By Steve Derderian
sderderian@massgolf.org
FRANKLIN, Massachusetts (August 7, 2025) – Thomas Constantine had seen this pin before. Hours earlier, walking past it on his way to the 5th tee, he caught sight of the hole location, tucked tight to the right, and filed away the note: if the title came down to the 18th, the smart miss was left.
For much of the afternoon, it felt like getting all the way to the final hole would be no guarantee. Even with a bevy of Franklin Country Club members rooting him on, many sporting the club’s distinctive Ben Franklin quill logo on hats and sleeve, Constantine trailed a high school teammate who had knocked out two Franklin members earlier in the week and seemed in full control.
But, as he had time after time, Constantine found a way to pull off one more rally.
Now with the final 18-hole match all tied on the closer, the 17-year-old Franklin native stood just left of the green, about 30 yards from the flag, tied with his Xaverian High School pal Christopher Morrow in the 107th Massachusetts Junior Amateur Powered by KOHR Golf.
Morrow, from the right rough, had laid up to 106 yards and wedged his approach pin-high left. Morrow, from the right rough, had laid up to 106 yards and wedged his approach pin-high left. Constantine clipped the pitch perfectly, high, soft, checking at three feet. Moments later, Morrow’s birdie try slid past. Constantine with one final inhale, exhale, knocked it home, as the home crowd broke into applause. A clutch finish had given the rising senior the biggest victory yet.
“I was one down going into 17, and I knew Chris wasn’t going to make a lot of mistakes so I knew I had to go birdie-birdie and I was able to do so,” said Constantine, who became the first person since Jimmy Hervol (Hopkinton Country Club) to win the Mass Junior Amateur at his home course (2015).
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Constantine, who won both his Wednesday matches on the 18th, was down early against another high school teammate Michael McCormack (Sacconnesset Golf Club) in the morning but was able to close out that match in 15.
The final match had been tight from the outset and played out much differently. Morrow struck first on the opening hole, setting an early tone that forced Constantine to chase. But Constantine’s knack for recovery kept the margin from widening. On the 4th, after pushing his tee shot onto the cart path, he pitched past the hole and rolled in a 25-foot birdie to cut the deficit to one.
From there, neither player could break free. On the 10th, Morrow rolled in a 15-footer that barely dipped over the front edge for birdie, only for Constantine’s matching attempt to lip out cruelly. The 11th nearly gave Morrow another hole, but his birdie putt spun 360 degrees around the cup before somehow staying out, enough to make the otherwise stoic young phenom drop his shoulders in disbelief. Morrow then gave one back when his tee shot left him up against the face of a fairway bunker. It took two swings to get the ball out, and Constantine’s par tied the match again.
At the par-4 14th, Constantine mishit his tee shot that cleared the pond but landed short right. From there, he got up and down for par, a gritty save that kept the match tied and set the stage for the closing stretch.
The next hole tilted the match back toward Morrow. On the par-5 15th, with the wind at his back, Constantine reached for driver, a risky change from the hybrid and fairway wood combo he used to reach the front edge the day prior. This time, the shot leaked left, clipped a tree, and bounded into the penalty area. Forced to pitch out, he could only watch as Morrow, sticking to his trusted game plan of riding his 4-iron, reached the green in position and walked away with a conceded birdie to go 1-up.
“I was sitting on the tee and I knew if I hit a good one down wind, the ball would cover it and I’d have a long iron in, and unfortunately I pulled it a little and it didn’t work out,” Constantine said.
On the 16th, Morrow hit a low bullet to the back-middle part of the green, while Constantine found the bunker after misjudging the wind. Still, he got a good line spun a crisp blast to just a few feet to save par, keeping the deficit at one and setting up his rally on the final two holes.
Then came the turning point. On the 17th tee, Constantine took a deep breath and delivered his best drive of the day, center stripe, splitting the fairway. Morrow missed right into the trees and had to pitch out, opening the door. Constantine rolled in his birdie putt inside 10 feet to square the match, setting up a thrilling finale at 18.
For Constantine, the week was proof that smart decisions and composure under pressure travel well, and will certainly boost his dreams of playing Division I college golf. “This tournament will definitely help me out,” he said. “I feel like I played great all week, and hopefully it will help me out in the future.”
Morrow, who reached the final by defeating two Franklin members on Wednesday and beating Aarav Lavu (Nehoiden Golf Club) that morning, stayed gracious in defeat. “Thomas is a great player, we had a great match back and forth the whole time,” he said. “He’s my teammate and we were both there at the end so congrats to him.”
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8-Christopher Morrow vs. 13-Aarav Lavu. 5&4
After a four-hole stalemate to start the match, Morrow pulled ahead by winning holes 5-7 with a par sandwiched in between two birdies. Playing multiple holes ahead of the other semifinal, they both went shot-for-shot with pars on the next fews holes, hitting most fairways and greens. Morrow finally stretched his lead with a birdie on the par-4 13th, and closed the match on the 14th when Lavu wasn’t able to save par.
2-Thomas Constantine def. 14-Michael McCormack, 4&3
Despite hitting his tee shot onto the third hole in the water, Constantine hit his next one to a foot to win the hole. From there, he never trailed, making birdies on the par-3s 4 and 8. McCormack got it back to 1 after a conceded birdie, when Constantine’s tee shot on the 11th found the trees. However, he won the 12th with a steady lag putts from above the hole and two-putted his way from the front edge to win the 14th. On the 15th, McCormack’s second shot found the water hazard, and he was unable to make par.
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