Jul. 23—Harry Garland said he was lucky to make the cut for match play in the Mike Ryan Memorial Junior Golf Tournament.
Steady play in the Round of 16 and a back-nine comeback in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Derryfield Country Club in Manchester propelled Garland, the 14th seed, into the semifinals.
The three-day tournament concludes Wednesday with the boys elite championship flight semifinals and finals, the boys prep and birdie flight finals and the girls championship flight finals.
Manchester’s Josie Lefebvre and Nashua resident Taylor Barry will play for the girls title starting at 8:56 a.m. on Wednesday.
Garland, a 16-year-old Pelham resident, shot a 7-over 77 in stroke play on Monday, which earned him the second-to-last spot in match play.
“I didn’t play my best but I kept with it and ended up getting the 14th seed,” Garland said.
Garland’s only blemish in his 5-and-4 victory over third-seeded Will Miele in the Round of 16 was a bogey on the par-4 first hole.
A junior at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Mass., Garland took a 2-up lead with his lone birdie in the match by sinking a 30-foot putt on the sixth hole and parred the next eight to close out the victory.
“(I was) a little nervous off the first tee,” said Garland, a Sky Meadow CC member. “I’ve never played in this tournament before so I really didn’t know what to expect. Just kind of settled in, told myself to just keep giving yourself opportunities and putts will drop and I just did that.”
Miele, an 18-year-old Salem resident, and Garland are good friends and were teammates on the Central Catholic boys golf team.
“We would play against each other every once in a while for fun but this was the first legit tournament I’ve ever played against him,” Garland said.
Garland then earned a 1-up victory over sixth-seeded Charlie Soldau, of Bedford, in the quarterfinals.
Soldau, 14, had a 2-up lead at the turn but Garland won the next two holes with a birdie on hole No. 10 and a par on the 11th hole.
“I knew that I could win this match,” Garland said. “I won the 13th and the 15th (holes) with a good up-and-down from the bunkers. I just kept giving myself good opportunities and just played good golf.”
Garland will face sixth-seeded Riley Reardon in the semifinals.
Top-seeded Sam Maurice, an 18-year-old Auburn resident, will play fifth-seeded Jimmy Schouller, of North Hampton, in the other semifinal.
Maurice, a Derryfield CC member, won his Round of 16 match against 16th-seeded Christopher Berry, 6 and 5, and then had about a four-hour wait until his quarterfinal bout against ninth-seeded Thomas Manning.
Maurice had six birdies in that Round of 16 match, which he considers his best round of golf in two years.
Maurice won his quarterfinal match with Manning, 2 and 1, but said it took him a few holes to regain his focus after the long wait.
Manning and Maurice both had two bogeys on the front nine and were tied after eight holes before Maurice won the par-4 ninth hole with a birdie.
Maurice, who will play at Southern New Hampshire University as a freshman this fall, did not have a bogey on the back nine.
“It definitely made me kind of take a breath and say, ‘OK, I have to get something going here or I won’t be playing tomorrow,'” Maurice said of the start of his quarterfinal match. “I was proud of the way I stayed in it and just stayed steady and didn’t make any huge mistakes.”
