Patriots punter Bryce Baringer set to tee off at Mass. Amateur Championship

Baringer nailed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to qualify.

Bryce Baringer at Patriots OTAs earlier in 2024. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

July 8, 2024

3 minutes to read

Patriots punter playing in the Massachusetts Amateur Championship: Set to compete alongside with more than 140 other golfers, one entrant in the 2024 Mass. Amateur Championship is a name that Patriots fans might recognize.

Though he’s far from the most famous member of the team, New England punter Bryce Baringer will be a notable entry taking a swing at another sport before training camp opens later in July.

Baringer, 25, was a sixth-round pick by the Patriots in 2023 out of Michigan State. He’s also simultaneously been a golfer since he was young (and was even roommates in college with pro golfer James Piot). Having picked up the game from his father, Baringer has tried in the past to qualify for a state amateur tournament while in Michigan but came up short.

After learning that the circumstances in Mass. were convenient from a football standpoint, he decided to give it another shot.

“I found out that the Massachusetts Amateur Championship is not too far away in Framingham and that it was still during our break,” Baringer told Patriots.com reporter Alexandra Francisco in June. “It’s just a good time for me to be able just stay competitive, and I had full support from everybody. It was really cool.”

He ended up shooting a 1-under par 69 to qualify from the Stockbridge Golf Club, an effort that culminated with Baringer nailing a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th green.

Baringer is set to tee off at the Mass. Amateur Championship on Monday at 1:32 p.m.

Though very different sports, Baringer said he compares on a philosophical level, especially as a punter.

“Punting seems so monotonous, but if you look around the league, there’s so many ways to punt. Same thing with the way people golf,” he told Francisco. “You have your own swing in football and golf. At the same time, I hit different types of punts depending on the situation we’re in. It’s the same thing in golf when you’re trying to hit certain types of shots at certain distances. It’s about your touch. It’s very relatable in the way both require you to intentionally understand what you want it all to look like. You have to visualize.”

Trivia: Among every Patriots player in team history to have recorded at least one punt, which player featured in the most games for New England over the course of his career?

(Answer at the bottom).

Hint: It’s not an actual punter.

Scores and schedules:

The Red Sox defeated the Yankees 3-0 on Sunday to take two out of three from New York in the weekend series.

After an off-day on Monday, the Red Sox will be back in Boston on Tuesday to begin a three-game set against the Athletics at 7:10 p.m.

More from Boston.com:

Highlights from the weekend: Enjoy a rewatch of some of the best moments from the Red Sox win over the Yankees on Sunday.

On this day: In 2010, LeBron James announced he was leaving Cleveland and “taking [his] talents to South Beach” to join the Miami Heat. It remains an iconic, if slightly infamous moment in the history of NBA free agency.

Daily highlight: It’s that time of year again, when Carlos Alcaraz makes incredible (winning) plays at Wimbledon. He went on to defeat Ugo Humbert to advance from the Round of 16.