The bright lights of the summer golf season will shine on Conway’s Gunnar Moore this week.
The 17-year-old is set to make his debut performance in the state’s biggest amateur event, when he tees it up in the opening round of the 115th Massachusetts Amateur Championship on Monday at Essex County Club (yes, County, not Country).
Moore, who attends Deerfield Academy, kicks things off with a 12:15 p.m. tee time on Monday, playing in a pairing along with Aidan Emmerich (Kernwood Country Club) and Collin Fitzpatrick (The Kittansett Club).
The Country Club of Greenfield product is certainly looking forward to his first Mass. Am appearance.
“Excited is an understatement,” Moore said of the trip to Essex. “I’m pumped. This was a pretty big goal for me. Being able to play in the Mass. Am this year, it’s a great chance to put myself up against a lot of good players. I’m excited to see how my game stacks up.”
Moore will represent a Franklin County contingent that also features Crumpin-Fox Club member Ron Laverdiere. It’s a field relatively devoid of local qualifiers however, as just 16 of the 144 players in the field are representing western Massachusetts clubs.
Moore punched his ticket to this week’s tournament thanks to a top five finish in the Springfield Country Club qualifier last month. He had attempted to qualify for the first time as a 16-year-old in 2022, but missed the cut by a couple strokes at Ludlow Country Club.
Fast forward to this year, and he used a run of three straight birdies on his front nine at Springfield to put himself in solid positioning heading down the stretch. But a bogey-bogey-bogey finish on 16, 17 and 18 had him sweating with a 2-over-par round of 74.
“I sort of let my mind wander a little bit,” Moore said of the late-round struggles. “I was on the 18th tee and checked the leaderboard for the first time all day. Then I made bogey and I thought I was going to miss the cut at 2-over.”
He went home and kept tabs on the leaderboard as the rest of the field finished the round. With the top six finishers and ties earning a spot in the Championship Proper, Moore ultimately finished in an eight-way tie for fifth place, punching his ticket to Essex.
As for the course he’ll be playing this week, Moore said he’s never played Essex County Club before, but has heard good things. His busy American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) tournament schedule had him playing in an event in Chicopee leading into the weekend, and he’s planning to walk the course for the first time on Sunday before Monday’s Round 1.
“I’m excited to see it,” he said.
The five-day event begins with 18-hole stroke play on Monday and Tuesday, and the field will be pared down to the top 32 for single-elimination match play beginning on Wednesday. The 36-hole championship match is set for Friday.
“Making match play would be really fun just because it’s head to head seeing how my game can match up against another good player, but I think if I can just stay within myself and do my best, I can’t be too disappointed no matter the result,” offered Moore.
He will have a familiar presence on his bag throughout the week. His father, John Moore, will handle caddying duties, and Gunnar Moore said it’s the first time he’s ever played a tournament with a caddy.
“It’s super cool,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. He knows my game super well so I think he’ll help me a lot. And he’ll help me stay focused out there.”
Moore, who transferred to Deerfield Academy from Frontier Regional School two years ago, said it’s been a smooth transition to competing against NEPSAC competition. He gave some of the credit for that transition to former DA standout Will Lodge, who now plays golf at Yale.
“It was nice to have a guy to kind of look up to when I got [to Deerfield],” said Moore. “[Lodge] taught me so much about tournament golf. He helped me a lot with the transition.”
Moore’s summer stays busy after the Mass. Am, as he’ll be active on the AJGA circuit in addition to competing at the Mass. Junior Amateur at GreatHorse in Hampden from July 31 to Aug. 3.