SEEKONK _ Match play in the 113th RIGA Amateur began with a bang on Wednesday with upsets and extra-hole matches dominating the day.

         Shockingly, both medalist and former champion Davis Chatfield and four-time winner Brad Valois fell in the first round. And so did two-time Stroke Play titlist Tyler Cooke, which meant three of the top four seeds were gone before lunch time.

         Then, in the second round in the afternoon, Junior Champion Patrick Welch and Mid-Amateur champ Jamie Lukowicz were added to the casualty list.

         Threee former champions, defending champion Bill Forcier, two-time winner Bobby Leopold  and 2005 titlist Tom McCormick, did win twice to stay alive. So did soon to be pro Jake Bauer, second-seed Matt Broome, former URI player and now Rhody assistant coach Eric Marchetti, Connecticut National’s Chris DeLucia and unheralded Claudio Soukamneuth.

       Soukamneuth was easily the biggest story on what was one of the wildest days in RIGA play in years.   The Hendricken grad, who just finished his freshman year at Johnson & Wales, was the last man to qualify for match play. He finished in a four-way tie for 32nd place, and won the playoff by rolling in an eight-foot birdied putt on the first extra hole.

          All that earned him was a match with 2016 champion Chatfield, who had won the medal by finishing 17 strokes ahead of Soukamneuth.

         Soukamneuth, who is the latest of the Button Hole kids to make an impact on the state scene, was not intimidated. He entered with a positive attitude.

         “Let’s battle. Let’s go at it,’’ he said of his approach. “I don’t care if it’s a tour payer, competing is competing. That’s all it is. You’ve just got to go and try your best. Give it your all.’’

        He quickly fell behind when Chatfield won two of the first three holes. The long and lean Soukamneuth responded by winning 5 and 6 to pull back even. Chatfield was 1-up when the pair reached the par-3 15th. Soukamneuth birdied to pull even. Then he birdied the par-4 16th as well to go ahead for the first time in the match. When the final two were halved, Soukamneuth had one of the biggest upsets in the tournament in years, one of the rare times a 32nd seed wasable to beat the number one seed.

          After the lunch break, Soukamneuth was 1-down to Connecticut National’s Drew Aitken before winning 10, 11 and 12 to take control. The pair halved every hole after that, giving Soukamneuth the 2-and-1 decision.

          “It’s been a great day. I never thought I’d play this well and come this far. It’s been a mental grind but I think I’ve done pretty well with it,’’ he said. “It’s very rewarding. They’re both good guys and they were both good matches.’’

       Soukamneuth reflected back to the days at the Button Hole Children’s Course where he frequently played with the Vongphoumy sisters, among Button Hole’s most famous products. The two families are very close.

        “I’ve worked hard at it. I’ve come a long way,’’ Soukamneuth said. “I used to play a few times a week at Button Hole until I was 12 or 13 and I became a member at Potowomut.’’

        It was a huge day for Johnson & Wales as Jake Bauer pulled off another of the upsets, eliminating Junior Champion and Oklahoma-bound Patrick Welch, 3 and 2, in the second round. Bauer, who just graduated from J&W’s Miami campus, eagled the first hole to get the jump on Welch and never looked back.

         It was a special win for Bauer since he had lost the State Junior title to Welch several years ago. The Bauer, a lefty, plans to turn pro at the end of the summer.

         Broome, who has been powerful every day, held off Chris Roloff, 2 and 1, in the morning then eliminated Jason Barrow, 5 and 4, helped by four birds.

        McCormick made only one bogey as he beat Kolby Simmons, 4 and 3. Forcier drained four birds on his final nine to turn back Ryan Pelletier by the same score in that second-round match. DeLucia came from behind to edge Glenn Dufault, 1 up and Marchetti edged Jeff Giguere, a Middlebury College star, in 19 holes in a match that was never more than one hole apart.

     The last match on the course was one of the best, between heavyweights Leopold and Lukowicz. They combined for 12 birdies. Leopold drained a 22-footer for bird on 18 to stay alive. After both birdied the 19th and 20th holes, Leopold finally pulled it out with a par on the 22nd.

        All three of the former champions who are still alive are in the bottom half of the bracket.