Lutz, Fieger advance with opening-round wins in U.S. Senior Amateur at the Country Club of Detroit

    Chip Lutz, Reading’s ageless wonder, cruised into the second round of the 66^th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship Monday at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

   Lutz, who captured the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur crown in 2015 at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., rolled to a 5 and 3 decision over Robert Nelson of Carthage, Ala.

   The 66-year-old Lutz had been a regular contestant in The Senior Amateur Championship across the pond, winning the title three times. Pretty sure the coronavirus pandemic stopped that run in 2020 and it doesn’t look like he made it this year either.

   Rumor had it, Lutz teed it up in a one-day Partner-Guest at Stonewall earlier this month and made 16 pars and two bogeys. Pretty sure my sourcing on that is solid.

   There was no U.S. Senior Amateur in 2020 as the United States Golf Association made the difficult call to cancel all of its championships with the exception of the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women’s Open, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

   It looks like Lutz was anxious to get back and try to add another U.S. Senior Amateur crown to the one he won at Hidden Creek in 2015. Lutz will take on Jim Muething of Cincinnati in Tuesday morning’s second round. Muething advanced with a 3 and 2 decision over Mark Small of Frankford, Ill.

   Joining Lutz in the second round was Chris Fieger of Denver, Lancaster County as Fieger, the two-time reigning Golf Association of Philadelphia Senior Amateur champion, held off Danny Arvanitis of Manchester, N.H., 1-up, in another opening-round match.

   Fieger was a scholastic standout in the 1980s around the time Nether Providence joined Swarthmore High to become Strath Haven. His older brother Gene Fieger dominated the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit in the 1990s while he was an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club.

   Fieger grabbed an early lead on Arvanitis by picking up wins at the first, second and seventh holes. Arvanitis cut into the deficit by winning the 11^th hole, but Fieger restored his 3-up advantage by winning the 14^th hole. Arvanitis creeped back within 1-down by winning the 15^th and 16^th holes, but Fieger gutted out halves at 17 and 18 to close him out.

   Fieger will take on Jim Scorse of Churchville, N.Y. in Tuesday’s second round. Scorse claimed a 2 and 1 victory in Monday’s opening round over Tim McKinnis of Lyons, Kan.

   Lutz and Fieger both earned spots in the match-play bracket the last time the U.S. Senior Amateur was played in 2019 at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C., but both were ousted in the opening round.

   Another former champion from Pennsylvania, Oakmont’s Sean Knapp, rolled into the second round with a 5 and 4 victory over Chip Nelson of Scottsdale, Ariz.

   Knapp, who captured the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2017 at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, rattled off wins at the seventh, eighth and ninth holes  to take a commanding 5-up lead over Chip Nelson on his way to the victory.

   Record-breaking qualifying medalist Tim Hogarth of Northridge, Calif. was upset by fellow Californian Kory Frost of Trabuco Canyon in a 21-hole thriller.

   Frost built a 2-up lead after winning the seventh hole, but Hogarth battled back to even the match with wins at eight and 12. Frost won the 14^th hole to move back in front, but Hogarth evened the match again by taking 15. The two halved the next five holes before Frost finished off the upset win with a birdie at the 21^st hole, a par 5.