Norwich — Nick Harrington, a native of Chaplin, now resides in Washington, D.C., which means he started out the 96th Norwich Invitational qualifying round Friday a little bit worn out.

“I was not feeling so hot going into this weekend,” said Harrington, 25, a former All-New England golfer at Parish Hill High School who went on to excel at UConn. “I left D.C. at like 6 o’clock on Thursday. I got to my house (in Chaplin) at 1:30 in the morning and I actually brought my dog and he was keeping me up.

“I just felt so tired. Just no sleep. I played well enough. Once I got out here, you kind of forget.”

Harrington, the ninth seed, was certainly hotter by the time he got to the championship round of the match play event Sunday at Norwich Course.

After tying the first hole with a par 4, Harrington won seven straight holes to go 7-up after eight, eventually defeating No. 3-seeded Austin Cilley of Lake of Isles Golf Club 5-and-4. It was the third Norwich Invite title for Harrington, who also claimed the championship in 2016 and 2019.

Harrington played a bogey-free round, firing a 5-under-par 31 on the front nine, including a 20-foot putt on the sixth hole to win the hole with a par after having been in a bunker a few moments earlier. Cilley shot a 2-over 38 on the front and still trailed by seven heading to the back nine.

“I’m sure it was tough,” Harrington said of Cilley. “Probably on six might have been a hard point for him where I didn’t hit the best bunker shot but rolled in like a 20-foot putt. Just really had it going on the front nine. Rolled in a nice one there.

“It’s just tough. (Cilley) hit some good shots and he’s obviously played well this week, but there had to have been a lot of pressure to make the putts.”

Harrington advanced with a semifinal victory Sunday morning over No. 12 Robert Tedoldi, winning 4-and-3. Cilley defeated No. 2 Dave Marshall, the defending champion, 2-and-1 in the other semifinal.

Harrington said he got a break between the semis and the final, had a bite to eat and watched the British Open, although he admits being disappointed that Rory McIlroy couldn’t pull off the victory — “That really put put a damper on my day, I’m not going to lie,” he said.

Cilley made a run on the back nine, carving his deficit to five with a birdie on the par 4 10th hole and an eagle on the 510-yard 12th hole, a par 5, chipping in from the back fringe.

But after both players parred the 13th hole with 3s, Cilley ran out of time.

Harrington nearly chipped in for an eagle on the par 5 14th, settling for a birdie. Cilley then needed to chip in uphill from in front of the green to stay in the match and could not.

Harrington watched Cilley’s final shot play out from behind the green, his arms folded.

“It really felt good,” said Harrington, who works in marketing for an investment consulting firm in Washington and plays out of Argyle Country Club in Silver Spring, Maryland. “I didn’t make any bogeys today. That felt good.

“... I made a couple silly mistakes coming in, on my back nine Friday (qualifying), but just tried to keep it in front of me and finish the round strong. I had a nice birdie on 17. I knew once I did that I’d be in the championship flight and that’s all that matters.”

Also Sunday, Steve Chevallier won the first flight over Tim Murray, 1-up; Christian Jensen defeated Ian Podziewski to win the second flight, 4-and-3; Matt Lame took the third flight 2-and-1 over Chris Perras; Sean Vigue defeated Bill Howard 1-up for the fourth flight title; Joe Benanto won the fifth flight final by forfeit; and Richard Kutia won the sixth flight 3-and-2 over Roy Colson.

v.fulkerson@theday.com