Fieger books a return trip to U.S. Senior Amateur; Smeraglio, Roeder the medalists in qualifier at Radnor Valley

    Two years ago, Chris Fieger Sr. of Denver, Lancaster County, played in a USGA championship for the first time after qualifying for the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C.

   Made a pretty nice debut on a national stage, too, making it into the match-play bracket before falling in the opening round in a 21-hole nail-biter.

   But for Fieger, as with senior women players, as with men’s and women’s mid-amateur players, as with boys and girls junior players, the coronavirus pandemic meant no national championship to compete in in 2020 as the USGA made the heart-wrenching decision to cancel all of its championships but the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women’s Open, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

   Fieger, a Delco native who starred scholastically at Nether Providence/Strath Haven in the 1980s, won his second straight GAP Senior Amateur Championship last year at Old York Road Country Club, also claiming the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Senior Amateur Championship at Stonewall’s North Course. But the pandemic prevented him from competing on a national level.

   Well, Fieger is headed back to the U.S. Senior Amateur after matching par with a 70 in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier for both the senior men and women last Wednesday at Radnor Valley Country Club along Route 320 in Radnor Township.

   The U.S. Senior Amateur will tee off Aug. 28 at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

   Medalist honors went to one of the Philadelphia area’s top senior players, Glenn Smeraglio of LuLu Country Club, and Joe Roeder, a Marlton, N.J. resident who is playing out of Merion Golf Club, both of whom fired a 1-under-par 69 over the 6,475-yard, par-70 Radnor Valley layout.

   The 61-year-old Smeraglio had four birdies and three bogeys, getting a birdie on Radnor Valley’s finishing hole to get a share of the qualifying medal. It will be Smeraglio’s seventh appearance in a USGA championship. Smeraglio earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. before falling in the opening round.

   The 60-year-old Roeder will be playing in his first USGA championship as he had three birdies and two bogeys. Roeder got it to 2-under for the round with a birdie at the 16^th hole and looked like he might win medalist honors outright, but a bogey at the finishing hole dropped him back into a tie with Smeraglio at 1-under.

   Fieger got off to a fast start with birdies at the third and fifth holes. He fell back to even-par with bogeys at the 11^th and 14^th holes, but got it into red figures again with a birdie on the 17^th hole. But a bogey at the last left him at even-par 70. It cost him a share of medalist honors, but the most important goal of the day, earning a trip to the Country Club of Detroit, was accomplished.

   Patrick Dougherty, out of the talented stable of amateur golfers at Philadelphia Cricket Club, grabbed the final ticket to the Country Club of Detroit in a playoff with David Blichar, one of the Lehigh Valley’s top amateur players for years who was playing out of Olde Homestead Golf Club. Dougherty and Blichar, the first alternate, each carded a 1-over 71.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre was the second alternate out of a trio of players who finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 2-over 72. The other two players at 72 were Mike Owsik, the proprietor of the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, and Tom DiCinti of Voorhees, N.J.

   Earlier in the day Wednesday at Radnor Valley, Alexandra Frazier, who lists her residence as North Palm Beach, Fla., but has been a member at Gulph Mills Golf Club for years, earned medalist honors in qualifying for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship with a 7-over 77.

   The 63-year-old Frazier was the runnerup in the 2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, falling in the final to Mina Hardin. This year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur will tee off Sept. 10 at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala.

   Frazier got off to a good start at the 274-yard, par-4 first hole at Radnor Valley as she knocked an 8-iron from 110 yards away to 20 feet and rolled in a tricky breaker for birdie. After bogeys at the third and fifth holes and double bogeys at 10 and 12 around a bogey at 11, Frazier stopped the bleeding by converting a birdie try at the 295-yard, par-4 13^th hole after hitting it close with a wedge from 100 yards away.

   That got her to 5-over for the round and she made bogeys on the 15^th and 17^th holes on her way to the clubhouse to end up at 7-over.

   Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Lisa McGill and Angie Whitley Coleman of Wilmington, Del. punched their tickets to The Lakewood Club as they finished in a tie for second place, each posting a 78.

   McGill was a quarterfinalist in the 2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Waverley Country Club in Portland, Ore. and reached the round of 16 in the 2018 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Resort in Vero Beach, Fla.

   Stephenie Harris of Lookaway Golf Club grabbed the final berth to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in a playoff with Merion’s Loraine Jones after each signed for a 79. Jones is the first alternate.

   Meg Sorber of Horsham was the second alternate after sharing sixth place with Eileen Ramasamy of Moorestown, N.J., each posting an 80.