Former Fox Chapel standout D'Ambrosio finishes in a tie for fifth in Men's Dixie Amateur

 

   Amani D’Ambrosio was a member of the Fox Chapel team that was a runaway winner of the PIAA Class AAA team crown in 2019.

   He was the qualifying medalist and reached the semifinals of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship last summer at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown.

   So it wasn’t a total shocker to see him at top of the leaderboard following the opening round of the Men’s Dixie Amateur Thursday at Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs, Fla. as he carded a sparkling 5-under 67.

   D’Ambrosio backed off a little in the middle two rounds, but closed with a solid 3-under 69 in Sunday’s final round to finish in a tie for fifth place with a 3-under 285 total.

   D’Ambrosio, who lists Cheswick in the Pittsburgh suburbs as his home town, headed south following his scholastic career and is a senior on the golf team at Barry University, a Division II school in Miami that often shows up in the field when some of the Division I big boys show up in the early portion of the spring half of the wraparound college golf season.

   D’Ambrosio was really solid in Thursday’s opening round. After making a birdie at the fifth hole, he rattled off three straight birdies at eight, nine and 10 and went back-to-back with birdies at 15 and 16 before making a bogey at 18 for the only blemish on that 5-under masterpiece.

   D’Ambrosio trailed 36-hole leader Colin Dutton, a senior at North Carolina Greensboro from Foxfire, N.C., by four shots after matching par in the second round with a 72. D’Ambrosio probably lost any chance of contending for the title when he struggled to a 5-over 77 in Saturday’s third round, but finished up strong to earn a top-five finish.

   D’Ambrosio, who plays out of the Longue Vue Club, jump-started his final round with an eagle at the par-5 fifth hole and added a birdie at six. After making a bogey at the ninth hole, D’Ambrosio made birdies at 10 and 15 before making a bogey at 16.

   The title went to Preston Worch, a sophomore at North Carolina Wilmington out of Delray Beach, Fla. who posted a pair of 3-under 69s on the weekend to pull away for a four-shot victory with a 10-under 278 total.

   Worch trailed Dutton by five shots at the halfway point after Worch added a 1-under 71 in the second round to the solid 3-under 69 he posted in the opening round.

   Worch surged into contention in Saturday’s third round when he rattled off birdies at the fifth, sixth, eighth and 10^th holes. Bogeys at the 11^th and 12^th holes slowed his roll a little, but he made birdies at 16 and 18 around a bogey at 17 to finish out his round. Worch’s 3-under round gave him a three-shot lead over Wylie Inman, a talented Class of 2026 kid from North Palm Beach, Fla., going into Sunday’s final round.

   Worch started a little slowly in the final round, making bogeys at the second and sixth holes around a birdie at three. But birdies at the ninth, 10^th, 12^th and 16^th holes enabled him to pull away for the victory in the prestigious amateur event that was first played a century ago in 1924. There was a gap in the 1950s, but the Men’s Dixie Amateur has been played continuously since 1962 at various courses in South Florida.

   Inman was solid throughout. After opening with a 2-under 70, Inman registered back-to-back 1-under 71s in the middle two rounds to creep within three shots of Worch.

   Inman closed with a solid 2-under 70, giving him four rounds under par, to get a share of second place with James Earle of Jupiter, Fla., each ending up four shots behind Worch at 6-under 282.

   Earle, a freshman at Southeastern Conference power Georgia, added a solid 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round to his opening-round 71. He fell back a little with a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s third round before closing with a solid 70 to join Inman in the tie for second place at 6-under.

   Dutton set the early pace as he added a sparkling 5-under 67 in Friday’s second round to his opening-round 68. He struggled to a 79 in Saturday’s third round before closing with a 70 to finish alone in fourth place, two shots behind Inman and Earle at 4-under 284.

   Ali Berk Berker listed Potomac, Md. as his residence, but it appears he is native of Turkiye. He was solid over the weekend, recording a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s third and a 1-under 71 in Sunday’s final round to join D’Ambrosio in a tie for fifth place at 3-under.

   Drexel’s Brockton English, a junior from Shelby Township, Mich., finished in the group tied for 24^th place with a 9-over 297 total.

   English, who took a redshirt year last season, matched par in the opening round with a 72, struggled to a 4-over 76 in the second round, bounced back with a 73 in Saturday’s third round and closed with another 76.

   Peyton Mussina, a senior at Division III Penn College of Technology in Williamsport, finished alone in 59^th place with a 309 total. Mussina, the son of former major league pitcher Mike Mussina, opened with a 3-over 75, added a 78 in the second round and posted a 77 in Saturday’s third round to survive the 54-hole cut, which fell at 17-over. Mussina closed with a 79.

   Mussina edged D’Ambrosio in 19 holes in the semifinals of last summer’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play at Sunnehanna before falling to former Penn State standout Patrick Sheehan in the final.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For Crawford, Brown, the journey continues at PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage

 

   It was called the PGA Tour Q-School presented by Korn Ferry last week at the Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., but it was more of a chance to figure out where some of the guys you’ve tried to follow stand at this point in their careers as professional golfers.

   For quite a few years, this was just a Korn Ferry Tour qualifying, but in the last couple of years, the PGA Tour has handed out some of its precious cards to the top five finishers and ties, making it at least feel a little more like the PGA Tour Q-School Final Stage of old.

   The two names that struck me the most both landed in the group tied for 109^th place at 9-over 289, where I found Chris Crawford, one of the very best players in the history of golf at Drexel who starred scholastically at Holy Ghost Prep, and Evan Brown, one of the Ches-Mont League’s top players at Kennett who went on to star at Loyola of Maryland and took a fifth year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because of the onset of the coronavirus in 2020 at Mississippi in the tough Southeastern Conference.

   Pretty sure the good news for Crawford and Brown is that just by getting to Sawgrass they both will have status, at least in the early part of the schedule, on the Korn Ferry Tour and on PGA Tour Americas in early 2025.

   PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada have been combined to form PGA Tour Americas, with the early part of the schedule playing out in Central and South America with the Canadian events being played in our summertime. Makes sense.

   The bottom line on either tour is you have to play your best in the early part of the season. There are reshuffles after eight events and 12 events.

   When they start talking about reshuffles, my eyes start glazing over. What it means, simply, is that if you’re not playing well, you get reshuffled backward on the list of eligible entrants for each tournament.

   I didn’t know it at the time, but the summer of 2015 would be my last covering golf for the Delaware County Daily Times, but I did get a chance to watch Crawford capture the title in the Patterson Cup, one of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships, at Chester Valley Golf Club.

   The next two summers, Crawford was unable to tee it up in BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship because he was busy playing in the U.S. Open. Two years in a row, Crawford made it through local and sectional qualifying and had starting times at Oakmont Country Club in 2016 and at Erin Hills in 2017.

   Crawford qualified for the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, for a third time, but his first as a professional. You know the kid’s mentally tough because there is no pressure-cooker quite like “Golf’s Longest Day,” the 36-hole sectional qualifiers – the USGA likes to call it final qualifying these days – around the country.

   The very best pros, everything from current PGA Tour players to club pros, and amateurs of every possible age and stripe playing 36 holes, sometimes with just four or five spots in the field for the U.S. Open up for grabs. And Crawford has survived that test three times.

   And in backtracking through Crawford’s year, I discovered he’s turned 30, so yeah, not a kid anymore by any means.

   Crawford finished up with a 1-over 71 in Sunday’s final round at the Dye’s Valley Course. Not sure which courses he played which days in the first three rounds. Looks like par was 70 for both courses. He struggled in the opening round with a 76, but carded a solid 2-under 68 in Friday’s second round.

   I was following along here and there, but the scores were mostly pretty high in the second round because the notorious Florida winds made the already difficult courses in Ponte Vedra Beach even tougher. Crawford added a 4-over 74 in Saturday’s third round.

   I was following District One and the PIAA Championship pretty closely when Brown was starring at Kennett. He finished in fourth place in Class AAA in the state championship at the Heritage Hills Resort in York County as a junior in 2015.

   Brown led Loyola of Maryland to the Patriot League title and a berth in the NCAA’s Kingston Springs Regional as a senior in the spring of 2021. Taking his extra year of eligibility at Ole Miss, Brown was the lineup for the Rebels right to the final day of stroke play in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in the spring of 2022.

   I had lost track of Brown until I came upon his name at last week’s Q-School finale. He had a pair of 2-over 72s in the first two rounds, added a 4-over 74 in Saturday’s third round and matched Crawford’s final round of 1-over 71 at the Dye’s Valley Course to join Crawford at 9-over.

   For Crawford and Brown, the real heavy lifting came in the Second Stage of qualifying as each advanced to last week’s Final Stage with strong showings. Pretty sure, if they had been unable to advance out of the Second Stage, their opportunities to play on either the Korn Ferry or the PGA Americas tours would have been very limited.

   Crawford finished in a tie for third place in the Second Stage in November at the Deer Creek Golf Course at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club in Savannah, Ga. with a 19-under 269 total. You have to go really low to get out of Second Stage.

   Brown finished in a tie for fifth place in the Second Stage at the Robert Trent Jones Trail at Highland Oaks Highlands/Marshwood Course in Dothan, Ala. earlier this month with an 11-under 277 total.

   Couple more familiar names in the Second Stage at The Landings in Savannah as Rolling Green Golf Club’s head of instruction Braden Shattuck, the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year for the third year in a row in 2024, and Patrick Sheehan, who wrapped up his career at Penn State last spring and captured the Pennsylvania Amateur crown at Huntingdon Valley Country Club in the summer, both failed to advance to the Final Stage.

   Shattuck probably got into the Second Stage off his strong showing in the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., where he was the low club pro. Shattuck finished in a tie for 33^rd place at The Landings with an 8-under 280 total. It took 12-under to get through.

   Sheehan finished in 68^th place with a 2-over 290 total. Sheehan advanced to the Second Stage by finishing in a tie for fourth place in the First Stage in October with a 16-under 272 total at Champions Pointe Golf Club in Henryville, Ind.

   Also advancing out of the First Stage at Champions Pointe was Sheehan’s old rival, dating back to their high school days, Palmer Jackson, who wrapped up an outstanding five-year career at Notre Dame in the spring. Jackson finished in a tie for 11^th place at Champions Pointe with a 13-under 275 total.

   Pretty sure it was the amateur swan song for both Sheehan and Jackson at the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. in August.

   And wouldn’t the golf gods pit them in an opening-round match with Sheehan claiming a 2 and 1 victory, avenging his loss to Jackson in the final of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship in the summer of 2021 at Sewickley Heights Golf Club.

   Jackson, the PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Franklin Regional in 2018, went to the Second Stage at the Highland Oaks Highlands/Marshwood Course, but failed to advance to the Final Stage with a 4-over 292 total.

   Lanto Griffin, a pretty solid PGA Tour pro who had been hampered by a back injury he first suffered in 2022, made sure he would be back in the big leagues of professional golf as he recorded a sizzling 7-under 63 in Sunday’s final round at the Dye’s Valley Course to finish at the top of the heap in the Q-School finale by three shots with a 9-under 271 total.

   Hayden Buckley, another PGA Tour veteran with two tour wins on his resume, was the runnerup as he carded back-to-back 3-under 67s in the final two rounds and ended up with a 6-under 274 total.

   Takumi Kanaya of Japan was another shot behind Buckley in third place with a 5-under 275 total after closing with a 1-under 69.

   Again, this guy is no novice. He has won seven times on the Japan Tour and played in 11 major championships. As an amateur, Kanaya spent some time at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   The last three PGA Tour cards went to a trio of college standouts of recent vintage from the talent-rich Southeastern Conference who finished in a tie for fourth place at 4-under 276.

   That group included Alejandro Tosti, the Argentinian who captured the SEC’s individual crown as a junior at Florida in 2017, Will Chandler, who starred at Georgia, and Matthew Riedel, who completed an outstanding career at Vanderbilt in the spring.

   Tosti, trying to get back on the PGA Tour after struggling as a rookie in 2024, recorded a sparkling 4-under 66 in the final round at the Dye’s Valley Course to earn his way back to pro golf’s big league.

   Chandler, limited to just 10 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024, had a great week at Sawgrass when it mattered the most as he, too, closed with a 66 at the Dye’s Valley Course.

   Riedel had the lead going into the final round, but struggled a little with a 2-over 72 at the Dye’s Valley Course. Still, he had enough of a cushion to graduate to the PGA Tour.

   Riedel earned his spot in Final Qualifying by finishing in fourth place in the relatively new PGA Tour University Rankings.

   The Vanderbilt group of the last three seasons might be the most talented college golf team to not win a national championship. The Commodores earned a spot in the match-play bracket at the NCAA Championship at the La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course in Carlsbad, Calif. last spring, but fell to Ohio State in the quarterfinals.

   Riedel’s Vanderbilt teammate, Cole Sherwood, came on strong with a 66 in the third round before closing with a 2-under 68 at Sawgrass Country Club to finish in the group tied for 43^rd place with a 3-over 283 total.

   Sherwood will be playing on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, but he’ll join his college teammate Riedel on the PGA Tour eventually.

   Three players who were among the six guys who finished in a tie for eighth place at 2-under 278 caught my eye.

   I covered the 2011 AT&T Championship for the Daily Times during its two-year stop at Aronimink Golf Club, the Donald Ross masterpiece that will host the PGA Championship in the spring of 2026. The then 30-year-old Nick Watney outlasted K.J. Choi in what, in my memory, was a great stretch duel to claim his second win of the year.

   And there he was last weekend, hard at work trying to get back on the PGA Tour. Watney’s talent was on display in a sizzling final round of 5-under 65 at the Dye’s Valley Course. He’ll be on the Korn Ferry Tour to start 2025, but he’s on the brink of a return to the PGA Tour.

   I always remember Adrien Dumont de Chassart capturing co-medalist honors in the Big Ten Championship in 2019 as a freshman at Illinois at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course, an A.W. Tillinghast gem.

   The Wissahickon Course was buffeted by sustained winds of 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph, basically a wind storm, in the second round, but Dumont de Chassart survived the tough conditions and led the Fightin’ Illini to the Big Ten team crown.

   Dumont de Chassart of Belgium finished up with back-to-back 3-under 67s in the final two rounds to climb up the leaderboard at Sawgrass.

   I always try to check in on the progress of the Philadelphia Section PGA pros when they tee it up in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship each fall. Three years ago, Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort was the runnerup, but he finished seven shots behind the winner, Jin Chung, an instructor at the Chateau Elan Golf Club in Braselton, Ga.

   Chung, who played in this year’s NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship last month at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla., finished in the group tied for eighth place at 2-under, closing with a 3-under 67 at the Dye’s Valley Course.

   At age 36, Chung will get a big opportunity to prove himself on the Korn Ferry Tour.

   Finally, in a tie for 124^th place at 11-over 291 was Sean O’Hair, whose career I started following while working at the Daily Times when we realized he was married to the former Jackie Lucas, a pretty good player in her own right in high school at Sun Valley.

   O’Hair owns four PGA Tour wins and has won more than $25 million during his career. O’Hair had 14 starts on the PGA Tour in 2024, making six cuts.

   O’Hair, who lives in the Philadelphia area in Chester County, closed with a 2-over 72 at Sawgrass Country Club in the final round of the Final Stage. At age 42, he’ll start his road back to the PGA Tour on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stimmel comes up just short in bid to repeat in Dixie Amateur Senior Division, finishing second by a shot

 

   Rick Stimmel, the Pittsburgh amateur who seems to be enjoying his new life as a senior player, had his second straight strong showing in the Senior division of the Dixie Championship at Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs, Fla.

   I was poking around the Dixie Amateur website to get some results of last weekend’s Dixie Women’s Amateur Championship when I realized that Senior/Mid-Master Championship was played the previous weekend, wrapping up Dec. 7^th.

   Stimmel closed with a 3-under-par 69 at Eagle Trace and came up just short of repeating as the winner of the Senior Division.

   I had forgotten how dominant Stimmel was a year ago when he ran away with the Senior Division title by six shots in his first trip to the Dixie Championship.

   In that all-encompassing recap I did a few weeks ago of the Global Golf Post All-Amateur teams, I mentioned that Stimmel earned honorable mention in the Men’s Senior Amateur category.

   That gave me an opportunity to look back at all the USGA championships in 2024 and there was Stimmel earning a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship last summer at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., where he reached the round of 16.

   In his first two years of senior eligibility, Stimmel has made it to match play in the U.S. Senior Amateur both times.

   Stimmel had matched par in the opening round at Eagle Trace with a 72, but struggled a little in the second round with a 3-over 75 in the second round that left him seven shots behind the eventual winner, Chad Ibbotson of Sanford, Fla., going into the final round of the 54-hole event.

   And Stimmel almost caught Ibbotson. Stimmel was 4-under through six holes of the final round as he made a birdie at the first hole, eagled the par-5 fifth and added another birdie at six.

   Stimmel stumbled a little in the middle of the round with a double bogey at the seventh hole and a bogey at 13 that dropped him to 1-under for the day. But he recovered with back-to-back birdies at the 15^th and 16^th holes, his final-round 69 leaving him with an even-par 216 total.

   Ibbotson had opened with a sparkling 4-under 68 and matched par in the second round with a 72. He got on the bogey train in the final round, but held it together enough to close with a 3-over 75 for a 1-under 215 that gave him a one-shot margin on Stimmel and the title.

   Ibbotson followed up a birdie at the fourth hole with a bogey at five and a birdie at six with a bogey at seven. He made a birdie at the eighth hole, but a bogey at nine left him at even-par through a roller-coaster ride of a front nine.

   Bogeys at the 12^th, 13^th and 17^th holes by Ibbotson made things tight at the finish, but he was able to hold on.

   Glenn Przybylski of Frankfort, Ill. also closed with a 3-over 75 to finish a shot behind Stimmel in third place with a 1-over 217 total. Przybylski had added a 3-under 69 in the second round to his opening round of 1-over 73 and only trailed Ibbotson by two shots heading into the final round.

   Chad Branton of Cartersville, Ga. finished with a flourish, recording a sparkling 5-under 67 in the final round as he ended up a shot behind Przybylski in fourth place with a 2-over 218 total.

   Bobby Spino of New Franklin, Ohio., just the fourth amateur to capture the title in the Ohio Senior Open last spring at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, sandwiched a 1-under 71 in the second round with a pair of 2-over 74s to finish a shot behind Branton in fifth place with a 3-over 219 total.

   Haymes Snedeker of Daphne, Ala., the older brother of nine-time PGA Tour winner Brandt Snedeker, captured the title in the Mid-Master Division in a playoff with Andy Roberts of Owensboro, Ky.

   Roberts had taken a one-shot lead over Snedeker going into the final round as he added a sparkling 5-under 67 in the second round to his opening round of 1-over 73. Snedeker had added a 1-under 71 in the second round to his opening-round 70.

   Roberts put a nose in front with birdies at the fourth, sixth and 10^th holes. But Snedeker, who wrapped up his college career at Mississippi in 1999, kept battling and when he made a birdie at the 16^th hole and Roberts bogeyed the hole, Snedeker caught him to force the playoff. Snedeker registered a final round of 3-under 69 to Roberts’ 2-under 70 as they both landed on 6-under 210.

   On the second hole of the playoff, the par-3 17^th, Snedeker’s tee shot nearly found a hazard, but he was able to chip the ball to five feet and make the par-saving putt that gave him the title.

   Shaw Pritchett of Montgomery, Ala. was solid throughout, adding a 3-under 69 in the second round to his opening round of even-par 72 before closing with a 2-under 70 that left him a shot out of the playoff with a 5-under 211 total.

   Joshua Rhodes of Paducah, Ky. surged into contention with a 4-under 68 in the second round before closing with a 2-over 74 that left him in fourth place with a 1-under 215 total, four shots behind Pritchett.

   Bryan Rusin of Denver, Colo. matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish two shots behind Rhodes in fifth place with a 1-over 217 total.

   Terry Tyson of Perrysburg, Ohio sandwiched a sparkling 3-under 69 in the second round with a pair of 2-over 74s to capture top honors in the Super Senior Division with a 1-over 217 total.

   Bryan Rodgers of Knoxville, Tenn. closed fast with a final round of 4-under 68, but couldn’t quite catch Tyson, settling for runnerup honors with a 2-over 218 total.

   It looked like Greg Goode of Salina, Kan. was on his way to the title when he opened with a 2-under 70 and added a 3-under 69 in the second round that gave him a commanding four-shot lead over Tyson heading into the final round.

   But Goode struggled to an 80 in the final round and had to settle for third place with a 3-over 219 total that left him a shot behind Rodgers.

   It was three shots back to James Starnes of Fort Myers, Fla. in fourth place as he closed with a 5-over 77 for a 6-over 222 total.

   Northeastern Pennsylvania legend – Moosic, to be specific – Vince Scarpetta was another shot behind Starnes in fifth place with a 7-over 223 total. Scarpetta posted back-to-back 2-over 74s in the first two rounds before finishing up with a 3-over 75.