Watertown, Connecticut (July 23, 2021) – For Connor Goode (Glastonbury Hills Country Club) it was worth the wait. Two weeks after the 80th Connecticut Junior Amateur championship match was supposed to be played Goode captured the title with an emphatic 4&2 win over defending champion Matt Doyle (Madison Country Club).
Goode won the par-4 third hole with a par to take the lead and never looked back. He extended his lead to 2 up with a five-foot birdie putt on the par-5 seventh and then extended his advantage to 3 up at the turn with a hole winning par on the par-3 ninth.
“I was the 31-seed, I was just playing golf,” said Goode who survived a 3-for-2 playoff to reach match play. “I had nothing to lose. I was just thinking about posting a score. It didn’t really matter who I was playing. I just tried to play good golf.”
It looked like Doyle was going to chip into the deficit on the par-4 10th but Goode converted a gutsy uphill five-footer for par to maintain his lead. On the par-4 11th again it looked like Doyle would be able to inch closer. Goode took an aggressive line off the tee only to clip a tree leaving his ball just past the tee box. Doyle played next and blasted his drive into the left rough leaving only 100 yards into the green.
Goode’s second shot was lofted over the trees along the right side of the fairway to about 100 yards out and his third shot finished 20-feet from the pin. Doyle, heading to Elon University to join the golf team in the fall, came up short with his second shot then hit a wonderful chip to three feet resulting in a par. However, Goode had an answer rolling in the long-distance uphill par putt to keep his lead 3 up.
On the next hole, Goode would all but put the match away taking the par-4 12th with a par. “Obviously not the finish that I wanted but if there was someone else I wanted to win besides me it was Connor,” a disappointed Doyle said. “Taking a two-week break from when it started is very tough but he was putting well the entire day and it was the same thing two weeks ago and he just kept it going. I didn’t have my best today but it is what it is.”
Doyle would keep the match alive with a win on the par-4 13th and then survived a championship winning putt on the short par-3 15th sending the match to the par-5 16th with Goode still 3 up.
Goode, a rising senior at Glastonbury High School, lost his drive out to the left while Doyle found the right rough. Standing 235 yards out and partially blocked out by a tree Goode hit the shot of a day knocking a punched hybrid to eight feet. Doyle made things interesting chipping in for birdie but all it did was force Goode to attempt his eagle try.
Just over two weeks ago Goode won his Round of 32 match with an eagle on the 19th hole now 16 days later he clinched the title with an eagle.
“Winning the Connecticut Junior Amateur means everything to me,” said Goode after his 4&2 win. “I think it opens up a lot of doors and opportunities in the future for playing college golf.”
About the Connecticut State Golf Association
The Connecticut Junior Amateur is one of 19 championships conducted by the Connecticut State Golf Association. The CSGA functions as an extension of the USGA and provides stewardship for amateur golf in Connecticut. Founded in 1899, it is the country’s oldest state golf association and conducts over 60 Championships, Qualifiers, and One Day Tournaments throughout the year.
