Towels soaked in ice water, bucket hats of all shapes and umbrellas usually kept in the bag for rain were all just about required for the participants in the 120th playing of the State Amateur Golf Championships as temperatures reached triple figures Tuesday, June 24, at Rhode Island Country Club at Barrington.

RICC's shoreline location did little to diminish the scorching heat. The breeze coming off the bay couldn't keep the participants while they completed the second of two rounds of qualifying stroke play. The low 32 players were set to begin the match play main draw of the event Wednesday, June 25, culminating with the 36-hole finale on Friday, June 27.

Austin Cilley, a 30-year-old native of Westerly and former all-conference player when attended Rhode Island College, wasn't as searing as the heat, but he was reasonably close.

With all of the competitors on the course by mid-afternoon, Cilley well set to post the top stroke play score. He wound up being the medalist and No. 1 seed in the match play bracket after finishing with a 4-under, 138 total off rounds of 70 and 68. Par at RICC is 71.

Jake Bauer of New England C.C. was the only other player to break par, finishing qualifying a 1-under. Tom McCormick of Kirkbrae was third alone at even.

Get updated State Am scores here...

Leopold lingers
Bobby Leopold is the two-time reigning Amateur champ. He's also won three of the last four titles.

A winner of the prestigious trophy on five occasions total, Leopold, the 48-year-old native of England, will be seeking to join a couple of illustrious lists.

Leopold could match the achievement of Daniel Fairchild, who is the record holder with six R.I. State Amateur titles, including the fifth of those in 1919 at RICC.

Also, he could become the third player all time to claim three consecutive championships: John P. Burke, 1934-36, and Bobby Allen, 1958-60, being the others.

Leopold carded a 1-under 70 in Round 1, but was among those who struggled with the conditions and some tight pins located by the Rhode Island Golf Association officials on Day 2. He shot a 75, though was comfortably in the match play in a share of sixth place with seven others.

More locals
A number of other locals were assured of qualifying for match play, including Green Valley's Mark Roberts who was T-3 after finishing at 2-over off rounds of 71 and 73. 

Harry Dessel of Barrington and RICC as well as John Baldwin of Little Compton, East Providence's Nate Winsor and Andrew Fiorenzano of The Aquidneck Club were also in the sixth-place tie with Leopold.

Agawam Hunt's Joel Harvey was in a share of 14th at +4. His clubmate Jamie Lukowicz and Wannamoisett's Mark Wilson were in a share of 17th at +5.

Kevin Silva, of Montaup, Bill Forcier of Wannamoisett and Ted Murphy of Aquidneck were among the last group of players to qualify directly into match play.

A handful of others with area ties were in the six-for-one playoff to earn the 32nd and final berth into the bracket.

Northeast Amateur
The State Am followed on the heels of another prestigious event contested locally.

Preston Stout, a sophomore on the 2025 NCAA champion Oklahoma State squad, was the winner of the 63rd Northeast Amateur Invitational played June 18-21 at Wannamoisett in East Providence.

Stout was the far-and-away winner, finishing with a four-day total of -9 over another of Ross's local gems, the par 69 Wannamoisett design. The Cowboy pulled away from John Daly II, the son of two-time Major winner John Daly, over the final nine holes of the event, building on what was a four-stroke lead at the time.

Daly slumped to third place, dropping three shots coming in to finish at even par, 276. Sixteen-year-old high school sensation Miles Russell rose to runner-up, completing his 72 holes in -1.

Adam Bresnu, of Morocco and the No. 1 ranked junior college player in the country, along with Alabama junior Jonathan Griz shared fourth place at +1, 277.