92nd Mass. Girls Junior Amateur: Granby’s Regan impresses in state debut, falls short in match play

BERNARDSTON — The pressure of playing in her first-ever Massachusetts Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship didn’t seem to bother Granby’s Ryley Regan, as the eighth grader who plays on the Hopkins Academy golf team cruised to a 3-up start through five holes.

She may have been the youngest player of the 16 golfers who made it to Wednesday’s match play at Crumpin-Fox Golf Club, but she began the day like a veteran who had competed in a bunch of Mass Golf events.

Regan’s hot start eventually fizzled out, and her Round of 16 opponent, Concord’s Sophie Redmond, slowly chipped into the deficit. Redmond outlasted Regan and clinched the match with a birdie on the par-3 15th to end Regan’s run in the 92nd Mass. Girls’ Junior Am.

“It was a good experience, and I’m glad I got to make it to the first round of match play,” Regan said. “It’s an honor to even play in the event and I’m just happy to be here.”

Regan won the first two holes with a par and a birdie before a bogey on the 3rd allowed Redmond to get one back.

But Regan responded immediately with another birdie on the 4th, putting her back in front by two and pushing her total score to 1-under par on the day.

“Early on pretty much everything was working for me,” Regan said. “I was hitting solid approach shots, I was really good off the tee and I either made my putts or was two-putting.”

Regan then won the fifth hole with a par and held a three-hole advantage. Redmond played the next eight holes 1-under to storm from behind a grab a 4-up lead as Regan battled with a few errant tee shots.

She piped a drive down the middle on 14 and set herself up in good position for birdie, leaving herself an uphill 15-foot putt for a four on the par 5. She just missed it on the right side, but tapped in for a par. Redmond made a bogey as Regan moved back to 3-down with four to play.

That’s when Redmond stuck her wedge on the short par-3 15th over water, and rolled in a birdie to win the match.

“I wasn’t hitting the ball as well off the tee, and that put me in a little bit of trouble,” Regan said. “I also didn’t make as many putts as I did earlier in the match, so that’s kind of the reason it didn’t work out.”

Despite the loss, Regan — the lone Hampshire/Franklin County competitor to qualify for match play — enjoyed the experience of playing alongside the best junior golfers in the state.

She’ll learn from it, focus on the positives and look to come back with a vengeance in the Mass. Women’s Amateur Championship next month at Concord Country Club (Aug. 11-15).

“I hope I can come back to this event next year and even any event in the future and just play hard and play better,” Regan said. “This gives me an eye on the competition in the Women’s Am because a lot of the girls playing in this event are going to be there.”

The tournament’s 36-hole medalist Maddie Smith cruised in her Round of 16 match on Wednesday morning, using a stellar front nine of 4-under (32) to help her defeat Reva Machanavajhula 4 & 3 — a birdie on the 15th closing it out.

Smith, a rising senior committed to Division 1 Memphis for the fall of 2026, noted that her opponent played great golf all morning, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Smith.

“I just wanted to go out and play fearless,” she said. “I kind of just went after everything, and some putts seemed to fall. Thankfully they did. I was hitting it pretty good, and things worked out well.”

Birdies on the second, fifth, sixth and ninth holes vaulted Smith to a 4-up lead heading to the back nine. Machanavajhula shot an impressive even-par 36 but still found herself four back. She won the 10th hole with a par as Smith carded her first bogey of the afternoon, but Smith immediately put to rest any chance at a comeback on the par-3 11th.

Smith stuck a short iron to four feet on the 150-yard hole, and confidently sank the putt for birdie to win the hole and get her 3-up lead right back. Smith would go on to win 4 & 3 as another birdie on a par 3, this time the 15th, secured her the victory.

“It felt good to bounce back,” Smith said of the 11th hole. “I hit a great shot and had about four feet for birdie, so I was happy with that after I had just lost 10. It got me back going again.”

Now several rounds into the tournament, Smith has found her rhythm playing the top course in Franklin County. She said her favorite part of the track has been the greens, which she certainly has had no problem reading the first three days.

Her putter stole the show during the morning portion of Wednesday’s match play.

“I really like this course, and I think it’s one of those courses that the more you play it the easier it gets strategy-wise,” Smith said. “You learn something new every time you play. And the greens are really nice, they roll nice. The putter was pretty hot today.”

Following a brief break for lunch, the eight golfers — Smith, Sophie Redmond, Erika Redmond, Adriana Eaton, Lillian Guleserian, Madelyn Vetri, Kaitlyn Doe and Maddie Chang — who triumphed in the Round of 16 returned to the course in the afternoon for the quarterfinals.

Guleserian put together an eye-popping performance in her match against Vetri. By the time the pair made the turn to the back nine, she was already 7-up in her match. Guleserian shot a 1-under 35 on the front to take a commanding lead. Guleserian, a member of Blue Hill Country Club, dropped the 10th hole then responding by winning the 11th and 12th to go 8-up with six holes to play, clinching her the win.

Doe put found herself 2-down through two against Maddie Chang, but won four of the next five holes to build a 2-up lead. Chang stormed back to regain the lead after winning the 14th, but after a push on the 15th, it was Doe who turned things up a notch — making birdie on the final three holes to win the match 2-up.

Sophie Redmond and Eaton headed to the 18th tee box all square and the pressure mounted on each of them. Redmond made a textbook par while Eaton bogeyed, advancing Redmond to Thursday’s semifinals.

Smith claimed the final spot, winning 5 & 3 after going ballistic on the back nine. Smith was 1-down through six to Erika Redmond, then birdied the seventh hole to even the match. Smith grabbed a 1-up lead on nine, and then birdied her next three holes to grab a huge 4-up lead. Another birdie on the 14th and a par on the 15th were enough to give her the win.

It’ll be Smith, Sophie Redmond, Guleserian and Doe in the semifinals on Thursday morning, with the winners competing in the finals later in the afternoon.