Matt Broome broke through and won a golf championship yesterday, and he did it in one of his biggest events of the year.

The Rhode Island Country Club star and Barrington High grad won the New England Amateur with a 36-hole total of 3-under-par 137 at the Charles River Country Club in Newton Centre, Mass.

Broome fired a 71 in Tuesday’s opening round, then a sparking 66 that included an eagle and three birdies in Wednesday’s second round. Rain forced a halt to play Wednesday. Second-round action was completed yesterday, but the rain was so bad the scheduled 72-hole event, which initially was reduced to 54 holes, ended up being 36 holes.

When play ended Wednesday, David McAndrew, Broome’s close friend and fellow RICC player, had the lead a 4-under. However, McAndrew double-bogeyed the par-3 17th as he completed second-round play yesterday and finished with a 71 and a 138 total. That tied him for second with Keegan Fennessy of Maine, the first-round leader.

The unusual finish did not reduce Broome’s joy.

“It feels good to finally get one,” said Broome, who now attends Furman University.

Broome was a three-time finalist in the RIGA Juniors but lost all three. He was a semifinalist in this year’s R.I. Amateur before being edged by McAndrew, with whom he practices almost daily.

“I had it going pretty well,” Broome said. “I was hitting the ball great. But the biggest thing was my putting. I had 27 putts (in the second round). I made everything I looked at until the last hole when I had a 30-footer downhill for 65 and left it short.”

Broome has several putters given to him by Brad Faxon, who is close friends with Broome’s father, Peter.

“Brad had been like a father figure to me, Broome said. “I watch him makes putts so much. You have to learn when you watch him. To have my name up there now on the board with his (Faxon won in 1980 and ’81) means a lot to me.”

While he helped his Barrington team to three state championships Broome’s problem in high school was distance. He was about 5-foot-4 in his senior year. He has since grown to 5-9.

“Distance is not an issue anymore,” he said. It was an eagle on the par-5 15th that turned out to be the decisive hole in winning the New England championship.

In addition to Broome and McAndrew, URI player Cody Larson of Vermont tied for fourth at 139, Alpine’s Brad Valois, the 2006 New England champion, tied for seventh at 141, and Charlie Blanchard and Bryant’s Scott Congdon tied for 13th at 143.

pkenyon@projo.com