Broderick Claims 91st New England Amateur

Concord, Massachusetts – A hot and humid morning gave way to afternoon thunderstorms causing a 5 hour weather delay. Due to the delay, the originally scheduled 72 hole Championship at Concord Country Club (MA) was reduced to 54 holes. Following the delay, John Broderick (Dedham C&P Club; MA) was the player to hoist the Harry B. McCracken, Jr. Trophy awarded to the winner of the New England Amateur Championship.
 
Prior to the delay Broderick, who is just 16 years old, was playing a fine round of golf after coming into the day as the leader by two. Starting his round on hole 10, Broderick had a run of steady pars to start his round before making one of his only two bogeys of the day at the difficult par-3 15th hole. He bounced back quickly by taking care of business on the par-5’s (17 & 1), making birdie on both. With Nick Maccario (Bradford CC; MA) making a run of his own, Broderick needed a birdie on one of the closing holes to grab a piece of the lead. He did that on the 7th hole (his 16th hole) with a birdie that got him to 4-under par for the tournament.
 
Then the weather turned.
 
Following a few nice shots and a good lag put on 8, the horn blew for a dangerous weather situation. After a 5-plus hour delay, Broderick made his way back out to the 8th hole, knowing exactly what he needed to do. He knocked in his 2-foot par putt and then stepped right up and delivered a beautiful shot right over the flagstick on 9. His two-putt par tied him with Maccario and sent the two to a playoff.
 
On the first playoff hole (13), both players made standard 2-putt pars. They then stepped up to the 14th hole, with white stakes lining both left and right, and delivered perfect drives up the right center of the fairway. Broderick played first and put the pressure on, hitting his approach shot to 5 feet. Maccario followed with a fine shot of his own, just outside of Broderick. Almost certain he would need birdie, Maccario put a good stroke on his birdie attempt, but just burned the edge. Wasting no time, Broderick quickly moved in and buried his birdie putt for the win.
 
ONLINE: FINAL LEADERBOARD | PHOTO GALLERY | NEGA AMATEUR

"It's amazing. It really shows that I'm at that level now. I really improved so much in the last year. At the start of the year, I wasn't really playing my best. I played the GolfWeek Junior Open last week and I really found something in my swing. Coming into this tournament, I felt really great. It really shows I can play with these guys and I can beat these guys." said Broderick.
 
Talking about the approach shot on the winning hole, he added “I had 132 yards, which I actually had the exact same number earlier and I hit a soft pitching wedge and I hit it past the hole for a tough two-putt. My caddie was like, just try to hit a bomb gap wedge and I just a bomb gap wedge to 5-6 feet. “
 

 
Maccario’s 3rd Round 67 was enough to propel him to the top of the leaderboard just before the weather delay. Heading into the Final Round, Maccario was 2 strokes off the lead. Starting the day on the tenth hole, he made par on his first three holes before hitting his approach shot tight on 13 leading to his first birdie of the day. On his final hole, Maccario hit a proper shot, 15 feet past the front pin, and two-putted for a closing par.
 
Talking about finishing 2nd at both the Massachusetts and New England Amateur, Maccario said “Two seconds, the fields are super deep, these guys are so good. John's 16 years old. That's outrageous, I was not doing this at 16, so credit to him. I feel like I hit it good. He made birdie to win so credit to him for doing that.”
 
The round of the day came from Mike Calef (Pine Oaks GC; MA) who shot final round 66. He made 8 birdies on the day, leading to his impressive score of 4-under par, and propelling him into a tie for 6th place at (+3).
 
Jared Nelson (Rutland CC; VT) was the only other player to shoot under-par in the final round. He finished off his round with an impressive up-and-down from a tough spot right of the 9th green. In total, Nelson made 5 birdies which helped him to a 1-under par 69 and a 5th place finish.
 
Other top scores from Thursday included a pair of even-par 70’s by James Imai (George Wright GC; MA) and Bill Forcier (Wannamoisett CC; RI).
 
Final Leaderboard
1 – John Broderick; Dedham C&P Club (MA) (-4) 69 *Won In Playoff
2 – Nick Maccario; Bradford CC (MA) (-4) 67
3 – Caleb Manuel; Brunswick GC (ME) (69) (-2) 69
4 – Christian Emmerich; Kernwood CC (MA) (+1) 71
5 – Jared Nelson; Rutland CC (VT) (+2) 69
T6 – Mike Calef; Pine Oaks GC (MA) (+3) 66
T6 – Timothy Umphrey; Tatnuck CC (MA) (+3) 74
 
 
Top Finishers From Each State
Connecticut – T9 (+4) James Sheltman (Alling Memorial GC)
Massachusetts – 1st (-4) John Broderick (Dedham C&P Club)
Maine – 3rd (-2) Caleb Manuel (Brunswick GC)
New Hampshire – T8 (+4) William Huang (GC of New England)
Rhode Island – T14 (+6) Bobby Leopold (Wannamoisett CC)
Vermont – 5th (+2) Jared Nelson (Rutland CC)
 
Next up for the NEGA is the Senior Amateur Championship at Mt. Washington Resort GC in Bretton Woods, NH on September 15th and 16th. For more information, visit the NEGA web site at negagolf.org. Follow the NEGA on social media @NEGA_Golf.
 
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About the New England Golf Association (NEGA): negagolf.org
The New England Golf Association ®, established in 1926, is a 501(c)3 amateur golf organization comprised of leaders from the six New England golf associations – Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
In addition to serving the needs of golf in New England, the organization's primary purpose is to conduct the following premier tournament events: New England Amateur Championship ®, New England Junior Amateur Invitational, New England Girls’ Junior Amateur Invitational, and New England Senior Amateur Championship

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