Matt Emery

Matt Emery gave it the old college try.

He tried to bring the Havemeyer Trophy back to Southeast Tennessee after recent owner champion Steven Fox, a former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer, missed making the field of 64 for match play by two strokes on Tuesday.

The fabled trophy awarded the U.S. Amateur champion will be headed to another part of the country after Wednesday's first round of match play.

Emery, who hails from Franklin, attended the Baylor School, red-shirted at Middle Tennessee State and will be a senior at Lee University lost in his first-round match.

He lost on the first playoff hole.

"It was dramatic toward the end, but I was down all day," Emery said before heading out to experience part of the Boston nightlife. "I had my chances. I didn't play as well today as the past couple days."

Emery trailed Carr Vernon for the entire afternoon by either one or two holes heading into the 15th hole at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

Emery squared the match with a par on No. 15. He went 1-up on No. 16 and both players parred No. 17. On the 18th hole, Emery could have advanced to the round of 32 with a par. He made a bogey.

"I had an 8-iron in my hand, and I'm so jacked up that I flew it to the pin and it bounced into the worst rough I'd seen all week," Emery said. "I'm dead. It was a bad swing at not the right moment."

Emery and Vernon headed to extra holes, one of three matches in the national championship won by Fox last year that needed to be decided in a playoff.

Emery scored a bogey. Vernon won with a par.

"It was such a proud moment for Lee to have somebody make match play at the U.S. Amateur," said Lee coach John Maupin, who followed Emery during his two qualifying rounds. "It was special to be there. After he made match play, it was tough not to get emotional. I'll never forget it."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamCTFP