Sky Meadow's Brandon Gillis, shown during the 2020 State Am, had the low round of 70 on the second and final day of stroke play in this year's tourney at Abenaqui Country Club on Tuesday. (Telegraph file ;photo by TOM KING)

RYE BEACH – They’ll be up early Marching.

A windy day led to severe thunderstorms at the end of the second round of the 119th New Hampshire Amateur Championship While the second round of qualifying is complete, the playoff to determine the final spots into match play — otherwise known as The March — will begin bright and early this morning at 7. There will be seven golfers vying for four spots.

Then the first round of Match Play will begin at 9.

Despite the challenging conditions, Rob Henley (Lake Sunapee CC) and Ryan Kohler (Hooper GC) weathered the storm to tie at the top of the leaderboard with co-medalist honors.

Henley, who turned some heads with his opening round 65 (-7), had a rocky start on his first nine, as he began the day on the more challenging nine holes, the back nine at Abenaqui Country Club. He bogeyed the 11th and 15th holes and recorded an uncharacteristic double bogey on the 14th. He was able to turn it around for his second nine holes, playing it at even par.

Even with a 76 (+4) on the day, Henley lands at three-under par for the 36-hole stroke play qualifying and as the first player to post that score, he will claim the top seed for match play.

Henley’s co-medalist, Ryan Kohler started his day steady and consistent, which is all he needed to do to earn a spot in match play. He birdied the second hole at Abenaqui and made eight other pars on the front nine to make the turn at one under par on the day.

Kohler’s back nine was a different story. He bogeyed four of the first five holes on the back nine, but as the afternoon field was racing the weather, he finished strong with two consecutive birdies, giving himself confidence as he heads to match play as the second seed.

Craig Steckowych (Portsmouth CC), Bryce Zimmerman (Nashua CC) and Joe Bowker (Pembroke Pines CC) all finished the 36-hole qualifying rounds at one-under par. Also of note, two-time defending champion James Pleat of Nashua CC finished tied for 11th at three over par. His father Phil finished at plus 9, tied for 37th.

Zimmerman’s goal was to make a few more putts but ultimately would have been happy with the same round he had on the first day.

“I knew I was towards the top of the leaderboard, so I definitely had some momentum on my side”, commented Zimmerman. “I just wanted to stay steady like I did yesterday and maybe roll a few more putts in, which I didn’t really do except for one of the holes.”

Zimmerman’s card included four birdies and four bogeys, the rest pars, to play an even-par round of golf and safely secure him a place in match play. For many golfers, the game plan changes as the championship now shifts to match play.

“I may take a little more aggressive lines, hit some drivers on some holes that I did hit driver”, stated Zimmerman about his game plan for match play. “I’m probably going to stick to the game plan and hit it right where I can see it just because that worked for the first two days.”

While Zimmerman often finds himself in match play at the New Hampshire Amateur, he is hopeful for a good run at it this year. One player who made it to the finals last year but fell short to James Pleat at North Conway Country Club is Brandon Gillis (Sky Meadow CC) who recorded the day’s low round of 70 (-2). As Gillis finds his stride at Abenaqui, he knows what it takes to make it to the end of the six-day stretch and it is just the beginning.

Fellow Nashua High School North alum Gillis describes his mentality for the week and particularly match play, saying, “Survive and advance, as cliché as that is. There are a lot of great players, everyone that made match play is a good player. I’m just looking forward to playing tomorrow, I love match play.”

It’s clear that Gillis is just getting started with Abenaqui. In his first round of stroke play qualifying, he shot a 74 (+2), which was an up and down round, especially on Abenaqui’s back nine. His second was much better as he was one-under par on each nine, finishing up the day at two-under par. He has a few holes in mind that he plans to be more aggressive on when it comes to match play and he looks forward to the challenge.

Also Tyler Lizotte of Sky Meadow was at plus 3, as was NCC’s Jon Dyer

Passaconaway’s John Devito finished tied for 21st at plus 6. NCC’s Jack Brown was tied for 46th at plus 11.