Massa Brothers Highlight Semifinalists at Desert Mountain

The week began with 16 Arizonans in the field for the 11th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Desert Mountain Club.

Just one remains.

On a marathon Tuesday at the Cochise Course that saw three sides from the Grand Canyon State eliminated – five of the six players were from Scottsdale – only Cody Massa, of Cave Creek, is still standing. Along with younger brother Bobby, who hails from Dallas, Texas, the long-hitting duo survived two matches to reach the semifinals.

The Massa brothers took out former UC San Diego teammates Kyle Dougherty and Justin Gill, 3 and 2, in the Round of 16 and then followed up in the afternoon by knocking off No. 3 seeds and ex-University of Georgia teammates Zach Healy and Jack Larkin Jr., 3 and 2.

They were one of two brother tandems to reach the final four. Craig Long II and William Long, of Alpharetta, Ga., also won a pair of matches on a comfortable and breezy mid-May day in Greater Phoenix.

Also advancing to the semifinals were former Southeastern Louisiana University teammates Lawrence Allan and Grady Brame Jr., and Welshmen Jonathan Bale and Tomi Bowen.

This is the third consecutive year that Bobby Massa, 38, an athletic trainer who helps golfers gain more speed through a variety of exercises, has advanced to the quarterfinals or beyond in a USGA championship. Two years ago, he was the runner-up to Evan Beck in the U.S. Mid-Amateur, a month after reaching the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur. A year ago, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Amateur at Troon Country Club, a short 20-minute drive from Desert Mountain.

Against Healy and Larkin Jr., the brothers turned a 1-down deficit to a 3-up lead by winning four holes with birdies in an eight-hole stretch from No. 6.  

“I mean, this is everything,” said Cody Massa. “We’ve been trying to get here for, what, this is our sixth year to try. Winning a normal tournament is amazing. Nothing on this.”

In their morning victory, Bobby Massa holed out for an eagle-2 on the fifth hole with a wedge from 103 yards.

“I'm doing [yardage] adjustments to Dallas, so I was around 96 yards is what it was with the adjustment. I was trying to land it just about 87 [yards] and it just came out perfect.

Obviously, it's a huge bonus for it to go in. But I hit a really good shot and it just trickled right in the left side of the hole apparently. I didn't get to see it go in. Once they started cheering, I was pretty happy about it.” 

Bale, 38, and Bowen, 23, met through the Wales National Team. Both represented their country in the 2025 World Amateur Team Championship in Malaysia, and since both were inside the top 400 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking® and exempt from qualifying at the time entries closed last summer, the former figured he’d ask his much younger teammate if he wanted to play at Desert Mountain.

The partnership has gone quite well.

And like the hot Arizona desert in the summer, they sizzled.

After defeating Torey Edwards and Bret Parker, 3 and 2, in the quarterfinals, the duo is now an impressive 24 under par. That includes an eagle-3 on the 558-yard, par-5 15th hole that Bowen reached in two shots with an 8-iron to 30 feet. In their 3-and-2, Round-of-16 victory over U.S. National Team members Tyler Mawhinney and Luke Colton, Bale said he drained at least five birdie putts of 20 feet or more.

“We ham-and-egged it pretty well,” said Bale, who played for Louisiana Tech and now resides in Jupiter, Fla., where he works for a hedge fund. “I think our games complement each other, so it's worked out.”

Bale, who missed the match-play cut in last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur at nearby Troon C.C., and Bowen are no strangers to the big stage. They represented Wales last fall in the World Amateur Team Championship in Malaysia, while also competing in the European Amateur Team Championships and Home Internationals. Each hopes to play well enough this summer to get a look for the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team that will face the USA at Lahinch in the Republic of Ireland Sept. 6-7.

Bowen chose to become a full-time amateur golfer rather than attend college while also working for his father’s window-fitting business. He’s eyeing DP World Tour Qualifying School in the fall.

Two weeks ago, William Long, 17, was preparing for the Georgia State High School Tournament, and Craig Long, 20, was planning to practice with some of his Northern Illinois University teammates in suburban Chicago until the email came from the USGA that the side was now in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball field as alternates. When Miami (Ohio) won the Mid-American Conference title over Long’s NIU team to earn the automatic bid to NCAA regionals, Tyler Anderson and Liam Nelson had to withdraw from the Four-Ball, giving the Long brothers the spot as first alternates from their qualifying site.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the duo not only advanced to match play as the No. 8 seeds, but now has won three matches, including a 3-and-2 decision in the quarterfinals over the Cinderella side of Jacob Beckman and Charlie Erlandson. The University of Wisconsin teammates chipped in on their last hole of stroke play to get into Monday’s 8-for-3 playoff for the last match-play spots, then eliminated the medalists in the opening round. But the Long brothers, who needed 19 holes to defeat 2025 runners-up Evan Beck and Dan Walters in the Round of 16, were too tough on Tuesday afternoon.

William, who has verbally committed to attend Georgia Tech in the fall of 2027, and Craig made four birdies in a five-hole stretch from No. 8 to race past the two Badgers.

“I think the more we could just kind of stay in our routines and stick to the pre-shot routine we have had all week, the better we were able to kind of execute,” said William.

Brame Jr., 33, and Allan, 31, first met at Southeastern Louisiana University as teammates. Brame, who is from Baton Rouge and now works in the commercial insurance industry after trying professional golf for six years, took in the native of Scotland and the players became instant friends. But it wasn’t until Allan, a reinstated amateur, gave up mini-tour golf to become the head men’s golf coach at his alma mater four years ago that they started playing more together.

They qualified for their first Four-Ball last fall.

On Tuesday, they became persona non grata in Arizona, knocking off two high-profile sides. First they went 19 holes to beat two-time runners-up Drew Kittleson and Drew Stoltz, the latter a co-host of “The Gravy and the Sleaze” Sirius/XM Radio show with two-time USGA champion Colt Knost. Then they defeated the oldest side in the field, Jeremy Defalco and Bryan Hoops, 4 and 3.

“He was really good this morning,” said Allan of Brame, whose father, Grady Sr. is an accomplished amateur and is competing in the Senior Trans-Mississippi Amateur this week. “Really, really good. Anything he had to make, a putt, a clutch shot, he did. Without him I would've been beaten, 5 and 4 this morning. [He] was incredible.”

Interjected Brame: “And vice versa this afternoon.”

What’s Next

The semifinals and 18-hole championship match are scheduled for 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. MST, respectively, on Wednesday. Admission is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

Notable

• The four quarterfinal losing sides didn’t go home without a perk. They are now exempt into the 2027 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship that will be contested May 22-27 at Erin Hills, in Erin, Wis., provided the side remains intact.
  
  
• The Round of 32 was not kind to a pair of champions. Last year’s winner, Tyler Mahwinney, and 2024 champions Brian Blanchard and Sam Engel were each eliminated. Mawhinney competed this year with fellow U.S. National Junior Team member Luke Colton. Also ousted were the runners-up from 2022 and 2023 (Drew Kittleson and Drew Stoltz) and 2025 finalist Evan Beck and Dan Walters.
  
  
• The tee on the 16th hole was moved up to make the par 4 drivable at 293 yards.
  
  
• Jonathan Bale is a member at Royal Porthcawl, a classic links course that hosted the 1995 Walker Cup Match that featured Tiger Woods on the USA Team. The club also hosted last year’s AIG Women’s Open Championship and will again host the 2026 British Senior Open.
  
  
• Will Hartman, who won the 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball with Tyler Mahwinney at Plainfield C.C. last May, is on the verge of claiming the NCAA Athens (Ga.) Regional individual crown this week. The Vanderbilt sophomore holds a three-stroke lead going into Wednesday’s final round in a field that includes world No. 1 amateur Jackson Koivun.
  
  
• Six matches have gone extra holes this week, which is just two off the championship mark set in 2021 at Chambers Bay.

Quotable

“Do the exact same thing we did today. Cliché as it sounds, it's fairways, greens, and try to both be in the hole so we have as many looks [at birdie] as possible.” – Bobby Massa on the mindset for the semifinals

“It's good. As long as you keep it on the grass the fairways are great, greens are great.” – Tomi Bowen on playing desert golf for the first time this week

“Well, the NIU Huskies, we got second at MAC Conference and they got first, so I feel like they got whatever they needed. I'm not salty at all.” – Craig Long II on getting the alternate spot from two individuals from conference rival Miami (Ohio) when the Red Hawks got the automatic bid to this week’s NCAA regionals and the side had to withdraw

“Mixture. I went home for a while, played some mini tour stuff over in Britain, and came back here [to the United States] and played. Then this job sort of fell in my lap and I grabbed it with both hands…I went straight from mini tours to head coach.” – Lawrence Allan on how he became the head men’s golf coach at Southeastern Louisiana University, in Hammond.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.