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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