Merion Golf Club’s Cole Willcox, competing in his first U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, had an early wakeup call Monday morning.
Willcox, who starred scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Virginia, had to return to Sankaty Head Golf Club in Siasconset, Mass. on Nantucket Island to complete his second round of qualifying for match play. He had matched par with a 70 at Miacomet Golf Course and was 1-over for the first eight holes on the back nine at Sankaty Head when darkness suspended play Sunday evening.
With little margin for error, Willcox bogeyed the first hole he played Monday morning, the 18th, to fall back to 2-over. A birdie at the fifth hole got him back to 1-over before he gave that shot back with a bogey at six. He grinded out pars on his last three holes to get in at 2-over 142.
When the dust settled, Willcox, a reinstated amateur, found himself in a bulky 13-man playoff for the final seven spots in the match-play bracket. A par on the 431-yard, par-4 10th hole, the first hole of the playoff, got Willcox in.
He’ll have another early wakeup call Tuesday morning and he will once again rejoin a round in progress. The luck of the draw left Willcox, the medalist in the GAP-administered local qualifier at St. Davids Golf Club, facing Dan Walters, the medalist in the GAP-administered qualifier at Carlisle Country Club. Walters of Winston-Salem, N.C. is, like Willcox, a reinstated amateur and represented Meadia Heights Golf Club in Lancaster in GAP events in the early part of his amateur career.
Willcox got out of the gate quickly by taking the first hole from Walters with a par, but Walters won the third hole to even things up. And that’s where they stood after six holes when darkness fell on Nantucket Island Monday.
Two Philadelphia area players who made it into the match-play bracket were unable to make it to the first tee for their opening-round matches Monday.
Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Gregor Orlando, who won the 2017 BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship on his home course, had opened with a 1-over 71 at Sankaty Head and was unable to tee off for his second round until early Monday morning. Orlando put together a solid 1-under 69 at Miacomet for an even-par 140 total that moved him into a tie for 28th place as he easily qualified for match play.
Orlando qualified for match play in the U.S. Mid-Am five years ago at Stonewall and reached the second round before being ousted.
Orlando will take on Jack Smith of Knoxville, Tenn. in his opening-round match Tuesday morning.
I somehow managed to miss Nelson Hargrove in my post from the U.S. Mid-Am Monday. But Hargrove, who starred scholastically at The Haverford School and collegiately at Brown, added a solid 2-under 68 at Miacomet to his opening-round 73 at Sankaty Head as he finished in a tie for 40th place to get himself a tee time for the opening round of match play.
Hargrove was the runnerup in the 2014 Philly Am to Jeff Osberg at White Manor Country Club. He turned pro not long after that, but is a reinstated amateur. Hargrove will take on Chad Wilfong of Charlotte, N.C. in his opening-round match Tuesday morning.
I missed a couple of other local players in my hasty recap of the incomplete qualifying rounds on Nantucket Island and both landed in the 17-man logjam at 3-over 143, just a shot out of the 13-man playoff for the final seven spots in the match-play bracket.
Michael R. Brown Jr. of Maple Shade Township, N.J., the winner of state amateur crowns in New Jersey and Delaware this summer, rallied for a 1-under 69 at Sankaty Head after opening with a 74 at Miacomet.
Brandpn Dalinka of New York City, a member of Council Rock North’s 2008 PIAA championship team, had matched par with a 70 at Miacomet in the opening round before posting a 73 at Sankaty Head in the second round.
Brown and Dalinka had both earned spots in the match-play bracket the last time the U.S. Mid-Am was contested in 2019 at the Colorado Golf Club.
Qualifying medalist Yaroslav Merculov of Rochester, N.Y. held a 2-up lead over Hayes Brown of Charlotte, N.C. through eight holes when darkness halted their match.
Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Calif., the comeback winner of the U.S. Mid-Am five years ago at Stonewall, had a 3-up lead on Bethel Park’s Brett Young through 12 holes when their match was halted.
Jimmy Ellis of Venetia emerged as one of the state’s top mid-am players after winning the 2020 Pennsylvania Golf Association Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club. He held a 2-up advantage on Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga. through nine holes of their opening-round match when darkness fell Monday.
South Jersey native and four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Stasi was stopped in the opening round of this year’s championship, which is being contested at Berkeley Hall Golf Club’s North Course in Bluffton, S.C. But Stasi, who plays out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. these days, didn’t go out without a fight.
Facing a 3-down deficit after nine holes, Stasi, an eight-time winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship, rattled off wins at the 11th, 12th and 13th holes to square her match with Megan Buck of North Easton, Mass. Buck managed to get back in front by winning the 16th hole with a birdie and held on for a 1-up victory, the par-5 finishing hole being halved with birdies.
As recently as the last U.S. Women’s Mid-Am contested, in 2019 at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz., Stasi made a run to the semifinals. She remains a formidable foe, particularly in match play.
Overbrook Golf Club’s Alyssa Roland, a resident of Short Hills, N.J., was also knocked out in the first round of match play as Nonie Marler of Canada handed Roland a 6 and 5 setback.
The big shocker in the opening round of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am was the 1-up loss by qualifying medalist Jennifer Peng at the hands of Aliea Clark, an old friend and rival from their days as junior golfers in the San Diego area.
Clark, who lives and works in New York City, fell 1-down when Peng, who set a U.S. Women’s Mid-Am qualifying record with her 136 total, won the 13th hole. But Clark turned things around with back-to-back wins at the 14th and 15th holes to take a 1-up lead and then grinded out three straight halves.
Despite the exit by Stasi, a bunch of former U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champs remain in the hunt at Berkeley Hall.
Ina Kim-Schaad of Rhinebeck, N.Y., the winner two years ago at Forest Highlands, cruised to a 5 and 4 decision over Lauren Shoemaker of Sandy Springs, Ga.
Kelsey Chugg, the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am winner from Salt Lake City, Utah, claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Jersey girl Noelle Maertz of Clark, N.J.
Shannon Johnson, the 2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion from North Easton, Mass, earned a 2 and 1 verdict over Susan Curtin of Westwood, Mass.
Wins by 2015 champion Lauren Greenlief, a former standout at Virginia from Ashburn, Va., and Ellen Port, like Stasi, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am winner, set up a fascinating second-round match between the two Tuesday.
Greenlief earned a 4 and 3 victory over former Illinois standout Samantha Postillion of Bear Ridge, Ill. while Port, who is also a three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion, rolled to a 5 and 4 decision over Hui Chung Dofflemyer of Rockford, Ill. Port is a legend in her home town of St. Louis.
Another former champion who did not survive the opening round was Julia Potter-Babb of Indianapolis, who claimed the second of her two U.S. Women’s Mid-Am titles in 2016 at The Kahwka Club in Erie. Potter-Babb suffered a 5 and 3 setback at the hands of Jacqueline Bendrick, a former Furman standout from Mercer Island, Wash.
One of the hottest players left in the bracket is Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore., who is coming off her third straight march to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur crown less than two weeks ago at The Lakewood Club in Port Clear, Ala. The 54-year-old Tennant advanced to the second round with a 2-up victory over Kathy Hartwiger of Birmingham, Ala.
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