. Alan Rose, 2&1
Quarterfinals: Def. Billy Walthouse, 3&2
Semifinals: Def. Aidan Emmerich, 2&1
Hometown: Longmeadow, MA
School: Vanderbilt University
Accolades:
ROAD TO THE FINAL
Stroke Play: 77-70–147 (+3)
R32: Def. Ben Balter, 3&1
R16: Def. Reese Jensen, 3&1
Quarterfinals: Def. Jake Ratti, 6&5
Semifinals: Def. Joey Lenane, 19 holes
8-Patrick Kilcoyne, def. 6-Billy Walthouse, 3&2
Patrick Kilcoyne (Woodland Golf Club) knocked off yet another GreatHorse member, coming up with a clutch birdie on the 15th, and parring the 16th to put the match on ice. The match was back-and-forth, with just 5 of 16 holes halved. In a fun show of sportsmanship, both players agreed to go “good good” on the par-3 9th, after they each hit a tee shot within three feet.
View this post on Instagram
13-Aidan Emmerich def. 5-Trevor Drew, 1up
This match brought out some good golf, with eight holes won via birdie between the two players. Emmerich (Kernwood Country Club) walked in a 20 foot birdie putt on the 15th to tie the match, then took a 1up lead when Drew’s (Long Meadow Golf Club) tee shot on 16 sailed out of bounds to the right.
18-Ryan Downes def. 23-Jake Ratti, 6&5
After going the distance against two difficult opponents in his first two matches, Ratti (Wollaston Golf Club) looked a little gassed, and the home course favorite pounced, winning three of the first four holes. The tee on the 13th was up, and with a 6 up lead, Downes flew his drive onto the green of the par-4. Ratti, for his part, got up-and-down from a difficult spot for birdie, but it wasn’t enough, as Downes two-putted to seal it.
3-Joey Lenane def. 11-Ben Spitz, 3&1
Spitz (George Wright), always a grinder, was 3 down with 7 to play when Joey Lenane (George Wright) two-putted for birdie after a brilliant second shot into the par-5 11th. Spitz won the 12th with a par and stuffed a wedge within a few feet on 15th to get it to 1 down. But a miscue on his approach into 16 led to a hole losing bogey, and Lenane finished it off in style, knocking his approach on the 17th in tight.
Here are some other tidbits from Day 4 at the Massachusetts Amateur Championship.
