Fieger grabs one-shot lead in defense of GAP Senior Amateur crown at Old York Road

    The Golf Association of Philadelphia has produced so many great senior players over the years. It looks like Chris Fieger Sr. might be starting to take his place in that long line of great performers.

   The 57-year-old Fieger, a Denver, Lancaster County resident playing as a Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association entry, was the only player to better par at Old York Road Country Club in Spring House with a 1-under-par 70 as he grabbed a one-shot lead Wednesday in his bid to successfully defend his title in GAP’s 50^th Senior Amateur Championship.

   A year ago, Fieger, a Delco native who was a scholastic standout in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District around the time Nether Providence became Strath Haven, was coming off a really solid debut on the national stage at the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C. when he won GAP’s Senior Amateur by five shots at Little Mill Country Club.

   Fieger had earned a spot in the match-play bracket at Old Chatham, but fell in the first round in a match that went to the 21^st hole. If he had planned to try to make a return trip to the U.S. Senior Amateur, those hopes were dashed when the USGA canceled this year’s edition due to the coronavirus pandemic.

   Fieger shot a 2-under 68 at Stonewall’s North Course last month to beat 2017 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Sean Knapp, a legendary amateur player in western Pennsylvania, by two shots and claim the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) Senior Amateur Championship by two shots.

   Like many senior players, Fieger had put competitive golf aside while concentrating on work and family and, guess what, the guy has proven he can still play at a pretty high level.

   The 6,426-yard, par-71 Old York Road layout stepped into the void created when Wilmington Country Club, the original site for the GAP Senior Amateur, suffered damage from a tornado last month. Fieger dimly recalled playing there in college at Temple, but it’s been a while.

   He knocked a gap wedge from 95 yards away at the 338-yard, par-4 second hole to four feet and picked up an early birdie. Fieger gave the shot back when he made bogey at the third hole with one of his four three-putts on Old York Road’s tricky greens.

   Fieger got it going in the middle of the round as he rattled off three straight birdies at the ninth, 10^th and 11^th holes to surge to 2-under for the round.

   He nearly reached the 523-yard, par-5 ninth in two, chipped to four feet and made the birdie try. He made a six-footer for birdie after hitting it close with a gap wedge at the 399-yard, par-4 10^th hole and dropped in a 25-footer for birdie at the 330-yard, par-4 11^th after again finding the putting surface with his gap wedge.

   A double bogey at the 12^th hole and a bogey at the 14^th dropped Fieger back to 1-over for the round, but he nearly holed a bunker shot at the 522-yard, par-5 15^th and tapped in for birdie and got it under par at  the 394-yard par-4 finishing hole with a wedge to three feet that he converted for his sixth birdie of the day.

   “Looking back at the round today, I played really well,” Fieger told the GAP website. “I’ve been playing really well, lately, too. I only missed two greens today. Even with four three-putts, I think it was a good start.”

   Round 2 is scheduled for Thursday, although the weather forecast is a little shaky. Typical of one of GAP’s Senior major championships, there are plenty of talented players in contention.

   Fieger’s closest pursuers are two players who met for the Brewer Cup crown earlier this summer. Yardley Country Club’s Paul Rogowicz, who was the runnerup to Carlisle Country Club’s Jeff Frazier at LedgeRock Golf Club in the Brewer Cup final, was a shot behind Fieger in second place with an even-par 71. Frazier was alone in third place, a shot behind Rogowicz with a 1-over 72.

   Reigning GAP Senior Player of the Year Oscar Mestre of Overbrook Golf Club headed a group of five players tied for fourth place, each signing for a 2-over 73.

   Mestre’s round also enabled him to make up an eight-shot deficit in the race for the Senior Silver Cross Award. Little Mill Country Club’s Adam Armagost, coming off a victory in the Warner Cup at North Hills Country Club, carded an 81 Wednesday and he and Mestre are tied for first in the Silver Cross Award race heading into Thursday’s final round.

   Joining Mestre at 2-over 73 were Edward Kelly of the host club, Christopher Clauson of LuLu Country Club, Robert Harrington of Merion Golf Club, and Rand Mendez of Fieldstone Golf Club.

   Gregory Day, another Old York Road representative, LuLu’s Glenn Smeraglio, Jeffrey Allen of Loch Nairn Golf Club and Michael Vassil of the Country Club of Scranton rounded out the top 10 as the quartet was tied for ninth place at 3-over 74.

   In the Super-Senior division, GAP’s seven-time reigning Super-Senior Player of the Year, Don Donatoni of White Manor Country Club, began his pursuit of a fourth Super-Senior Amateur crown with a 2-over 73 that left him tied with two other players at 2-over 73.

   The 72-year-old Donatoni has wins in the Super-Senior Amateur in 2013, 2016 and 2018 on his resume. He was joined at 2-over by Vince Scarpetta of Nittany Country Club and Rick Umani, a Glen Mills resident who plays out of Honeybrook Golf Club. Old York Road played to 6,098 yards for the Super-Seniors.

   Donatoni earned his spot among the top three by making a birdie at the last, a 379-yard, par-4 as he drilled a 9-iron from 126 yards to 15 feet and made the putt.

   Donatoni arrived at Old York Road trailing Chuck Dowds of Applebrook Golf Club by 25 points as Donatoni tries to run his streak of Super-Senior Player of the Year awards to eight in a row.

   Donatoni also closed to within two shots of Tom DiCinti, a Philadelphia Publinks entry, in the race for the Super-Senior Silver Cross Award. Donatoni has won five of the last seven Super-Senior Silver Cross crowns.

   Scarpetta and Umani each had three birdies and five bogeys. Scarpetta did his damage on Old York Road’s par-5s, making birdies at three of the four on the scorecard.

   Umani just missed earning his first GAP Super-Senior major championship when he lost a scorecard playoff to Frank Polizzi of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club in the Chapman Cup at Yardley last month.

   DiCiniti, locked in a battle with Donatoni for the Super-Senior Silver Cross Award, headed a group of three players tied for fourth place, just a shot behind the top three at 3-over 74.

   Applebrook’s Gary Daniels and Tim Humphrey of Wilmington Country Club joined DiCinti at 3-over. I was on the bag for Daniels in the PAGA Senior Amateur at Stonewall’s North Course last month and the guy can still bomb it off the tee for any level, let alone the Super-Senior set.

   Saucon Valley Country Club’s Robin McCool, a perennial contender in GAP Super-Senior events, was alone in seventh place at 4-over 75. Bob Billings of Rolling Green Golf Club and Elliot Sheftel of Lehigh Country Club were tied for eighth place, each signing for a 5-over 76.