Bretton Woods, NH – The opening round of the New Hampshire Junior Amateur Championship is in the books at Mt. Washington Resort Golf Club, with impressive performances highlighting both divisions of the 54-hole championship. Tucker Roberto and Grey Gagnon each fired 6-under-par 66’s to share the lead in the Boys Division, while Mady Savary carded a 3-under 69 to build a commanding six-shot advantage in the Girls Division. Competitors will return Tuesday for the second round before Wednesday’s championship finale.
Boys Division
Roberto and Gagnon matched each other throughout Monday’s opening round, taking advantage of strong ball striking and hot putters to finish tied atop the leaderboard at 6-under-par 66. Their rounds gave them a three-shot advantage over Blake Waidlich, who opened with a 3-under 69.
Henry Sullivan and Ryan Allard are tied for fourth after rounds of 2-under 70, while Charlie Soldau and Aaryan Narang share sixth at 1-under 71. Thijs Beelen sits in eighth after an even-par 72, rounding out the players at even par or better through the opening round.
For Roberto, the key to his strong round at Mt. Washington Resort Golf Club was finally solving the course’s challenging greens after struggling with them in previous years. He stated, “I was getting off the tee well. I was hitting fairways and greens, and the most important part was figuring out the greens. I struggled with that last year but putts were falling today. I went pretty low today.”
Despite holding a share of the lead, Roberto knows consistency will be critical over the final 36 holes, saying “I need to make sure I’m giving myself easy two putts. Just hitting it to the center of the greens and in the fairway, that’s the most important part.”
Playing alongside Roberto, Gagnon matched every charge with one of his own, leaning on crisp wedge play and a productive day on the greens. Gagnon commented on his opening round saying, “Off the tee I was pretty good today. My wedges were pretty dialed all day and luckily I was able to cash a lot of the putts to go low today.”
The pair’s back-and-forth birdie runs helped fuel both players throughout the day.
“It’s definitely good to feed off of someone who is doing well,” Gagnon said.
Girls Division
Savary delivered one of the day’s most complete rounds, posting a 3-under-par 69 to take a six-shot lead after 18 holes. Josie LeFebvre sits in second at 3-over 75, while Hadley Hill is third following a 7-over 79.
Naw Whar occupies fourth place after an opening-round 82 (+10), followed by Kendall Wishart (85), Madelyn Giampa (89), Norah Fleming (90), and Amy Duff (97).
Savary entered the championship with momentum after competing in last week’s New England Women’s Amateur Championship at her home course, Concord Country Club. Following that event, she spent time working on her ball striking, and the adjustments paid off immediately.
“My ball striking wasn’t great last week so I worked on it and I felt more confident today,” Savary said.
Although pleased with her position atop the leaderboard, she sees opportunities to improve heading into Tuesday’s second round. She said, “I feel like my driver could be better but I’m happy with my ball striking today.”
With two rounds remaining, both divisions remain wide open as players continue their pursuit of the New Hampshire Junior Amateur Championship titles at Mt. Washington Resort Golf Club.
NH Junior Amateur | Boys Leaderboard | Girls Leaderboard
