PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — Accepting that golf often makes no sense and is devoid of any guarantees, you still might have been tempted to suggest two sure things were in store for the 118th Rhode Island State Amateur championship.
One, Bobby Leopold would march deep into match play. And two, some youngster would get in position to win it all. Leopold, after all, is a three-time winner of this title, and aren’t kids pretty much taking over golf?
Maybe not exactly the safest bets in golf, but each of these suspicions played out in tidy fashion at one of the state’s most unheralded gems, Montaup Country Club.
In warm, but gusty breezes Thursday, Leopold, 39, won a pair of matches to earn a spot in Friday’s final, but equally impressive was 20-year-old Harry Dressel, who won twice to demonstrate that he’ll provide a formidable foe.