Rick Dowling has been there before. Ben Carpenter would like to.
The 120th Connecticut Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Danbury will come down to today’s 36-hole championship match between Dowling (Golf Performance Center), the champion in 2017 and ‘19, and Carpenter (CC of Darien), a rising sophomore at Yale.
Both golfers won two matches on Thursday to earn their spot. After rallying on the last two holes to defeat Jantzen Vargas (Quinnatisset CC) 1-up in the morning quarterfinals, Carpenter beat past champion Ben Conroy (New Haven CC) in the afternoon semifinals, 5-and-4.
“I am super-excited for the championship match,” said Carpenter. “I just want to go have fun and play my game.”