Chip Lutz, the Reading native who plays out of LedgeRock
Golf Club, finished strong in qualifying for match play Sunday at the U.S.
Senior Amateur Championship at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
Lutz, coming off a typically solid showing in The Seniors
Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales, made eagle on his
next-to-last hole of the day over the 6,869-yard, par-72 Robert Trent Jones Sr.
layout, the 483-yard, par-5 eighth hole, for a 2-under-par 70 that left him at
even-par 144 for two rounds and tied for sixth.
Match play begins Monday as Lutz, the Golf Association of
Philadelphia’s reigning eight-time Senior Player of the Year, tries to add a
second U.S. Senior Amateur title to the one he won in 2015 at Hidden Creek Golf
Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
The 63-year-old Lutz has had a tendency toward winning
multiple major senior amateur titles as he has won The Seniors Amateur title
three times and the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship twice.
Starting on the 10th hole Sunday, Lutz followed a
bogey at 10 with a birdie at 11 and a bogey at 14 with a birdie at 17. On the
front nine, Lutz birdied the second hole before a bogey at the fifth left him
at even-par for the round. But he got it to 2-under with his eagle on the
eighth.
Lutz opened with an up-and-down 2-over 74 Saturday. There
are no guarantees in match play, but Lutz certainly seems to be comfortable on
the Eugene Country Club layout. Lutz opens match play against Thomas Immenschuh of San Antonio, Texas in the afternoon
wave of matches at 1:26 Pacific Daylight Time (4:26 EDT).
David Blichar, the medalist in the GAP-administered U.S.
Senior Amateur qualifier at Tavistock Country Club last month, also earned a
spot in the match-play bracket.
The 55-year-old Blichar, one of the top senior players in
the Lehigh Valley who is making his U.S. Senior
Amateur debut, added a 4-over 76 to his opening round of 1-over 73 for a
5-over 149 total that left him in the group tied for 25th.
Adam Armagost, a former PGA Tour caddy who loops at Pine
Valley Golf Club in the summer and who also emerged from the qualifier at
Tavistock, came on strong with a 1-over 73 Sunday to finish tied for 33rd
at 6-over 150. Armagost had opened with a 77 Saturday.
Two other GAP veterans, 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur champion
George “Buddy” Marucci of Merion Golf Club and David West of Exton survived a
playoff for the final 13 spots in the match-play bracket after 14 players
finished tied for 52nd at 8-over 152.
Marucci, twice the winning U.S. Walker Cup captain,
including, quite memorably, on his home course at Merion in 2009, had opened
with a 79 Sunday. He got it to 2-under in his round Sunday before making three
bogeys in his last four holes, but it still added up to a 1-over 73.
A par on the first hole of the playoff, the 403-yard, par-4
10th hole at Eugene, enabled Marucci to advance to match play.
West, who also reached Eugene out of the Tavistock qualifier,
had opened with a 77 and was 4-over for his round when he birdied the par-4
fourth hole to get it to 3-over and 8-over overall. He then parred his last
five holes for a 3-over 75 that got him into the playoff at 152. A bogey at the
10th in the playoff was enough to get him through.
Defending champion Sean Knapp, the longtime western
Pennsylvania amateur standout, also landed on 152 as he added a 77 to his
opening-round 75. Knapp, who captured the U.S. Senior Amateur title a year ago
at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, was the only player of the 14 in the
playoff to birdie the 10th hole, making sure he gave himself a
chance to defend his title.
Knapp captured the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Senior
Amateur Championship earlier this month at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s
Militia Hill Course.
Pine Valley’s James Dunne added an 82 to his opening-round
86 and failed to make the match-play bracket with a 168 total. Dunne also
punched his ticket to Eugene out of the Tavistock qualifier.
Greg Condon, the public-course hero from Monte Vista, Colo.,
and Jeff Wilson of Fairfield, Calif., the low amateur in last month’s U.S.
Senior Open at The Broadmoor’s East Course in Colorado Springs, Colo., shared
medalist honors at 5-under 139.
Condon’s home course is Monte Vista Golf Club, a nine-hole
municipal course, but he keeps showing up at some big-time senior events. He
qualified for the 2016 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club and made it to
The Minikahda Club for the U.S. Senior Amateur a year ago.
The manager of C&L Container Co., Condon had grabbed the
lead with a sparkling 5-under 67 in Saturday’s opening round. He added a steady
two-birdie, two-bogey even-par 72 Sunday to get it to 139.
Wilson had opened with a 3-under 69 Saturday. He offset
three bogeys with five birdies for a 2-under 70 that enabled him to catch
Condon for a share of medalist honors.
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