Nick Bove Breaks Through & Wins Gerry Ashe Memorial

As the only player in the field to finish under-par across his 54 holes at the Gerry Ashe Memorial, Nick Bove broke through to win this year’s championship at Timber Banks GC after finishing in the top-ten in the past four iterations of the annual Syracuse stroke play championship. 

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Two incredibly clutch holes down the stretch ultimately landed Bove his first Gerry Ashe Memorial crown, and an exemption into the 2025 NYS Men’s Amateur at Yahnundasis GC. 

Clinging onto a one stroke lead on the 53rd hole, Bove’s approach shot from the trees on the left side of the 17th hole fairway landed on the green, but rolled off to the left, setting up a difficult up and down par save.

Meanwhile, Spencer Baum was approaching the 18th green with a birdie chance of less than 15 feet that would tie Bove. Baum had been making a charge toward Bove, who entered the final round on Sunday with a six-stroke lead, the entire day. 

After doubling the third hole, Baum was nearly perfect the rest of the way. He played bogey-free golf from then on, and added four birdies to his scorecard to cut into Bove’s sizeable lead. 

Bove, on the other hand, was trending in the opposite direction. He bogeyed two to start his round, but quickly erased it with a birdie on the next hole. He would then log four bogeys in his next ten holes. While Baum stayed steady with pars and took advantage of his scoring opportunities, Bove had seemingly started to fall apart after two incredible rounds on Friday (68) and Saturday (71) that helped him build the lead. 

Baum’s birdie on the par-3 16th had officially brought Bove’s lead down to one stroke with two holes to go. Bove proceeded to par that hole, while Baum just missed a birdie opportunity on the 17th, settling for par. 

This set the stage for Bove’s third shot into the 17th green, with leaked past the hole more than anticipated and set up a putt of over 20 feet to save par and retain his one-stroke advantage. Baum did not convert his birdie opportunity on 18, leaving Bove the tall task of saving a long par putt on 17 and navigating the par-4 18th in just four shots to win the championship. 

Breaking left to right, Bove read the putt perfectly and curled it into the cup. His tee shot on 18 went straight down the middle, leaving himself a wedge shot into the two-tiered 18th green. With the flag located on the bottom tier, Bove stuck his second shot right where he needed to - just over ten feet to set up an easy two-putt for victory.

Instead, Bove roll the putt in for birdie to walk off the course with a two-under overall finish and claim the 2025 Gerry Ashe Memorial.

Baum finished second place at even-par overall. Ben Gaulin (+5), Adam Butch (+6) and Dean Hitt (+6) rounded out the top-five.