MANCHESTER – Burlington’s Michael Walsh shot 5-under in a 36-hole marathon final day earlier this month to run away with the 119th Vermont State Amateur at Manchester Country Club.
The former Rice Memorial state champion and Temple University standout opened Thursday with a tournament low 67 to cruise to a five-shot victory over Williston’s Cody Semmelrock. Walsh erased the heartbreak of back-to-back runner up finishes at the VT-Am the last two years with a four-day total of 280 (8-under) to raise the state’s most prestigious trophy. Barton’s Jackson King finished third with a four-day total of 286, defending champion Lucas Politano finished fourth (287) and Newport’s Austin Giroux (288) rounded out the top five. Stowe’s Luke Russell shot 75-78 on the final day to land him in the top thirty.
Former Hazen Union standout Aaron Molleur qualified for his first VT-Amateur but failed to make the cut after carding back-to-back 81’s in the first two days. Molleur is the three-time defending club champion at Mountain View C.C. in Greensboro.
Riley Richards, son of former Craftsbury Academy multisport star Pete Richards, also qualified but failed to make day three after rounds of 77-80. Richards was a standout at U-32 and played two years for the Franklin Pierce University golf team. He is the younger brother of two-time VT-Amateur champion Bryson Richards.
Over the weekend, Brunswick’s Elliott Spaulding capped off an incredible summer with a two-shot victory over Thorny Lea to capture the New England Amateur at Neshobe Golf Club in Brandon. Spaulding successfully defended his Maine State Amateur title just a week earlier. Politano represented VT with a respectable fourth place finish.
