Molly Smith completes Round 1 of Massachusetts Amateur at 4-over-par 74 – The Boston Globe

Smith bogeyed three of her first four holes on Monday, as some lengthy putts were left short or skipped over the hole.

On the fourth hole, a par-3, Smith’s tee shot landed in a bunker. Her next shot looked like it had been launched too far, but she’d applied the proper level of backspin to bring it closer to the pin. But again, a medium-length par putt escaped her.

She birdied two of the next three holes and was 1 over in difficult conditions, including some sprinkles.

Tuesday brought much better weather, but started with tough results for Smith. She parred the ninth and 10th holes to remain 1 over, but struggled from there.

Her tee shot on 11, a par-3, ended up in a bunker, leading to a bogey.

Smith’s second shot on 12 finished just off the green, but with a sprinkler head in her path, she was able to get relief so she could putt it. But two putts later, Smith threw up one hand up in brief exasperation as she bogeyed again.

Smith needed a strong tee shot on the next hole but didn’t get it. Instead, it landed out of bounds. She took the penalty and scrambled for a bogey.

Her struggles on those holes stemmed from indecision on clubs.

“I just never got comfortable with the shot and hit it anyways, which isn’t exactly what you want to do,” she said. “Cost me a couple shots there.”

But Smith refocused, closing here round with five straight pars.

Smith’s parents, Phil and Lynn, were in attendance across both days, walking the entire course.

Phil was supposed to caddie for his daughter, but he suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago.

“I thought it would be too much because it’s a tough golf course to walk,” he said. “I have to take a push cart and going up and down the hills … I just didn’t think I was up for it.”

Smith got little rest between her first and second rounds. She finished Round 1 at 10:10 a.m., and was scheduled to start in the second round 31 minutes later.

“I teed off this morning thinking, ‘OK, today’s going to be a marathon, not like a sprint or anything,’ ” she said. “Just keep that mind-set, have a lot of golf left to play.”

Varun Shankar can be reached at varun.shankar@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @byvarunshankar.