Swampscott's Emmerich qualifies for 122nd US Amateur
Jul. 7—After 18 holes of golf at Wednesday's U.S. Amateur qualifier held at Winchester Country Club, Christian Emmerich was well off pace to move on to the prestigious championship.
Fortunately, it was a 36-hole event.
Emmerich, a Swampscott native who currently tees it up for Holy Cross, fired a 76 in his morning round before turning in a brilliant bogey-free 67 (4-under par) later in the day. The gutsy afternoon performance jolted him into second place in the field and earned him one of just two available slots for the 122nd U.S. Amateur.
Emmerich got off to a roaring start in his clinching round, birdying his first three holes to swiftly move up the leaderboard. He then reeled off 12 straight pars before birdying the par-4 15th, and closed things out with three more pars.
Emmerich joined medalist Matt Parziale of Brockton, who dropped in a ridiculous five straight birdies down the stretch of his second round to card the low score of the day with a 66. In total, Parziale had 10 birdies over his final 18 holes, including six in his last seven.
St. John's Prep standout Alex Landry grabbed one of two alternate spots — along with Westminster's Ethan Whitney — after going 76-69-145. Another former Eagles star, Nick Maccario, narrowly missed the cut with a 71-75-146 while Emmerich's brother, Aidan, also came up just short with a 74-74-148.
This year's U.S. Amateur will be held at The Ridgewood CC and Arcola Country Club, both in Paramus, N.J., beginning August 15.
Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.
