Miceli gets closer to the mark

But Wakefield native meets his match in seventh MassAm

Phil Miceli of Sagamore Spring Golf Club in Lynnfield tees off on the 13th hole during the 100th Massachusetts Amateur Golf Championships at The Kittansett Club in Marion last week. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

Phil Miceli breezed through stroke play at the 100th Massachusetts Amateur last week at The Kittansett Club in Marion, finishing better than everyone but the top qualifier.

He survived 19 holes of match play in the round of 32 against Tim Tunstall. But with more than 30 holes weighing on him, and the sun pounding on his back at the same time, his match with Anthony Grillo got tougher with every hole.

"He didn't let up," Miceli said.

The sun was getting its licks in too.

"It was hotter than hell, I can tell you that much," Miceli said.

Eventually his hands were too slippery to get a good grip on the club.

His legs started to give out from walking the course for the fourth time in three days.

And around the time Grillo was polishing off a 4-and-3 win over Miceli in match play, Miceli was realizing two things:

First, Grillo, a fresh-legged 18-year-old, almost made him jealous.

"I need to get in better shape," said Miceli, whose 37-year-old legs were feeling their age after so many holes.

Second, as tough as he usually is mentally, maybe he has to be tougher.

"I usually put up a better fight than that," he said. "I stay in it."

By stretching his run in the MassAm to the round of 16, the Wakefield native - who resides in Haverhill and works at Sagamore Spring Golf Club in Lynnfield - easily put up one of the best performances of any local in the field.

Bill Drohen, a Haverhill High grad who plays out of Bradford Country Club, shot a 150 in stroke play, sneaking under the cut of 151, then fell to 21-year-old Matt Parziale, who ended up in the Friday's 36-hole final against fellow Thorny Lea member John Hadges.

But more than that, it was Miceli's best personal performance ever in a MassAm.

The last time Kittansett hosted the tournament was in 1999 and Miceli missed the cut.

What Miceli will take from this experience for next year is that in order to win, he has to work on his physical tools but he'll also need to overcome the elements.

"It's definitely the person that's mentally tough that's going to win," he said.

His philosophy going into this year's tournament was simple.

"Make match play," he said. "You want to make it to the top 36."

It was his seventh time playing the Amateur, never making it that far, and he said if you play it enough times, you start to see the same faces. The Frank Vanas, the Billy Drohens. The John Hadges.

And you can't help but measure yourself against players of that caliber.

He doesn't have the flash of those players.

"I'm more of a grinder than anything," he said.

But when he checked the leaderboard after two days and saw a lot of those familiar names occupy spots below his, he admitted it was different being the one to set the bar.

He figured the regulars would find a way to hang around deep into the tournament, but being there with them was validating.

"I just proved that I could play as well as everyone else," he said.

Miceli's been working the amateur circuit for 10 years now. He qualified for the US Public Links in 1999 in Oregon and won the Massachusetts Publinx in 2005.

"I've always done pretty good," he said. "But never gone too far."

But shooting a 72 on the first day of the tournament on Monday gave him the momentum that kept him in Marion for two more days.

He'll take the experience two ways. On one hand it's his best performance ever in a tournament that he has played in every year since 2001.

On the other hand it can be a launching pad for the future.

He plays in about five tournaments a year with the North Shore Amateur, the MGA Mid-Amateur, the Massachusetts Public Linx, and the US Amateur qualifier all left on his 2008 schedule.

This Mass Amateur showing was a good starting point.

"I've got to learn from it," he said.