Chip Lutz of Reading and LedgeRock Golf Club saw his bid for a second U.S. Senior Amateur title halted in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. as he dropped a 3 and 2 decision to Craig Davis of Chula Vista, Calif.
It was the sixth time in 11 U.S. Senior Amateur appearances that the 66-year-old Lutz had reached the quarterfinals and he was trying to make it to the semifinals for a fifth time. Lutz won the U.S. Senior Amateur crown in 2015 at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. He was the only one of the eight quarterfinalists in his 60s.
Lutz had defeated the 59-year-old Davis, 1-up, in the U.S. Senior Amateur quarterfinals in 2018 at Eugene Country Club, so Davis knew what he was up against.
Davis won the first hole, but Lutz moved in front by claiming wins at the second and fourth holes that gave him a 1-up advantage. Davis, however, ripped off wins at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes to take a 2-up lead.
Lutz was never able to even the match again, although he never stopped battling. He cut his deficit to 1-down by taking the eighth hole, but Davis restored his 2-up advantage with a win at 12. Lutz again cut his deficit in half by winning the 14th hole, but Davis finally put Lutz away by taking 15 and 16 with pars, the win at 16 closing out the match.
Davis had won The Senior Amateur Championship in 2019 in a playoff against Gene Elliott of West Des Moines, Iowa and Davis’ victory over Lutz earned him a semifinal matchup with, who else, Elliott.
After several close calls in the Royal & Ancient’s Senior Amateur, Elliott finally got over the hump when he captured the title in July at Ganton Golf Club in England.
And the 59-year-old Elliott is finally honing in on a U.S. Senior Amateur crown as he avenged that playoff loss to Davis in The Senior Amateur Championship in 2019 with a 5 and 4 victory Wednesday afternoon at the Country Club of Detroit.
Elliott’s opponent in Thursday’s final will be Jerry Ganthorpe of Ovid, Mich. The 58-year-old Ganthorpe claimed a 3 and 1 victory over Canadian Dave Bunker in the other semifinal.
Elliott had taken out the other remaining Michigander in the field in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals as he captured a 2 and 1 verdict over Tom Gieselman of Commerce Township, Mich.
Ganthorpe reached the semifinals with a 2 and 1 victory over Rusty Strawn of McDonough, Ga. Bunker had taken out the other Georgian still alive, Billy Mitchell of Atlanta, as Bunker edged Mitchell, 1-up in the other quarterfinal.
Not sure if it was Lutz who started the trend of heading across the pond and teeing it up in The Senior Amateur Championship in the summer. He has won that R&A crown three times and also owns two Canadian Senior Amateur crowns as well.
Elliott, who also owns a pair of Canadian Senior Amateur titles, has followed that path to the final as he tries to join Lutz and Paul Simson as the only players to win the British, Canadian and U.S. Senior Amateur crowns.
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