Lutz reaches U.S. Senior Amateur quarterfinals with a pair of match wins at the Country Club of Detroit

    For the sixth time in 11 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship appearances, Chip Lutz of Reading and LedgeRock Golf Club has reached the quarterfinals after winning a pair of matches Tuesday at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

   The 66-year-old Lutz won the U.S. Senior Amateur six years ago in 2015 at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. He’s really got it going again at the Country Club of Detroit.

   Lutz lost only one hole on his way to a 6 and 5 dismantling of Jim Muething of Cincinnati in a second-round match Tuesday morning. Lutz won the second hole before Muething answered with ai win at the third.

   Lutz then went off, earning a win at the fourth hole to even things up and then taking seven, nine, 10, 12 and 13 to make quick work of Muething. Getting off the golf course in 13 holes is huge when the seniors are playing two matches a day.

   Lutz then reached the quarterfinals with a 3 and 2 victory over Eddie Hargett of Blythewood, S.C. in the round of 16 Tuesday afternoon. Again, Lutz briefly fell behind when he lost the third hole to Hargett, but he rattled off wins at four, six and nine to take a 2-up lead and never looked back.

   Twice Hargett got within 1-down with wins at the 10^th and 13^th holes. But Lutz always had the answer, restoring his 2-up advantage by taking the 11^th hole and then responding to the loss at 13 by winning 14 and 15 to take a 3-up lead with three holes to play.

   Lujtz’s quarterfinal opponent will be a familiar face as he will take on Craig Davis of Chula Vista, Calif. Lutz edged Davis, 1-up, in the quarterfinals of the 2018 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore. Lutz fell in the semifinals in Eugene.

   Lutz makes it a point to concentrate on the job at hand and not look ahead to who else might be in his bracket, which might help explain his 28-9 match-play record in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.

   “I try not to pay too much attention (to the other results) because everybody is a good player at this level,” Lutz told the United States Golf Association website. “I try not to think about mapping (my bracket) out or seeing who is in front of you because things change so quickly.”

   Two other Pennsylvanians failed to advance out of Tuesday morning’s second round.

   Chris Fieger, the reigning two-time Golf Association of Philadelphia Senior Amateur champion, dropped a hard-fought 2 and 1 decision to Jim Scorse of Churchville, N.Y.

   Fieger, a Delco native who resides in Denver, Lancaster County, fell behind when Scorse picked up wins at the second and fourth holes, but evened things up by earning wins at six and seven. Scorse won the 12^th hole and Fieger again got it back to even by claiming a win at 13. Scorse took over with wins at the 14^th and 16^th holes go to 2-up and closed out Fieger with a half at 17.

   Fieger had reached match play in his first U.S. Senior Amateur appearance in 2019 at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C., but fell in the first round. He did that one better this year by winning in the opening round before falling in the second round.

   Sean Knapp of Oakmont, the 2017 U.S. Senior Amateur champion at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, was also ousted in the second round, suffering a 2 and 1 setback at the hands of Joe Jaspers of Huntersville, N.C.

   Knapp, one of western Pennsylvania’s top amateur players for years, was a beaten finalist in defense of his U.S. Senior Amateur crown in 2018 at Eugene.

   The two finalists at the Country Club of Detroit will be determined after two more rounds of match play Wednesday.