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By Mark Gaughan

Here’s a recap of key developments and interesting subplots from Wednesday’s second round of the 103^rd NYS Men’s Amateur Championship at picturesque Glens Falls Country Club:

Related: Round 1 Recap / Photos / Scoring

Leaderboard

Christian Chapman stretched his lead from one-shot after the first round to four shots entering Thursday’s final 36 holes. Chapman, a 27-year-old Rochester-area native, followed his first-round 65 with a 69 to stand at 8-under par 134. 

In second place is Lucas Rizo-Patron of Rye and Pelham Country Club at 4-under 138. Rizo-Patron just finished his freshman year at the University of Richmond and has transferred to golf powerhouse UCLA, which finished runner-up to Auburn last month in the NCAA Division I team championship final. 

Alone in third at 3-under 139 is 19-year-old Liam Moloney, who just finished his freshman year at Loyola University of Maryland and was rookie of the year in the Patriot League. Moloney won the NYS Boys 18-and-under championship last summer. 

Chapman was happy to build his lead on the par-71, 6,574-yard Glens Falls layout.

“I thought that the course got firmer with the weather that we had,” Chapman said. “I figured that with no rain, it was going to be a lot firmer. The greens were a lot faster, too, so being above the hole was really, really challenging. I didn't really have my best stuff out there today. I think I just scrambled my way around and did a really good job of managing the golf course.”

The field was cut to a low 40 and ties (44 made the cut), and the leaders were gearing up for a long final day. 

“I got some things I gotta go clean up tomorrow,” Chapman said. “We're only halfway done, so there's a lot of golf left. It's anyone's game.”

Chapman has a lot of experience playing with a lead. He won the 2016 NYS Junior Boys title, starred collegiately at St. Bonaventure and won the 2022 Rochester district title. He turned pro for two years, spending time on the PGA Tour Americas circuit, then regained his amateur status last year. He works as a client services associate for Compass Wealth Management in Pittsford.

“I've been around this block many times. . . . This is no new territory for me,” he said.

Low Round

Rizo-Patron shot 6-under 65 for the low round of the day. The 19-year-old had a big finish to his junior career in 2025, then was outstanding as a college freshman, winning the Atlantic 10 Conference championship and earning A-10 rookie of the year honors. 

Rizo-Patron put on an approach shot clinic in making seven birdies and one bogey. Only one of the birdie putts was outside of 10 feet. 

“I was really good with my wedges today,” Patron-Rizo said. “I was just staying patient and letting the wedges do some work.”

The birdie binge started with a cut 5-iron to 15 feet on the par-3 12^th. Then he hit sand wedges to 15 feet on the par-4 15^th and 4-feet on the par-5 16^th. He hit a pitching wedge to 10 feet on the 143-yard 18^th, a knock-down 7-iron to a half-foot on the 172-yard third, a 54-degree wedge to 3 feet on the par-4 fifth and a 54-degree wedge to 2 feet on the par-4 eighth.

“I'm excited for tomorrow,” he said. “I'm carrying my own bag so I may pull a couple clubs out to lighten the load. It's a tough walk out here.”

Moloney followed a first-round 68 with an even-par 71.

“I’m playing pretty well, managing my game pretty well,” said Moloney, from Chester in Orange County and the Golf Course at Mansion Ridge. “I’m just making really good decisions especially off the tee. I’m not doing anything too punishing and my putter is going pretty well. 

There was a five-way tie for fourth at 2-under 140. In that bunch are: 26-year-old Jack Angelucci of New Hartford and Yahnundasis CC; Jonathan Oakes, who just finished his junior year at Kenyon College; Michael McConie, who just finished his junior year at Siena University; Dean Muratore, a rising junior at the University of Michigan; and 34-year-old Carl Schimenti, former NYS Mid-Amateur champion from Cornell. 

Birdie Hole

The 295-yard, par-4 seventh hole not surprisingly played the easiest on the course through two rounds, playing to an average of 3.93 shots, with players making birdie or better 27% of the time. The dramatic hole features a 60-foot drop from the tee box to the middle of the fairway and then a rise back up 50 feet to the green surface, which is laid out diagonally with three bunkers cut into the front and left side. 

Most players are going for the green. There were nine eagles, 77 birdies and 14 doubles on it through two rounds. Maloney made eagle on 7 on Tuesday. 

“I hit a really good 3-wood, and it was downwind,” he said. “I knew as long as I cleared those bunkers short of the green it would get up there pretty well, either be on or I’d leave myself a makeable up and down. It landed on the front of the green and rolled out to 15 or 20 feet and I made the putt.”

“I hit 4-iron,” said Angelucci. “I'm probably one of the only guys in the field that's laying back like that. . . .

And then it's an 80-yard wedge. I told my dad in the practice round, ‘If I can’t play this hole 1- or 2-under par playing a 4-iron and an 80-yard shot, then I’m probably not going to have a good week. The issue is the right side cuts in so hard (near the green), let’s take that double out of play.”

Tough Par-3

The legendary architect of Glens Falls CC, Donald Ross, is known for his great par-3 holes, and they have not disappointed. 

The toughest of the bunch so far has been the par-3 12th, which features no bunkers and no water, but played to an average of 3.49 strokes, third toughest among all holes on the course. It played 225 yards on Tuesday and 189 on Wednesday. The green is set atop a steep hill and is pitched severely left to right and back to front. A bad miss way right goes way down an embankment. Shots that don’t make it 3-feet or so onto the green go tumbling back down a steep hill, which can leave a 30- to 50-fott pitch. 

Angelucci hit 4-iron Tuesday and 6-iron Wednesday. 

“I mean, it's a bear,” Angelucci said.  “You're talking about 200-plus yards, and that green is just diabolical. . . .  You have to understand that the way the green is, there's a good chance, no matter how well I hit my shot, that I’m probably gonna have 4-footer for par. And just accepting that, I think that being 26 now has kind of helped me, you know?”

“It’s one of the only holes on the course except the par-5s where you’re going to have a long iron in,” Maloney said. “When you get to that tee, you’ve got to be pretty dialed into where you want to hit the ball. You’ve got the whole left side to work with. I just got a little too cute today. I double-crossed it and was up on the hill to the left. Which was a pretty dead spot. I chipped it off the green, which is pretty easy to do there but then I hit it to 10 feet and made the putt for bogey which was a big save.”

A Closing Ace

Schimenti made a hole in one on his last hole of Round 2 by hitting a 55-degree wedge into the cup on the 123-yard ninth. It put him at 2-under. However, Schimenti had to withdraw from the tournament due to an unforeseen family commitment.

Schimenti, who won the 2021 NYS Mid-Amateur title, did well to card back-to-back 70s considering it was his first competitive tournament of the year. He’s busy, and he has a fascinating career. He works as a turfgrass scientist – his title is urban environmental specialist – for the Cornell Turfgrass Program. He and his wife have a 4-year-old daughter. 

“I suppose if you have to leave early, it's not a bad way,” he said of the ace.

Schimenti works with a lot of golf courses in New York State, including state-owned courses like Bethpage and Saratoga, on cutting-edge research that helps superintendents improve the playability and firmness of the turf.

“If they want faster greens, how much extra water or fertilizer, or how much less water or fertilizer or pesticide use is something I've specialized in,” he said. “I'm studying new technology. There are these sensors you put on the back of a mower that measure basically soil moisture, and you can tie your irrigation system into that, and you can turn on each head only where you need it. It's very cool. We get to work on the front line with a lot of technology to document some of the reductions in water use, and how the course then gets better.”