By Stephen Hanjack
shanjack@massgolf.org
BOYLSTON, Massachusetts (July 29, 2025) – Patience is usually the name of the game at Cyprian Keyes Golf Club, a Mark Mungeam original design that dares you throughout. Hit driver one too many times, or shave a bit too much off that dogleg, and the crooked numbers start to appear.
That is, unless you are Sean Fitzpatrick (George Wright GC). The man who’s name adorns the walls of George Wright with his (approximately) hundreds of club championships is the one atop the leaderboard after Round 1 of the 44th Massachusetts Amateur Public Links Championship.
A bogey-free 66 (-6) at Cyprian Keyes gives Fitzpatrick a four shot lead heading into Wednesday’s Final Round.
On his heels are Malcom Herbert (Sandy Burr CC) 70 (-2), Amos Nissenbaum (Quaboag CC) who made a tidy up-and-down on the last to shoot 71 (-1), and Michael Dinoia (Cyprian Keyes GC), who also carded a 71 (-1).
The Amateur Public Links is open to any amateur golfer who has an active Mass Golf Membership at a public golf course, has a Handicap Index® not exceeding 8.0, and does not have playing privileges at a private club. Due to incredible demand, the handicap limit was changed from 12.0 to 8.0 for the first time this year.
As the first player out on Tuesday, Sean Fitzpatrick grabbed the lead early and never looked back. With birdies on his second and third holes of the day (no. 11 & 12), Fitzpatrick was off and running.
Even with the lead, when you have your A-game, the thought of five-straight pars can be frustrating (so I’m told). That frustration finally broke with a pair of birdies on the par-5 18th and par-5 4th holes.
“It was about a 20 foot putt, give or take. And I had missed a couple short ones throughout the day, so I was getting a little frustrated,” Fitzpatrick said of his birdie on hole no. 4. “But it was nice to see that one went in.”
From there, Fitzpatrick finished out his round with four-straight 3s on the card, good for a bogey-free 66 (-6). The former Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Champion (2022) and Massachusetts Four-Ball Champion (2009) is now in position to add another piece of Mass Golf hardware to his trophy room.
“The Amateur Public Links is always a fun tournament,” added Fitzpatrick. “You know, you do see people that wouldn’t normally see.”
One of those that Fitzpatrick hasn’t seen much of is Malcom Herbert, who is competing in just his second-ever Mass Golf Championship. The 25-year-old graduate of Tufts University played a steady, stress-free round, thanks to some calming reassurance from his caddie.
“The other thing was, my dad was awesome on the bag all day, like we had, we had a blast and and he, he kept me in it,” said Herbert. “I had two divots off the tee on 15 and 17. And I think he definitely made me kind of accept that a little easier. ‘Just hit a golf shot. Don’t whine about it.'”
With this being Herbert’s first Mass Golf Championship appearance since the 2018 Junior Amateur, soaking in the experience has proved to be just as exciting as the golf itself.
“You just learn something about your game, and it’s just competitive golf, it’s like a different sport (than) weekend golf,” said a smiling Herbert. “So it’s really fun to have a card in your hand and just see what your game’s like.”
Now, with a spot in the final pairing on Wednesday, that smile is probably growing a bit wider.
In the afternoon, the heat continued to rise, and with that, the scores. Of those with later tee times, local member Michael Dinoia was the only one to break par. His mid-round stretch starting on hole no. 8 of birdie-par-eagle-birdie saw him get as deep as 3-under. Even with the comfort of playing at home, teeing it up in his first ever Mass Golf event was a nerve-wracking proposition
“I’m nervous for tomorrow, but I feel good,” said Dinoia. “That was a lot of fun, and definitely nervous on the first tee this morning, but that was a lot of fun. Good group of guys, too.”
Dinoia made a couple of late bogeys, but finds himself T3 after Round 1, an impressive effort in his Mass Golf debut.
The top 60 players and ties will now advance to Wednesday’s Final Round, with play getting started at 7:30 a.m. and leaders slated for a 9:20 a.m. start.
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Recent Champions
- 2024 – Joseph Lenane (The Ledges GC)
- 2023 – Ben Spitz (Olde Scotland Links)
- 2022 – Zachary Miller (Sandy Burr CC)
- 2021 – James Imai (Westover GC)
- 2020 – Bill Drohen (Gannon Municipal GC)
Since opening in 1997, the Mark Mungeam-designed championship course at Cyprian Keyes has been widely regarded as one of the most demanding layouts in the state. A true championship test, Cyprian is getting its first shot at a Mass Golf Championship with this week’s Amateur Public Links. While the course is new to the championship scene, Cyprian’s members are not.
Toughened by his home course, Daniel Falcucci is a past Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Champion and a 5-time runner up at the APL. Other regulars on the Mass Golf scene include Brett Malboeuf and Terry Dunn. Also representing the home club at this year’s APL are Michael Dinoia, Joe Macaulay, Veer Bhasin, and Mark Dignum.
On the 9th hole of the championship course at Cyprian Keyes, you can see a small gathering of trees, and set within those trees is a stand-alone chimney. Before the golf course was built, a cabin accompanied that chimney. And legend has it, the cabin was a Speakeasy back in the 1920’s.
When the course was being constructed, the builders spoke of suspicious ghostly activity regularly coming from the cabin. And when the cabin was “destroyed” the chimney never budged. The staff was unsure how to interpret this omen and decided to leave the chimney, which can still be seen today.
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