Aidan Emmerich, the pride of Kernwood Country Club, Swampscott and St. Mary’s of Lynn, may have been disappointed personally by his defeat in the Massachusetts Amateur Championship semifinal round Thursday, but he should have been consoled by the history he made in the process.
Emmerich, the Temple University senior-to-be, became the first player from the Salem club to reach the Mass. Am’s Final Four in the 117 year history of the championship. That’s an exemplary accomplishment considering Kernwood has produced its share of fine players over the years, among them Ike Fermon, Peter Oppenheim and Joel Gibbs.
To put things in perspective, the Massachusetts Amateur dates back to 1903. Kernwood was not founded until 1914.
Emmerich easily qualified for match play at Great Horse in Hampden on Tuesday with a two-over-par 146 total, good for T-13 among the 32 players who advanced to match play.
Playing 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, of Dedham.
“I haven’t hit the ball all that solidly,” Emmerich, the youngest of three golfing brothers, admitted before his quarterfinal match, “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. 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 remaining two down after seven to Erick. But Emmerich righted his golfing ship impressively after that, never losing another hole while winning five, on Nos. 8-9-10-14-15, on his own.
“I realized I was down early in that one,” he 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, Aidan was all square with his opponent after six holes, one Nos. 7 and 9 to make the turn one up, then, like in his forenoon match, too 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.”
In his quarterfinal round match against Trevor Drew of Long Meadow GC in Lowell, Aidan lost the opening hole, but then reeled off consecutive wins on Nos. 3-4-5 with a birdie and two pars. The match was all square after eight holes before Drew won the 14th for a 1-up advantage.
Emmerich responded with wins on Nos. 15 and 16 with a birdie deuce and a par four for a 1-up edge that held up after the combatants halved the last two holes.
The Swampscott native never led in his semifinal match with Patrick Kilcoyne from Woodland GC in Auburndale. Getting off to another slow start, Emmerich fell 2-down after three holes, won Nos. 4 and 5 to get the match level, before Kilcoyne took the eighth, 10th and 11th holes to seemingly take command.
But the ever-resilient Emmerich won Nos. 14 and 15 to get close, but never closer, losing the match on the 17th.
A valiant effort but not quite enough to earn a spot in the 36-hole final today which will pit Kilcoyne against defending cham Ryan Downes of the host club.