LIVE SCORING: Metropolitan Amateur underway at Friar's Head

Edmond Broderick of Fiddler's Elbow set the pace with a 6-under 65 Thursday morning at Friar's Head as the region's top players battle for 16 match play spots in the 121st Met Amateur Championship. Overall, 13 players broke par in the morning, including Friar's Head's own Ken Bakst (4-under 67) and Charlie Berridge (2-under 69), and the afternoon round is underway.

Broderick's score was highlighted by a 6-under first nine where he carded four birdies and added an eagle on the par-5 seventh, while he had a birdie on bogey on the inward nine.

Ethan Ng of Knickerbocker sits just one shot back after a bogey-free 66, while Josh German of Seawane matched Bakst's 4-under score. Mark Costanza of Baltusrol and Jack Simon of Rockaway River tallied 3-under 69s, while four players including four-time MGA champion Luke Sample of Old Oaks matched Berridge at 69.

This is the fourth MGA championship hosted by the spectacular Coore & Crenshaw layout that sprawls across 350 acres of old farmlands and towering dunes along the Long Island Sound. It first hosted the Met Amateur in 2008, with Tommy McDonagh capturing the title, while Cameron Young won the Ike in 2015 and Chris DeJohn was victorious in the 2021 MGA Mid-Am at the course.

While the Met Amateur stands as the hardest MGA championship for which to qualify, this year was extra tough as a record 847 players registered for the event in hopes of competing at Friar’s Head. The field is once again packed with the region's top talent, including 22 individual MGA champions.