Orlando wins two matches, will play for spot in quarterfnals in U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sankaty Head

    Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Gregor Orlando won two matches Tuesday at the Sankaty Head Golf Club in Siasconset, Mass. on Nantucket Island to reach the round of 16 in the 40^th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.

   Orlando never made it to the first tee for the scheduled start of his first-round match with Jack Smith of Knoxville, Tenn. Monday. The U.S. Mid-Am got behind when there was five-hour delay for fog during the opening round of qualifying Saturday at Sankaty Head.

   Orlando, winner of the 2017 BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship on his home course, won the 13^th hole with a par to go 1-up on Smith, then took the 17^th hole with a birdie to close out a 2 and 1 victory Tuesday morning.

   Orlando, the 2007 PIAA champion as a junior at Erie Cathedral Prep, then grinded out a 1-up victory over Brady Shivers of Seminole, Texas to earn a spot in in the round of 16 Wednesday morning.

   Shivers won the 13^th hole with a birdie to get even with Orlando, but Orlando bounced back to restore his 1-up advantage by winning 14 with a birdie. Shivers battled back to square the match again by taking the 16^th hole with a par, but Orlando won 18 with a par to pull out the victory.

   Orlando will take Hunter Hawkins of Fort Payne, Ala. in the round of 16 Wednesday morning. The winners of Wednesday morning’s matches will play the quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon. The semifinals will be played Thursday morning with the first 18 holes of the scheduled 36-hole final set for Thursday afternoon. The second 18 holes of the final will be played Friday.

   Hawkins reached the round of 16 with a 3 and 1 win over Chad Wilfong of Charlotte, N.C. Wilfong had reached the second round by knocking off Nelson Hargrove, who starred scholastically at The Haverford School and collegiately at Brown, 2-up.

   Wilfong won the 16^th hole to go 2-up with two holes to play against Hargrove, but Hargrove sent the match to the 18^th hole by winning 17 with a birdie. Wilfong, however, took the 18^th hole with a par to close out Hargrove.

   Another former Inter-Ac League standout, Merion Golf Club’s Cole Willcox, who starred scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Virginia, saw his U.S. Mid-Am bid halted in the opening round in another match that went to the 18^th hole. Willcox suffered a 1-up setback to former Wake Forest assistant coach Dan Walters.

   The match started late Monday and was even through six holes when darkness halted the proceedings. Willcox won the ninth hole to take a 1-up lead, but Walters picked up wins at 12 and 14 to take a 1-up lead. Willcox clawed back to even by winning the 15^th hole, but Walters went back ahead by taking 16 with a bogey and then grinded out halves on the final two holes.

   The day began with a huge upset as Hayes Brown of Charlotte, N.C., the last survivor of a 13-man playoff for the final seven spots in match play, rallied to hand qualifying medalist Yuroslav Merkulov of Rochester, N.Y., 1-up. Merkulov was 2-up through eight holes when darkness fell Monday evening, but Brown, who made eagle on the par-4 15^th hole, the second hole of the playoff, to advance to the match-play bracket, came on strong to knock out Merkulov.

   Brown then rolled to a 5 and 4 decision over Sam Straka of Valdosta, Ga. in Tuesday afternoon’s second round to reach the round of 16.

   Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Calif., who rallied from 4-down with five holes to play to win the U.S. Mid-Am crown five years ago at Stonewall, won a pair of matches Tuesday and the 30-year-old is very much still alive in his bid to add a second U.S. Mid-Am title to his resume.

   Hagestad cruised to a 4 and 2 verdict over Brett Young, the former college hockey player from Bethel Park in western Pennsylvania before rolling to a 5 and 4 decision over 2015 U.S. Mid-Am runnerup Marc Dull of Winter Haven, Fla. in Tuesday afternoon’s second round.

   Hagestad, No. 13 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), will take on Stephen Behr Jr. of Atlanta in Wednesday morning’s round of  16. Behr knocked off Michael Muehr of McLean, Va., 3 and 2, in his second-round match. Muehr won the prestigious Crump Cup at  Pine Valley Golf Club, arguably the second biggest mid-am event besides the U.S. Mid-Am in the county, for the third time earlier this month.

   The headliner on the USGA website was Garrett Rank, the 34-year-old Canadian who is an NHL official. Rank claimed a 2 and 1 victory over Cody Palladino of West Hartford, Conn. in the opening round before advancing to the round of 16 with a convincing 5 and 3 decision over Matthew Galloway of Tampa, Fla. in his second-round match.

   One of Pennsylvania’s top mid-ams, Jimmy Ellis of Venetia, was knocked out in the opening round when he suffered a 3 and 2 setback at the ands of 64-years young Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga. Ellis won the 2020 Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club and was in the hunt right to the final hole in this summer’s Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club’s East Course before finishing in a tie for fourth place.

   The U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship is being held concurrently at the Berkeley Hall Club’s North Course in Bluffton, S.C. and it’s down to eight quarterfinalists, three of whom are former champions.

   One of those former winners will be going out in Wednesday’s quarterfinals as the 2018 champion, Shannon Johnson of North Easton, Mass., will be taking on the 2015 champion, Lauren Greenlief of Ashburn, Va.

   Johnson had to get by veteran Tara Joy-Connelly of Vero Beach, Fla., claiming a 1-up victory in the round of 16 Wednesday afternoon. Johnson picked up wins at the 11^th, 13^th and 15^th holes to turn a 1-up deficit into a 2-up advantage. Joy-Connelly sent the match to the 18^th hole by winning the 17^th hole, but Johnson got a half at 18 to pull out the victory.

   Greenlief had to survive a battle with the ageless Ellen Port of St. Louis, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and three-time U.S. Senior Women’s champion, in Tuesday morning’s second round.

   Greenlief had a comfortable 3-up lead when Port, coming off a run to the final of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur a couple of weeks ago at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala., rattled off wins at the ninth, 10^th and 12^th holes to get even. Greenlief then got wins at the 13^th and 16^th holes on her way to a hard-fought 2 and 1 victory.

   Greenlief then pulled out a 2-up victory over former Furman standout Jacqueline Bendrick of Mercer Island, Wash. in Tuesday afternoon’s round of 16 to set up the showdown with Johnson.

   Ina Kim-Schaad of Rhinebeck, N.Y., winner of the last U.S. Women’s Mid-Am contested two years ago at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz., also stayed alive in her bid to repeat.

   After rolling to a 6 and 5 verdict over Andrea Miller of Keswick, Va. in the second round Tuesday morning, Kim-Schaad had her hands full against Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore. Tennant defeated Port in the final at The Lakewood Club earlier this month to claim her third straight U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur crown.

   Kim-Schaad claimed a 4 and 2 decision over Tennant to earn a spot in the quarterfinals opposite Amanda Jacobs of Portland, Ore. Jacobs pulled out a 2-up victory over Lana Weant of Lubbock, Texas in her round-of-16 match Tuesday afternoon.