Editor’s Note: It was five years ago, on Aug. 23, 2020, that Haverhill’s Nick Maccario delivered the round of his life. This story originally ran just days after that historic performance.
This is a story about something that happened on a typical, nondescript Sunday in August on a golf course in Bradford.
Four guys, really five if you include the guy who indirectly helped create the incredible, unexpected, unplanned “event” that happened at Bradford Country Club.
Nick Maccario, coming off one of the greatest summers in the history of Merrimack Valley-bred golfers, finishing second in three huge Massachusetts and New England amateur-based tournaments (Mass Am, New England Amateur and Ouimet Memorial) before winning the fourth, The Hornblower Memorial, outdid himself that Sunday morning.
He not only broke his own course record (63), he destroyed it. By seven strokes.
Maccario shot a 15-under par 56. The round consisted of 11 birdies and two eagles. Best of all, he survived missing a 3-foot birdie putt.
How good is a 56?
Only five golfers in the history of the sport have been documented shooting a 55.
This is since the great game became 18 holes at St. Andrews, Scotland.
Maccario’s score would be considered in a separate category from a sanctioned tournament.
Rather than us telling you the story, we let the four players in the group — Maccario, Atkinson Country Club teaching pro Nick Antonelli, Nick Fiset of Kingston, N.H., and Rob Hayes of Amesbury — and the guy who cancelled, opening the door for Maccario to play, Shawn Roderick of North Andover, tell their story, in their words, on the history-making event:
THE WEDNESDAY TEXT
Nick Antonelli: “Nick (Maccario) texted me a few days before saying ‘Wanna play Sunday morning.’ I told him we already had a group but that he should text Shawn (Roderick) in case somebody drops out.
Shawn Roderick: “Every Saturday or Sunday we play, about eight guys, rotating the foursomes. On this Sunday, the senior club championship was happening so we wanted to get our early before they teed off. It was the middle of the week and Nick (Maccario) texted me about playing. Normally, he’d probably be part of the group. We’d love to have him, but he’s been busy with his tournament schedule and lives in Waltham.”
THE REPLACEMENT
Roderick: “At the Haverhill Country Club member-guest that Friday, my car wouldn’t start afterward. So I had it towed to Commonwealth Motors. I was planning on going up to Maine with my wife. It’s less than an hour drive. We usually drive our own cars so I can leave to golf and come back afterward. But with car trouble I texted Nick ‘We have only one car. I can’t do this. Dude, do you want to play?’ Nick then got hold of another guy that was in our group whom he knows well, Nick Fiset.”
Nick Fiset: “I play with Shawn a lot. We went to high school together at Timberlane (Regional). I’ve caddied for Nick (Maccario) a lot, in Mass. Opens, Mass. Ams, etc. For some people to play with Nick (Maccario) is intimidating. But I’m used to it. Nick really wanted to play. We had a good group with myself, Nick Antonelli, an teaching pro at Atkinson, who is very, very good, and Rob Hayes, who is a good 9-handicap.”
THE DAY BEFORE
Nick Maccario: “On Saturday I played 18 at Bradford. I think I shot 66 or 67. I left the course, picked up my girlfriend (Elizabeth), then played played 18 at Garrison and went to lunch at Atkinson (Country Club). After that, we went back to Garrison and then I went back to Bradford and chipped and putt for an hour, and then played six holes. It was wild because while on the practice green at Bradford I remembered thinking, This is for a 59 … This is to shoot a 59. (Bradford Country Club owner) Kevin Murphy has taught me to visualize a round in your head. On Saturday night, I went through the round in my head, to shoot a 59. I know that sounds super ridiculous.”
SUNDAY AT BRADFORD
Antonelli: “I hear Nick (Maccario) talking before the round about Spencer Levin (a pro golfer), about what makes players good. Someone says something about getting a birdie on each of the first nine holes. Nick says ‘I can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Dude, you could do that.’ It was ironic. The mindset was there before the round.”
Maccario: “I was really looking forward to playing with Antonelli. He’s not just a teaching pro, but he’s really good. I was looking forward to a casual round with someone who has played competitively this year … But I did feel colder and stiffer than I was on Saturday.”
THE FRONT NINE
Fiset: “We’re teammates for this match, riding in the same cart … Nick (Maccario) starts with a pretty easy birdie on the first hole, about four feet from the pin. No big deal. He’s done that a lot. Then the second hole, which is a birdie hole; he lips in about an 8-footer for par. Then it starts. He birdies the third hole, a par 3, and bombs drives for easy birdies on the fourth and fifth hole. We get to the sixth hole, which is a tough par 3. I birdie it and he has a tap in par.”
Antonelli: “What I noticed on those early birdies was the way he was putting. The ball was falling in the cup on the last roll, every one of them. I knew he had a good putting stroke, but I had never seen him make putts with that exact same pace, second to last roll, before falling in the cup. I can’t stand that we have to play with the pin, but it didn’t matter. Every putt Nick was hitting was money.”
Hayes: “After Nick birdied the seventh hole I was starting, a little bit, to look ahead, for him. But then I was all-in after the par-5 eight hole. First off, the great players take that risk of driving (blindly) over the trees. He’s lying two from about 110 yards. He then sticks his wedge to about four feet. He hits that for an eagle and now he’s seven-under par through eight holes. That’s ridiculous. Now I’m starting to get nervous.”
Fiset: “The problem when you play with Nick (Maccario) sometimes is you have to wait on holes because he’s not afraid to drive over trees and you have to wait for the area to clear of golfers. On the ninth hole, if you have the guts to go over the trees, you can make it an easy wedge to the hole to a small landing area. When he drains that short putt for birdie, it put him at 8 under par at the turn. “
Antonelli: “The birdie on nine was it for me. That’s 8-under, 27 on the front. That’s the difference between Nick and a lot of other great golfers. He has that special gear. There are two par-5s and other birdie holes on the back. My money was on Nick to shoot a 59. But I didn’t say it to him.”
THE 10TH TEE
Antonelli: “I caught myself on the 10th tee, putting the peg in the ground. I started to say ‘You better call the GolfChannel.’ Nope, I said. I’m not going to say it. It’s not a cool move.”
Maccario: “I’ve shot 28 on the front before. That was the first time I was at 8-under 27. I remembered saying to myself, ‘OK, that’s one better. Make the turn. I’m playing well. The course record is in jeopardy.’ Then I remembered thinking, ‘Forget the course record. How about a 59.’ Ahh, we’ll see.”
THE MISS ON 10
Fiset: “Nick stuck another wedge about three or four feet from the pin. It was incredible after that front nine. But then he lipped out for a par. We were stunned.
Hayes: “I said to myself, ‘Oh no!’ I didn’t say it out loud, but I figured that would come back to haunt him, I mean just over three feet.”
Antonelli: “The thing was he flagged the ball on 10. It was a great shot. You can’t make them all. It didn’t rattle him like it would a lot of other people.”
Maccario: “On the 10th green, I said to myself ‘If you shoot 60, we’ll talk about it.’ I’m a huge proponent with second place finishes this summer. It was three feet. If I made the putt, maybe I don’t do what I do later in the round. I honestly didn’t let it bother me. I was hitting the ball real well and having fun.”
BIRDIE BRIGADE ON BACK
Maccario: “I really wanted a par on the 11th hole, a tough par-3 to birdie. I knew there were more birdies coming. I remembered thinking, ‘Don’t worry about this miss on 10. Just get a par on 11. The 12th and 13th holes are par 5s that I can birdie. I got the par on 11 and moved on.”
Hayes: “We all know this is when Nick (Maccario) will make his move. And it’s incredible. He gets an easy birdie on the 12th hole. He almost eagles the 13th hole. And he taps in from 16 inches on the 14. Now I’m getting really nervous again.”
Maccario: “The 15th hole can be driveable. I am on the tee thinking, ‘What are you going to do? The pin is in front.’ So I laid back with a 3-iron and hit my wedge to about eight feet. I hit the birdie to get to 12 under, which means I’m at 59 if I par out.”
Fiset: “That putt was not easy. It was a left to right slider. Unbelievable that he made that. We all knew he was at the number, 59, if he can par out. I’m in the cart with him driving to 16 not saying anything. I was too scared to.”
Roderick: “I’m sitting under an umbrella on the beach, with music playing in Maine. The wi-fi service is awful up there, but I can get texts. Nick Fiset was keeping me informed. When he told me Maccario was 11 under through 12, I almost lost it. I told him to text me the rest of the way. I wanted to know everything.”
THE PAR SAVE
Maccario: “The hardest hole is 16. It’s a par 4. I usually try to hit a 3-iron, to play it smart, and get up near the green in two for an easy chip. I did that, just off the green on the front edge, and hit a good chip to about 3 1/2 feet. Normally, it’s an easy putt with your buddies. But you could hear a pin drop. I get it. Nobody was going to say anything.”
Hayes: “I thought it was more like five feet. It could be his first blemish. When he made it, it was like the world was off his shoulders, really all of our shoulders.”
Antonelli: “After the round in the clubhouse, I remembered asking him what he was thinking on the 16th hole. He said he wanted to par 16 because I have two birdie holes left. I was like, wow! You get to the number (59), before the 18th hole, and he’s thinking about birdies. He’s a bigger man than me.”
Fiset: “He pushed his drive a little off the tee and was 155 to 160 yards out. At that point I’m his caddy. I forgot about my game. We were killing (Antonelli and Hayes) in match. He had a touch pitch, but hit it beautifully to about four feet. I remember thinking, ‘No way he’s going to make it.’ He made it.”
THE 17TH HOLE CIRCUS
Fiset: “Antonelli is on the tee and says to me, ‘It’s kind of like a no-hitter. Don’t say anything.’ He says quietly, ‘Oh yeah!”
Hayes: “In terms of our match, this par-3 is worth a double-greenie because we tied the last one. But the bigger thing for us is Nick (Maccario) getting the 59. Nick hits a great shot, which was blind, but we knew it was close. It ended up being four feet away. Antonelli hits his shot off target and misses the green, with a tough wedge shot. And I’m about 38 feet away.”
Fiset: “Antonelli hits the best flop shot I’ve ever seen. It goes in the hole. The crazy day can’t get crazier. But then Rob drains his long, breaking putt. It was unbelievable.”
Maccario: “It was pretty funny. They made those two incredible birdies. I’m looking over my putt, a downhill six or seven footer. I don’t need to make it. When I made it, I’m like, ‘OK, I’m now at 58 (with a par on 18).’”
THE 18TH DRIVE
Fiset: “So now the only worry, for me, is don’t screw up the drive here. There is all hazard on the left side. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Dude, this is an 8-iron. Hit an 8-iron so we don’t lose it!’ Then I see him pull out a driver. I said to him, ‘What are you doing?’ Nick said, ‘I’m ripping a driver down the middle.’ He ripped it down the middle. It took balls. If it’s me, I duck-hook it left so bad.”
Maccario: “It was my best drive of the year. I threaded down middle. I figured there that I locked up shooting a 58. I wasn’t even thinking birdie. The hardest part of the hole was the second shot, with the pin a tough spot in the back left, with a lot of slope.”
THE MIRACLE CHIP
Hayes: “Nick is about 50 yards from the green with a great angle at the flag. I hit a 5-iron and 9-iron and waiting behind Nick and Antonelli, who were both near each other. I wanted to see it from behind. He hits it nice and it rolls to the back of the green and rolls around the hole and in for a 2. I’ve never seen anything like it, not even on TV. It was truly the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in sports.”
Fiset: “I see the one hop and realize it’s probably going to be close. But there was hill in front of our view. Rob was the only one who saw it. Rob starts going crazy. Then the group in front of us stayed at the green and they start pointing at the hole. The whole scene was insane.”
Antonelli: “I hit a pretty good chip to about 10 feet. I expected Nick to get closer. And then to see it rolling toward the pin, knowing it’s probably going be very close, and then go in was incredible.”
Maccario: “I knew it was a good shot, but it was a semi-blind shot where you lose sight of the ball when the pin is back there. Rob starts shouting, losing his mind saying, ‘I can’t believe it, the greatest round of golf!’ Antonelli randomly just screamed, ‘Dude, do you realize what you just did?’ I didn’t even know what to do. I didn’t even make a sound. My mind was lost. I just walked over to the hole, grabbed the ball, put it in my pocket because I didn’t want to lose it. I think I blacked out. I made an eagle for a 56.”
Antonelli: “The funny thing is I had a 10-foot putt for a 64. I had only shot a 64 once in my life. It was funny. After what Nick just did, I’ve never felt more settled for a putt for a 64. Because of what he had done I felt zero pressure. Amazing.”
POST ROUND SENTIMENT
Hayes: “For me, I shot a 79. That’s only the third or fourth time I broke 80 this year. As for Nick (Maccario), he just had total command of his game the entire round. It was the greatest display of golf that I’ve ever seen and will ever see. It’s a day I’ll never forget.”
Antonelli: “The thing is when you get a course record or even a 59, it usually means a hole-in-one, a few trees that knock ball back in the fairway, a few lucky shots. But that wasn’t the case. Nick was on his game in every way. It was one of the cleanest rounds I’ve ever seen. The eagle on 18 could be considered lucky, but he can make a shot from 55 yards out because he’s that good and consistent. The fact that he continued to look ahead and not behind is amazing. It was an unreal thing to witness, something we might never see again.”
Fiset: “I play with Maccario in the member-member every spring. He loves winning the gross, but he always says he wants to win the net. But he never does. I think he has to shoot a 56 to win the net. I’m proud to have been a part of it. We all felt like we were part of it. It’s an experience I’ll talk about the rest of my life. I’ve played a lot of golf with Maccario and I’ve seen him go low, but this was crazy.”
Maccario: “It’s funny, the last three weeks I haven’t played a tournament. It was great playing casual rounds with friends. I love to play when I can and that’s all that day was. I wanted to play and thankfully a slot opened. Bradford is not the longest course, but it’s a great test. I was always proud of the course record and now this, wow! Even without this round, this year has been special. In May, we didn’t know if we’d be able to play competitive rounds of golf. In fact, it didn’t look good for a while. It’s pretty cool, a 56. It hasn’t really hit me yet, but I’m sure it will. I know I had fun doing it.”
Roderick: “The funny thing is we played together in the Bradford Club championship recently, two rounds, and I beat him by two strokes. I shot 66 and 73 and he was 71 and 70. I remembered him saying he was beat and didn’t think he was going to play the Hornblower Memorial at Plymouth (Mass.) Country Club. I pushed him, ‘You have to play. You love that course.’ Well, he went and won the tournament. And a few weeks later, I can’t play, he replaces me and makes history. He’s a great guy and a great golfer. It was my pleasure to help him make history.”
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.
Oppenheim’s best: 58
PGA Tour member Rob Oppenheim, probably the best golfer the Merrimack Valley has ever producted, has flirted with a score in the 50s a few times over his illustrious near two decades as a golf professional, in fact shooting a 62 two weeks ago in Greensboro, N.C. to make it to the final pairing.
Last summer, on a visit home to the Andover area from Orlando, he shot a 12-under 60 at his old home course of Indian Ridge Country Club playing with a few friends.
Oppenheim, 40, did shoot a 12-under par 58 during a warmup to a U.S. Open qualifier at Sleepy Hollow Country Club four years ago in Briar Cliff Manor, N.Y.
“I didn’t do anything crazy,” recalled Oppenheim, who was in the area visiting family the past week. “I just made a ton of putts. I remember the greens were softer than normal because of rain the night before. I just made 12 birdies, no eagles. It was one of those days, playing with a couple of pros, and you get in that zone.”
Oppenheim remembers a small crowd gathering at the 18th green, probably hearing from members of his group.
“With texting, word gets around fast,” said Oppenheim. “But I will say (Nick Maccario’s) 56 is amazing. That’s incredible. I’m happy for him.”