Michael Welch of Quincy wins Massachusetts Open Golf Championship

Michael Welch, you just won the 103rd Massachusetts Open Championship at Walpole Country Club . . . what are you going to do now? Just a few hours after capturing the Clarence C. Cochrane Trophy and the $15,000 first-place check, the 30-year-old North Quincy native celebrated by playing another round of golf at his home course, Furnace Brook Golf Club in Quincy, with his buddies.

?The trophy is sitting here at the bar,? said Gerry Layden, pro shop attendant at Furnace Brook. ?Mike?s out there playing with a couple of foursomes. He just loves golf and his friends. They?re probably playing for beers and God knows what else until it gets dark.?

?A Quincy kid winning the State Open . . . that?s priceless,? said Presidents GC head professional Dana Smith. ?It?s a great day for Quincy. It?s actually quite awesome. That?s a quality win because that tournament has become a true Open event. There are players from all over playing in that tournament now.?

Not only does Welch love golf, but he is also loving life right now. Entering the final round Thursday, he was tied for fourth place and faced long odds with a five-stroke deficit behind leader Michael Ballo Jr. of Stamford, Conn. Four-plus hours later, Welch got emotional on the 18th green at Walpole CC, surrounded by family and friends as he closed with a 4-under-par 67 on the day for a 5-under finish (208) to capture his first-ever Mass. Golf Association title with a one-stroke victory over Ballo and Jason Parajeckas of Pleasant Valley CC.

Welch is no different than most non-PGA Tour professional golfers in battling their way around the circuit. Since turning pro in 2005, Welch has won two Hooters Golf Tour events as well as posting victories at the Vermont Open and New Hampshire Open in 2008, and the 2010 Cape Cod Open. He qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open and narrowly missed out on Monday at a 36-hole sectional qualifier in New Jersey for next week?s U.S. Open in San Francisco.

Instead, Welch headed straight home and went back to work early Tuesday morning to tee it up in the Mass. Open.

?This ranks pretty high up there,? said Welch of winning the Mass. Open. ?It?s home and I?m around family and friends. They see me travel the world and follow me online, but it?s good to come into my backyard and get a good result.?

?I got a little choked up on 18,? Welch admitted. ?It?s going to mean a lot to have my name etched on the trophy next to some of the legends (Francis Ouimet, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Paul Harney) in the game.?

Welch avenged what happened to him at this tournament in 2011, after he held the lead and fell back to finish tied for ninth.

?I hit a lot of quality shots today,? said Welch, who played the back nine at 6-under for the tournament. ?I played the par 5s good and hit good drives, which set up the holes. My game is as good as it has ever been, but I am thinking better. I?m not beating myself anymore, where I used to do that all the time.?

Khang runner-up at Women?s Open

At Mount Pleasant Country Club in Boylston, 14-year-old Megan Khang of Rockland shot a commendable, 5-under-par 143 (70-73) to earn second place in the 21st Mass. Women?s Open. Shrewsbury?s Brittany Altomare, a senior at the University of Virginia, was two strokes better at 141 (70-71) to capture the victory at a course she played on as a youth and as a member of the Shrewsbury High boys golf team.

Khang was looking to overcome her playoff loss to Ellie Dutch in this tournament last year. Khang and Altomare each held the first-round lead at 4-under 70 (women?s par 74), but Khang fell behind on the front nine by three-putting the sixth and ninth holes for bogey sandwiched around a birdie on 8. Altomare was steady at 2-under at the turn for a three-stroke advantage.

Khang hit the flag stick on one bounce with her approach shot on No. 10 and made birdie to close to within two strokes. She also made birdie on the par-5 14th, but Altomare followed with a birdie putt of her own to not lose any ground. Both women parred out the rest of the way.

?I three-putted too many holes both days,? said Khang, who will attempt to qualify for her fourth consecutive U.S. Girls Junior championship next week. ?Three-putts will kill you. But I missed some birdie putts, too. Tee to green, everything?s been good. But I?ll be spending more time on my putting. It needs work.?

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