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Fraser Bores His Way to County Allied Junior Title
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires.com Sports
04:55PM / Monday, August 13, 2018
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Thomas Fraser with Berkshire County Junior Golf Series coordinator John Marlowe.

16-and-older season champion Connor Champeaux.

14- to 15-year-old champion Max Digrigoli.

13-and-under champion Levi Zielinski.


GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- Like a lot of high school kids, Thomas Fraser settled in for a boring day on a gray August Monday.
 
But his definition of boring was a little different than most.
 
His definition included firing three birdies and carding a 2-over-par round of 73 at Egremont Country Club to win the Berkshire County Junior Allied Championship.
 
“It all went pretty well. I think I tried to make a lot of pars,” Fraser said. “I wanted to play a boring round.
 
“It was a nice course, so I was able to make a couple of birdies that I hit in there with the approach shot.”
 
Fraser of Greenock Country Club recorded birdies on the 325-yard, par 4, eighth hole, the 275-yard, par-4 11th and the 152-yard, par-3 14th to finish four strokes better than runners-up Nathan Dos Santos of Wahconah Country Club and Max DiGrigoli of the Country Club of Pittsfield, who each finished at 77.
 
Monday marked the final competition of the summer-long Berkshire County Juniors Series, and Digrigoli, 14, was recognized for winning the season title in the 14- to 15-year-old division after Monday edging Cranwell’s Brendan Haydin, who carded a 78.
 
Levi Zielinski of Worthington Country Club won the 13-and-under division title with his 85 on Monday.
 
The 16-and-over championship went to Berkshire Hills’ Connor Champeaux, who finished at 83 on Monday.
 
Fraser has not been playing in the weekly Monday morning events, but he has been getting plenty of competition as he prepares for his senior season at Lee High School.
 
“This summer, I've just been trying to play in a lot of junior tournaments -- out by the Cape and down in Connecticut, just trying to play as much golf as I can and try to improve,” Fraser said.
 
After bogeys on the first and seventh holes Monday, he got one stroke back on No. 8.
 
“I hit a nice tee shot right in the fairway, and then I wanted to focus on my approach shot in, and I was able to stick it to about 2 feet,” Fraser said. “That was a nice putt.
 
“The other ones - same thing. I just tried to hit a lot of fairways today and then hit it in close.”
 
The other two birdies helped take the sting out of a double bogey on the 361-yard, par-4 18th hole that Fraser was able to laugh about after taking the title.
 
Dos Santos was less sanguine after going 5-over on the back nine to fall off the pace.
 
“I was way too aggressive,” Dos Santos said. :I should have been more conservative. I pulled out the driver a lot. It only worked a couple of times.
 
“I think at 12 or 13, we were head-to-head still. He hit it close and made birdie on 8 or 9, and then I made that long putt [on 11]. My last four or five holes, I was going at everything because I wanted to get back and catch up with him.”
 
Dos Santos had two birdies. On the eighth hole, he matched Fraser with a three after chipping close to the pin. On 11, he sank a 30-footer to, at the time, go to 2-over for the round.
 
“I liked playing head-to-head with Thomas a lot,” Dos Santos said. “It kind of made me step up my game out there, even though he got me by four strokes.”
 
Results Monday:
13-and-under
1. Levi Zielinski, Worthington Golf Club, 85; 2. Owen Petropulos, Waubeeka Golf Links, 89; 3. Devan Patel, Stockbridge Golf Club, 97; 4. Nate Murphy, G.E.A.A., 107.
 
14- to 15-year-old
Max Digrigoli, Country Club of Pittsfield, 77; 2. Brenden Hayden, Berkshire Hills Country Club, 78; 3. Matthew Shields, Stockbridge Golf Club, 85; 4. Harrison Seeley, Cranwell Resort, 89.
 
16-and-older
Thomas Fraser, Greenock, 73; 2. Nathan Dos Santos, Wahconah Country Club, 77; 3. Connor Champeaux, Berkshire Hills Country Club, 83; 3. Liam Fitzgibbons, Berkshire Hills Country Club, 83; 4. Derek Alibozek, Forest Park Country Club, 86.
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