Leavitt, Salo to meet in N.H. Amateur championship match

From the New Hampshire Golf Association Goffstown, N.H. (July 18, 2014) - Joe Leavitt and Damon Salo will play for the 111th New Hampshire Amateur Championship tomorrow at Stonebridge CC. Both endured two more rounds of match play today to earn a place in the 36-hole final. Leavitt faced off against his good friend Nick Pandelena in his morning quarterfinal match. The match went to the 18th hole where Leavitt hit a key approach shot to earn a 2 up victory. In his semifinal match, his opponent was 2011 NH Amateur Champion Jim Cilley. Leavitt lost the first hole, but was in control from that point on. Errant shots on the par-3 13th and par-5 14th ultimately did Cilley in, and Leavitt cruised to a 5 & 4 victory. Salo took on 2010 NH Amateur Champion Nick MacDonald in the quarterfinals. The match was all square headed to the 12th hole when Salo made his move. Consecutive birdies on #12 and #13 gave him a 2 up lead. After the duo halved #14 with pars, Salo made a par to MacDonald's bogey on the par-4 15th. Needing only to halve the 16th to win the match, Salo did just that with a par and captured a 3 & 2 victory. Salo's semifinal opponent was against Matt Paradis who had run roughshod through the match play portion of the event. Paradis had won his previous matches 3 & 2, 6 & 5, 5 & 4, and 6 & 5. Salo took advantage of a couple of early Paradis mistakes to jump out to a 2 up lead through 6. It was a lead he wouldn't relinquish. After losing the 8th, he quickly won back 9th and also won the 11th to get to 3 up. From there he coasted to 2 & 1 victory.