Golfer Aidan Emmerich, the pride of Kernwood Country Club, Swampscott and St. Mary’s of Lynn, got a taste of Massachusetts Amateur pressure three years ago when he advanced to the Round of 16 at Concord Country Club.
This week he’s aiming for bigger success. The Temple University senior-to-be easily qualified for match play Tuesday at the 117th Mass Am at Great Horse CC in Hampden with a two-over-par 146 total. That enabled him to tie for 13th place among the 32 players who advanced to match play.
Emmerich played solidly in his first two matches Wednesday, winning 3 and 2 against both Carson Erick (147) of Boston Golf Club and Vanderbilt University’s John Broderick (142), a former New England Amateur champ from Dedham.
That moved him into the quarterfinals Thursday morning against Trevor Drew of Longmeadow Golf Club. If successful there, he would be playing in the afternoon in the semifinal round.
“I haven’t hit the ball all that solidly,” Emmerich, the youngest of three golfing brothers, admitted, “but this new putter, a LAB Golf DF3, I’ve been using this year has kept my game together and has definitely been the difference at Great Horse.
“I’ve putted with more confidence, made a couple long ones in the 20-foot range in my two matches, and made a lot of shorter ones I used to miss too often in the 5- and 10-foot range,” he added. “I’ve had it for three months and it’s been great for me.”
Emmerich got off to a rocky start in his first match, losing the first two holes and remained two down after seven holes to Erick. But Emmerich righted his golfing ship impressively after that, never losing another hole while winning Nos. 8-9-10-14-15.
“I realized I was down early in that one,” Emmerich said, “but I also knew we had a long way to go, and thankfully I was real steady after the seventh hole.”
Against the favored Broderick, Emmerich was all square with his opponent after six holes before he won Nos. 7 and 9 to make the turn one up. Then, like in his earlier match, he took command after the turn, winning the 12th and 14th holes and never losing a hole after the eighth.
“I guess that means I like the back side better than the front,” Emmerich observed, “but in golf you never know how things will go from one hole to the next. I’m just glad I finished strong in both matches.”
If Emmerich can keep it going Thursday, he will have a chance to become the second North Shore champion of this prestigious tournament in six years. Salem CC’s Steven DiLisio won the 2019 event at The Country Club. He also won last month’s Massachusetts Open on Cape Cod as a professional.