It has been a good summer for Matt Dolinsky and Henry Pilliod.
Just a few days after Pilliod graduated from Ohio State University, and almost a month after Dolinsky won the BCGA Match Play Championship, the two teamed up to win the 2024 BCGA Partners Championship at Berkleigh Golf Club on Sunday.
The two-day tournament began with a best ball format on Saturday and transitioned to a modified alternate shot format for the final round on Sunday.
For Pilliod, who won the event with his older brother, Ross, in 2021, the potential was there for he and Dolinsky to have a strong weekend.
“Winning with my brother was obviously a really awesome feeling,” Pilliod said. “And I know Matt’s game is so strong and I’ve been playing pretty well that coming into this weekend that was just going to be a matter of if we bring it to the table or not.”
The pair brought their best, as Pilliod and Dolinsky finished with a two-round total score of 14-under 130 and a modified alternate round score of 10-under 62 on Sunday. Both totals are believed to be tournament and course records in this format.
In addition, the 29 year age gap between the Pilliod (22) and Dolinsky (51) is believed to be the largest of any winner in tournament history.
“We just had it (today),” Dolinsky said. “And we were staying in the moment and just getting it to the end. We did what we needed to do and did our job.”
The championship had a thrilling conclusion, as the 2023 champions, Brock Kovach and Luke Fagley had a chance to force a playoff on the 18th hole Sunday. Trailing by one and also the last group on the 539-yard, par-5 18th, Kovach missed a 10 foot putt left for birdie to force a playoff.
“I started playing with Henry at Galen Hall when he was just going to college,” Dolinsky said, “but when he came back after the first year, I noticed he was hitting it a mile and his game changed. And I like playing with Henry. He’s a good player, and he’s in there trying to win the tournaments. He hit the ball well, but he really putted well.
“Yesterday (Saturday) he made the four birdies, and today I was hitting it in there pretty good for him, but he was running them all in. I only had to make one putt to finish off the run; we kind of ham and egged the way you’re supposed to.”
Putting was the difference maker for them. Trailing the leaders, Perry Landis and Colten Strerner, by three shots to start Sunday’s round, Pilliod and Dolinsky birdied the 361-yard, par-4 first and the 413-yard, par-4 second to start the round.
The experience was all too familiar for Pilliod, who trailed heading into the final round when he won the tournament with his brother. When the brothers overcame a two-shot lead going into the second day, they became the first brothers to win the tournament in 27 years.
“We birdied the first two and at that point it felt like we were cooking,” Pilliod said of Sunday’s round. “I was thinking back to when I won it with Ross three years ago, we were two back from the lead I believe going into the second day, and then we birdied three of the first four and then made a couple more and won it. So I knew going in today, even though we were three shots back, just based on what I’ve done in the past that we weren’t out of it at all.”
After a bogey on the 433-yard, par-4 fourth, the two responded well, with birdies on the 529-yard, par-5 No. 5, as well as the 357-yard, par-4 seventh, the 347-yard, par-4 eighth and the 325-yard, par-4 ninth for a 5-under 30 going out.
“Even when we made that bogey I was thinking there’s so many birdies left out there for us,” Pilliod said. “There was no reason to get down and we just kind of stayed in it mentally after that.”
Coming in, Dolinsky and Pilliod were bogey-free and made birdies on the 393-yard, par-4 10th, the 157-yard, par-3 12th, the 403-yard par-4 14th, the 479-yard, par-5 16th and the 18th.
A member of the Ohio State University golf team, Pilliod’s career low round with the Buckeyes was a 67 and he averaged a 74.8. Showcasing his sharpened skills with the putter on Sunday, Pilliod said his improved play on the greens goes hand in hand with a strengthened mental state while in play.
A graduate of Berks Catholic and 2019 All-Berks selection, Pilliod’s collegiate experience serves as a testament to growing through the game both on and off the golf course.
“I would say there’s two big things,” Pilliod said on what he’s learned from collegiate golf. “The first one was putting. Putting was probably always the weakest part of my game, but to start this summer, I kind of committed to really grinding. Putting is so mental; you can have a good stroke, but if you’re not thinking the right things while you’re standing over the ball, it doesn’t matter.
“So I just started finding good, positive thoughts while I was standing over putts, and they started rolling in and they haven’t stopped. And then the second thing that’s a lot bigger is my mental game. In high school, I was somewhat of a mental case, to be honest. I would hit a bad shot and immediately I was out of it in my head.
“In college I realized it was something I really needed to work on, and I think it was also part of just kind of maturing through something like college. Naturally people develop mentally while they’re at school, and so that’s probably been the biggest change in my game, my mental game. I’m just a lot stronger and better at staying in it even after poor shots.”
