​Winchester was fading as the flagstick barely showed above the edge of the green, and Matthew Naumec knew exactly where to place his approach shot. With the hill climbing away behind him and an unseen green waiting at the top, Naumec struck a long, high-arching ball that carried to the target and sat there, spinning back toward the hole. The small crowd gathered at the crest of the hill let out a chorus of hopeful cheers—the kind of reaction that says everything without a single word: get in the hole. And then the whoops rose again, a long, drawn-out adoration of the moment, as the ball dropped and the gallery’s energy swelled.
Naumec, a member of Framingham Country Club, had just faced a shot roughly the length of his putter. He wrapped up a long day at the 118th Massachusetts Amateur on Wednesday with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole, securing a victory over fellow Framingham CC member Kyle Tibbetts in the Round of 32. The decisive moment came at 8:11 p.m., roughly 12 minutes before official sunset, allowing Naumec to finish what turned into an even longer day for Tibbetts, who had started his weather-delayed second round at 8:28 a.m. and endured a playoff to reach this point.
Tibbetts had logged an exhausting 43 holes for the day, allowing his caddie’s Apple Watch to tally a mile-marking 13.2 miles on the third playoff hole alone in the match against Naumec. “So he walked a half marathon today,” Naumec noted with a touch of awe.
The two Framingsham Country Club teammates—Naumec, on the left, and Tibbetts—shared a moment of camaraderie as Naumec prepared to salute Tibbetts on the 18th green shortly before the playoff began, shadows lengthening with the light. Tibbetts, needing to sink a three-foot putt to seal the match, slipped and missed, raising his eyes to the heavens as the players headed toward the first tee to begin the playoff. “Kyle’s a phenomenal putter, and I completely thought it was over,” Naumec, the 2024 champion, recalled. “I had my hat off and was ready to shake his hand. I definitely thought he was going to make it.”
The day had presented rain and delay, pushing the end into the twilight, but Tibbetts did not play his best on Tuesday, a day initially set to close out stroke play. After posting a pair of 74s on Wednesday morning to finish his second round, Tibbetts remained tied at 6-over par along with a trio of others who would contend in the Round of 32, though only three would advance. The path to the playoff required three extra holes, and Tibbetts found himself matched once again against a familiar foe.
Naumec recalled the moment he learned of the playoff: “I was walking back from lunch and was going to hit some putts, when Kyle was lingering and said, ‘Hey, we’re going.’ I had no idea until Kyle told me.” The revelation set the stage for a climactic finish to the Mass Amateur at Winchester, a tournament that tested patience, precision, and the stamina of two remarkably steady players.
In the end, Naumec’s steady hands and a touch of fortune on the crucial hole carried the day, a victory that underscores his continued ascent in Massachusetts amateur golf and adds another memorable chapter to the rivalry between two Framingham Country Club stalwarts.