NORTON, Massachusetts – Less than 10 days removed from his inaugural appearance at the 2018 Masters Tournament, reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion and Massachusetts Amateur Champion Matt Parziale, of Brockton, will represent Team USA at the third playing of the Concession Cup – being contested at Bradenton, Florida’s Concession Golf Club from April 16-21, 2018.
Parziale was one of seven mid-amateur competitors from across the nation to be selected to the U.S. team – who will also field six senior members and two senior-(65+) members to compete against a squad made up of competitors from Great Britain and Ireland in team match-play formats of foursome, four-ball and singles. The United States team will be captained by Bob Lewis of Pepper Pike, Ohio – a three-time U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up who captained both the 2003 and 2005 Walker Cup teams.
The Concession Cup is a biennial amateur team match-play competition.
According to a release, “the selection process for this year’s U.S. Team was led by the [Amateur Golf Alliance,] an organization established to conduct The Concession Cup matches as well as other events and initiatives in an effort to promote the amateur game at the highest level of competition.
The roster was determined based on rankings following the 2017 World Amateur Golf Rankings, as well as finishes in from top amateur tournaments. Parziale won the 2017 USGA U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, contested at Atlanta’s Capital City Club and currently sits at No. 213 on the WAGR rankings.
The 30-year old Brockton, Mass. firefighter is a 4-time winner of the Richard D. Haskell Mass Golf Player of the Year and a two-time defending champion of the Massachusetts Four-Ball Championship.
This latest nod adds to an already impressive resume for Parziale for the 2018 season. In mid-January, Parziale placed T7 and finished as the top-American at the South American Amateur Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina and recently won the 62nd International Four-Ball Championship in West Palm Beach Florida with fellow Mass Golf competitor Herbie Aikens.
Joining Parziale for the red, white and blue will be:
Stewart Hagestad (Newport Beach, CA)
Scott Harvey (Greensboro, NC)
Michael McDermott (Bryn Mawr, PA)
Nathan Smith (Pittsburgh, PA)
Todd White (Spartanburg, SC)
Senior
Gene Elliott (West Des Moines, IA)
Doug Hanzel (Savannah, GA)
Tim Jackson (Germantown, TN)
Sean Knapp (Oakmont, PA)
John McClure (Los Angeles, CA)
Matthew Sughrue (Arlington, VA)
Vinny Giles (Richmond, VA)
Buddy Marucci (Villanova, PA)
In addition to Matt Parziale being selected to the United States roster, the 2017 New England Golf Association Amateur Champion, Bobby Leopold, of Rhode Island, will lace up for the Great Britain and Ireland squad. The two-time Rhode Island Amateur Champion finished T2 at the 50th Ouimet Memorial Tournament last July, is listed out of his native Surrey, England on the GB&I roster.
For more information on the 2018 Concession Cup and its rosters, visit: https://concessioncup.com/releases.php
