Fieger, Lutz come up short with second-round losses in U.S. Senior Amateur at Martis Camp

 

   Chris Fieger Sr. of Denver, Lancaster County and Chip Lutz, the legendary senior amateur from Reading, both saw their bids in the U.S. Senior Amateur at the Martis Camp Club in Truckee, Calif. halted with tough losses in second-round matches Tuesday morning.

   The 60-year-old Fieger, a scholastic standout four decades ago at Nether Providence playing out of Heidelberg Country Club, dropped a 2 and 1 decision to Curtis Holck of Ankeny, Iowa while the 68-year-old Lutz went to the 19^th hole before falling to Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Ga. in a battle between a pair of U.S. Senior Amateur champions.

   Only five holes were halved between Fieger, winner of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Senior Amateur Championship in 2019, ’20 and ’22, and Holck in a tense battle.

   When Holck won the par-3 17^th hole to close out the match, it was the first time in the match that either player held a 2-up advantage.

   Holck won the first hole with a par, but Fieger picked up wins at two and three with pars to grab a 1-up lead. Holck answered by taking the fourth and sixth holes with birdies as he gained a 1-up edge.

   Fieger drew even by winning the seventh hole with a birdie, Holck won nine with a par and Fieger again evened the match by taking 10 with a birdie.

   Holck again put a nose in front by winning the 12^th hole and Fieger once more answered with a birdie at 14 to again draw even.

   But Holck had the final answer as he moved in front by winning the short par-4 16^th hole before closing out Fieger with the par on 17.

   Fieger has made it to the U.S. Senior Amateur three times since turning 55 and three times he has earned a spot in the match-play bracket. His trip to Martis Camp did nothing to make Fieger think he can’t play with these guys.

   The match between Lutz, the 2015 winner of the U.S. Senior Amateur at Hidden Creek Golf Club at the Jersey Shore, and Royak, who captured the title in 2019 at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C. and was a semifinalist a year ago at The Kittansett Club on Buzzards Bay in eastern Massachusetts, figured to be a great match and lived up to its billing.

   Lutz, GAP’s Senior Player of the Year nine years in a row from 2010 to 2018, got the jump on Royak with wins at the second hole with a birdie, at three with a par and at four with another birdie to take a 3-up lead.

   Royak cut into the lead by taking the fifth hole with a par before Lutz, who plays out of LedgeRock Golf Club, restored his 3-up lead with a win at six with a par.

   Royak, though, was just getting started. He evened the match by winning the seventh hole with a par and nine and 10 with birdies.

   Then they went back and forth, Lutz winning the 11^th hole with a par, Royak taking 12 with a par, Lutz again putting a nose in front by winning 13 with a par and Royak answering again by taking 14 with a par to even the match.

   They had halved just two holes to that point, but they halved the next four to send the match to the 19^th hole, where Royak prevailed with a par to win the match.

   At 68, Lutz still made a trip across the pond to tee it up in The Senior Amateur Championship, which he has won three times in his brilliant career as a senior, and finished in 11^th place with a 2-over 293 total at Woodhall Spa in England, and he still was a bounce here or there away from reaching the round of 16 in the U.S. Senior Amateur. There’s still some life left in the old guy and as a fellow 68-year-old, that’s pretty inspiring.

   The conquerors of Fieger and Lutz came back in the afternoon to win their round-of-16 matches and earn a spot in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals.

   Holck and Royak were both 2 and 1 winners, Holck knocking off James Volpenhein of Cincinnati, Ohio and Royak getting past Tom Lape of Atlanta, Ga.

   Todd White, a senior “rookie” from Spartanburg, S.C. and the medalist in qualifying at Martis Camp, also earned a spot in the quarterfinals, but it wasn’t easy.

   White faced a tough test Tuesday morning as he drew New Zealander Brent Paterson, the winner of The Senior Amateur Championship last month at Woodhall Spa. It took White 21 holes to pull out a victory over Paterson before he took out Ken Wade of Kennewick, Wash., 5 and 4, in his afternoon round-of-16 match.