After watching Jackie Rogowicz reach the semifinals of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Stonewall’s North Course, it wasn’t the least bit surprising to see her land on Global Golf Post’s All-Amateur Women’s Mid-Amateur first team about this time last year.
And when Global Golf Post announced its All-Am picks for 2024 a couple of weeks ago, there was Rogowicz on the Women’s Mid-Amateur first team once again.
Global Golf Post offers a weekly roundup of golf around the world right into your e-mail inbox for the low, low price of, well actually it’s free. To its everlasting credit, Global Golf Post puts out its annual All-Am team as a nice way to round up the amateur scene in the past year.
Global Golf Post has geared back its All-Am team presentation a little this year. There’s still a first team in Men’s Amateur, Women’s Amateur, Men’s Mid-Amateur, Women’s Mid-Amateur, Men’s Senior Amateur and Women’s Senior Amateur categories. The second team in each division has been eliminated, but there is still an honorable mention list for each category.
In past years, Global Golf Post would name an overall male and female Amateur of the Year, complete with nice profiles of each. But there is no overall Amateur of the Year presentations.
It’s still a daunting undertaking evidenced by the fact that nobody else even tries to do it. Global Golf Post’s Jim Nugent does a nice lead-in that explains how the teams are chosen. He admits that the results of USGA championships and the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) weigh heavily in some of the selections.
But let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of mid-ams, male or female, showing up in the top 100 of the WAGR, so give Global Golf Post credit for digging deep to honor those talented players who are playing the game because they love to play golf and they love to compete.
As somebody who’s watched Rogowicz compete since she was one of the top scholastic players in Pennsylvania at Pennsbury and who followed her college career at Penn State while trying to figure out what to put in this blog as it transitioned from something that supplemented coverage in a newspaper (remember them) to just a golf blog, she certainly deserves any recognition she gets.
I got a chance to see just how good a player Rogowicz has become last summer up close when I was on the bag for her opponent Tara Joy-Connelly in an opening-round match in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Stonewall’s “Udder Course.” (Joy-Connelly will come up later in this post as a Senior Women’s Amateur first-team pick, I’m happy to report).
Joy-Connelly had survived an 8-for-3 playoff to get into the match-play bracket and Rogowicz was a co-medalist in qualifying. Rogowicz was impressive in the 5 and 4 victory, but the other two co-medalists were upset victims, match play being what it is.
With Joy-Connelly out of contention, I transitioned from looper to blogger and watched Rogowicz come up just short of reaching the final with a 1-up loss to mid-am veteran Kelsey Chugg of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Rogowicz was not quite as good at this year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Brae Burn Country Club in West Newton, Mass. She finished in a tie for third place in qualifying, but suffered a heartbreaking loss in the opening round of match play, falling on the 21st hole to Sherry Zhong of China.
But a few weeks later, Rogowicz picked up a nice win in the third playing of The Farrell, staged by New York’s Metropolitan Golf Association at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn., claiming a 2 and 1 victory in the Women’s Mid-Am division match-play final over mid-am legend Meghan Stasi, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion.
Earlier in the year, Rogowicz finished in sixth place in the Amateur Golf Alliance (AGA) Women’s Amateur Championship at The Bay Club in Mattapoisett, Mass.
Pretty good read courtesy of a Global Golf Post+ story authored by Pete Kowalski, who worked for the USGA in communications for years, that popped into my inbox in October concerning the tremendous tradition of success by the women of Merion Golf Club in the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia (WGAP) Inter-Club Team Matches.
Rogowicz became a part of that storied tradition when she helped Merion capture the Philadelphia Cup, the top tier of the Team Matches, for a staggering 74th time in 126 playings last spring. If you’re a fan of amateur golf in the Philadelphia area, it’s a must-read.
And with the addition of players like Rogowicz and Kaitlyn Lees, whose junior career I chronicled in my previous life with the Delaware County Daily Times and in this blog when she was winning three Inter-Ac League individual titles at Agnes Irwin and three Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship crowns, Merion’s dominance in the WGAP Inter-Club Team Matches shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.
The winner of this year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Brae Burn, Hana Ryskova of Czechia, headlines the Women’s Mid-Amateur first team.
The match of the championship came in the semifinals when Ryskova, a mid-am “rookie” who starred collegiately at Louisville, had to go 22 holes to edge France’s Alexandra Vilattte Farret.
Ryskova’s victory prevented Villatte Farret from completing a sweep of the U.S. and European championships as the 41-year-old French woman won the European Ladies Mid-Amateur in Latvia and earned a spot on the Women’s Mid-Amateur first team.
Chugg captured the title in the Championship division of the AGA Women’s Amateur at The Bay Club and claimed a victory in the Utah Women’s State Amateur as she landed on the Women’s Amateur first team.
It was a typically outstanding year for Lauren Greenlief of Ashburn, Va. as she won the Virginia Women’s Amateur title for a third time, was the runnerup in the AGA Women’s Amateur and reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Brae Burn.
It was the fifth time in the last six playings of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am that the 33-year-old Greenlief has made it to at least the quarterfinals.
Julia Potter-Bobb of Indianapolis, who owns a pair of U.S. Women’s Mid-Am titles, reached the quarterfinals this year at Brae Burn to land a spot on the Global Golf Post Women’s Mid-Am first team. Potter-Bobb also won the Indiana Women’s Match Play crown and was a runnerup in the AGA Women’s Amateur at The Bay Club.
Another past U.S. Women’s Mid-Am winner, 2019 champion Ina Kim-Schaad of Jupiter, Fla., appears on the Women’s Mid-Am first team after reaching the quarterfinals this year at Brae Burn. Kim-Schaad also captured the title in the New York State Women’s Amateur Championship.
Former Michigan State standout Jacqueline Setas of Nashville, Tenn. reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Brae Burn to earn a spot on the Women’s Mid-Amateur first team. Setas had fallen to Rogowicz in the round of 16 a year ago at Stonewall’s North Course.
Rounding out the Global Golf Post Women’s Mid-Amateur first team were a couple more Europeans in Germany’s Alena Oppenheimer, the runnerup in the German National Amateur Championship, and France’s Pauline Stein, the runnerup in the European Ladies’ Mid-Am and in the Internationaux De France Mid-Amateur for Women.
Nice to see that Global Golf Post gave Stasi an honorable mention nod. Arguably America’s finest mid-am ever, Stasi, a 10-time winner of the WGAP Match Play Championship, did reach the second round of match play in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Brae Burn and reached the final of The Farrell before falling to Rogowicz at The Stanwich Club.
But for most of the year Stasi, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. these days, was preoccupied with her duties as the captain of the U.S. team in the Curtis Cup Match at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England. The U.S. fell, 10.5-9.5, to a determined Great Britain & Ireland team, but it sounds like it was a tremendous experience for Stasi and her young team.
Lindsey Gahm of Louisville, Ky., the runnerup to Ryskova in this year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Brae Burn, and Kimberly Dinh of Midland, Mich., the winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am crown at Stonewall’s North Course in 2023, also appeared on Global Golf Post’s Women’s Mid-Amateur honorable mention list.
Alexandra Austin of Fairfax, Va. struck a blow for moms-to-be everywhere when she finished in a tie for third place in qualifying for match play at Brae Burn and advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Gahm, all while nearly six months pregnant. That certainly made her a deserving honorable mention pick.
Xiaolong “Sherry” Zhong, the native of China who resides in Danville, Calif. and who knocked out Rogowicz in the opening round of match play at Brae Burn, made the honorable mention list. Zhong lost to the eventual champion Ryskova in the quarterfinals.
Rounding out the group of honorable mention selections on Global Golf Post’s Women’s Mid-Amateur division were Gretchen Johnson of Portland, Ore. and a trio of Europeans that included Ellie Docherty of Scotland, Ane Urchegui Garcia of Spain and Aideen Walsh of Ireland.
As I mentioned earlier, I was happy to see Joy-Connelly of Middleborough, Mass. show up on the Global Golf Post Senior Women’s Amateur first team.
Joy-Connelly began the year with a victory in the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Senior Women’s Championship, a match-play event on the unofficial Orange Blossom Tour at Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Joy-Connelly competed in Florida for years while her husband, J.P. Connelly, the son of legendary former Huntingdon Valley Country Club head pro Jack Connelly, was working in the South Florida Section PGA.
When J.P. Connelly accepted the post as the head pro at The Kittansett Club on Buzzards Bay in Marion, Mass., Joy-Connelly returned home to her native Massachusetts.
Joy-Connelly has been a major player in trying to drum up interest in the AGA and probably had a little something to do with The Bay Club, where she was a member sales rep when she first returned to Massachusetts, staging the AGA Women’s Amateur Championship last summer.
So, it was only fitting that Joy-Connelly captured the title in the AGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at The Bay Club. Joy-Connelly also won the New England Women’s Senior Amateur crown.
Joy-Connelly earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle, Wash., but was ousted in the first round of match play.
Joy-Connelly also earned a second straight trip to the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Fox Chapel Golf Club in suburban Pittsburgh, but failed to make the cut. Still, in her second year of senior eligibility, Joy-Connelly has qualified for the U.S. Senior Women’s Am and the U.S. Senior Women’s Open both years.
Another interesting name that popped up on the Senior Women’s Amateur first team was that of Suzi Spotleson. She always lists Canton, Ohio as her home town, but she is in the Philadelphia area enough that she keeps a membership at the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve and was the winner of the WGAP Match Play Championship in 2015.
Spotleson captured the Senior division for the second year in a row in the WGAP Match Play Championship last summer at Riverton Country Club.
Spotleson earned her spot on the first team by taking titles in the North & South Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, the senior division of the Donna Andrews Invitational at Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg, Va. and the First Coast Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida.
Spotleson also reached the second round of match play in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Broadmoor.
If Global Golf Post had picked an overall women’s amateur Player of the Year, it might very have gone to the headliner of its Senior Women’s Amateur first team, Australian Nadene Gole.
Gole captured the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur crown by knocking off fellow Senior Women’s Amateur first-teamer Shelly Stouffer of Canada in the final at Broadmoor.
Gole also won the R&A’s Women’s Senior Amateur title at Saunton Golf Club in England as the R&A held the men’s and women’s senior amateur championships simultaneously for the first time.
Gole, who has climbed into the top 100 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) at No. 99, also won the New Zealand Senior Women’s Amateur Championship a little closer to home.
Stouffer was the medalist in qualifying in the U.S. Senior Women’s Am at Broadmoor before reaching the final and suffering a 3 and 2 setback at the hands of Gole.
Stouffer also captured the title in the Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur and made it into the match-play bracket in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Brae Burn.
Stauffer’s fellow Canadian, Terrill Samuel, also earned a spot on the Global Golf Post Senior Women’s Amateur first team as she won Canadian Women’s Senior Amateur Championship and was the runnerup in the Irish Senior Women’s Open.
Samuel was the low amateur in the U.S. Women’s Senior Open at Fox Chapel, finishing in a tie for 19th place. Stauffer also made the cut at Fox Chapel and played the weekend.
The legendary Ellen Port of St. Louis, Mo., owner of seven USGA titles (four U.S. Mid-Ams and three U.S. Senior Women’s Ams), reached the semifinals of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Broadmoor before falling, 2 and 1, to Stauffer and earned a spot on the Senior Women’s Amateur first team.
Port also captured the title in the Ladies National Golf Association Senior Amateur Championship at Muskogee Golf Club in Muskogee, Okla. and was the runnerup to Joy-Connelly in the AGA Senior Women’s Amateur at The Bay Club.
Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore. had a typically strong showing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, reaching the round of 16 at Broadmoor. Tennant claimed the title in three straight playings of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in 2018, ’19 and ’21.
Tennant’s best work in a season that saw her land on the Global Golf Post Senior Women’s Amateur first team came across the pond as she won titles in both the Irish Senior Women’s Open and the Scottish Senior Women’s Open.
Gole was joined on the Senior Women’s Amateur first team by fellow Aussie Sue Wooster, winner of the New South Wales Mid-Amateur.
Wooster was the runnerup in the Australian Women’s Senior Amateur and earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Broadmoor.
Rounding out the Senior Women’s Amateur first team were a couple of European entries, Jackie Foster of England and Sylvie Van Molle of France.
Foster won the English Senior Women’s Amateur and Italian Ladies Senior Amateur titles and was the runnerup in the R&A Women’s Senior Amateur. Van Molle claimed crowns in the Belgian International Senior and the International Austrian Senior and was the runnerup in the Italian Senior International Ladies Championship.
Heading the list of 14 players who received honorable mention in the Senior Women’s Amateur category was Brenda Corrie Kuehn of Asheville, N.C.
Kuehn gave Gole all she wanted in the semifinals of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Broadmoor as the eventual champion needed 19 holes to edge Kuehn and reach the final.
Kuehn also made the cut in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Fox Chapel and played the weekend. Kuehn is the mother of former Wake Forest standout Rachel Kuehn, who will appear on the Global Golf Post Women’s Amateur first team later in this post.
Three other players on the honorable mention list made the cut in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, including Canadian stalwart Judith Kyrinis, Kristine Franklin of Westminster, Colo. and Michele Thompson of Columbus, Ohio.
Other Americans who received honorable mention were Kathy Hartwiger of Birmingham, Ala., Leigh Klosse of Cumberland, Wis. and Dawn Woodard of Greer, S.C.
In a big year for Australian senior women, three more Aussies appear on the honorable-mention list, including Gemma Dooley, Louise Mullard and Cath Stolz.
Rounding out the group receiving honorable mention were French women Carole Danton and Annick Riff, Sophie Ducrey of Switzerland and Stephanie Kiefer of Germany.
When it comes to the Global Golf Post Women’s Amateur first team, we might as well start at the top as England’s Lottie Woad, a junior at Florida State and the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, was so solid all year.
Woad captured the title in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship in April and that seemed to set the tone for the year for her. She was awarded the McCormack Medal as the amateur player who stands atop the Women’s WAGR when all the major worldwide amateur competitions are completed at the end of the summer.
She was the runnerup in the individual chase in the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course in Carlsbad, Calif.
The victory at Augusta earned Woad spots in all the major professional championships and she made the cut in a couple of them, finishing in a tie for 23rd place in the Chevron Championship at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas and in a tie for 10th in the AIG Women’s Open at the home of golf, the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Woad helped Great Britain & Ireland wrest the Curtis Cup away from the United States for the first time since 2016 with a hard-fought 10.5-9.5 victory at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England.
The most interesting rivalry of 2024, though, was waged by a couple of kids who haven’t entered the college ranks yet. Rianne Malixi of the Phillipines and No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR, defeated Asterisk Talley, a 15-year-old phenom from Chowchilla, Calif. and No. 18 in the Women’s WAGR, in the final of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif., and again a few weeks later in the final of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Both players earned a spot on the Global Golf Post Women’s Amateur first team.
Talley gained a little ground on Malixi, who plans to join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke next summer, in the two title matches, both scheduled for 36 holes. After falling 8 and 7 at El Caballero, Talley put up more of a fight at Southern Hills before dropping a 3 and 2 decision in the final there.
Talley had her moments, too. She captured the title in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in March, finishing six shots clear of Malixi, the runnerup.
Talley was the darling of the crowds in the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, easily making the cut. She struggled a little over the weekend, but still finished in a tie for 44th place to get a share of low-amateur honors.
Talley joined Team USA for the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale. With the U.S. trailing going into the Sunday singles, Stasi, the U.S. captain, penciled Talley into the leadoff spot and the precocious kid responded with a stunning 3 and 2 takedown of Woad.
Several of Talley’s teammates on the U.S. team at Sunningdale appear on the Women’s Amateur first team, including Zoe Antoinette Campos of Valencia, Calif., who wrapped up an outstanding college career at UCLA this fall, Melanie Green of Medina, N.Y. who graduated from South Florida in the spring, Jasmine Koo of Cerritos, Calif. who had a spectacular fall campaign as a freshman at Southern California and has risen to No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR, Rachel Kuehn of Asheville, N.C. who wrapped up an outstanding college career at Wake Forest in the spring, and Catherine Park of Irvine, Calif, a junior at Southern Cal who is No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR.
I’m giving Women’s WAGR positions while I’m putting this post together, so basically as of Dec. 1. Pretty sure the players who have turned pro in recent months have been dropped from the Women’s WAGR list.
Campos played out the fall season with the Bruins, but is turning pro. She was the medalist in last spring’s NCAA Las Vegas Regional and finished in 10th place in the individual standings in the NCAA Championship at La Costa while leading the Bruins to the Final Match.
Green was a somewhat surprising winner of the R&A Women’s Amateur Championship at Portmarnock Golf Club in Ireland, the first American to capture that title since Kelli Kuehne did it in 1996.
Koo finished in fourth place in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and lost to Malixi in the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at El Caballero. Koo rattled off three straight individual wins to close out the fall campaign of her freshman season at Southern Cal, leading the Trojans to the team title in the East Lake Cup.
Kuehn finished in eighth place at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur before capping a standout amateur career by wearing the Red, White & Blue for a third time in the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale.
Park led Southern Cal to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at La Costa, the Trojans falling to eventual champion Stanford. She got a share of low-amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster along with Talley and former Auburn star Megan Schofill.
Rounding out the Global Golf Post Women’s Amateur first team were Spain’s Andrea Revuelta Goicoechea, who is No. 12 in the Women’s WAGR, and Colombia’s Maria Jose Maria, a sophomore at Arkansas and No. 6 in the Women’s WAGR.
Revuelta Goicoechea won the Spanish International Ladies’ Amateur crown and was the runnerup in the European Ladies’ Amateur.
Jose Maria claimed medalist honors in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills and reached the semifinals before falling to Talley.
Heading an impressive Women’s Amateur honorable-mention list was Jose Maria’s Arkansas teammate Kendall Todd, a senior from Goodyear, Ariz. and No. 49 in the Women’s WAGR. Todd also reached the semifinals in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills, giving Malixi all she wanted before the eventual champion pulled out a 1-up victory.
Global Golf Post could easily have put Auburn sophomore Anna Davis, the quietly efficient left-hander from Spring Valley, Calif. and No. 7 in the Women’s WAGR, on the first team and nobody would have argued.
An honorable-mention selection, Davis helped the Tigers earn a spot in the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship at La Costa and she was also a member of a really solid U.S. Curtis Cup team at Sunningdale.
Spaniard Paula Martin Sampedro, No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, capped a huge freshman season at Stanford by finishing in third place in the individual standings in the NCAA Championship at La Costa and helping the Cardinal capture the national championship. That earned her a spot on the Women’s Amateur honorable-mention list.
Woad’s Florida State teammate, Mirabel Ting of Malaysia, who has risen to No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, also appears on the honorable-mention list.
Rounding out the Global Golf Post Women’s Amateur honorable-mention list were Spaniard Julia Lopez Ramirez, who capped a tremendous college career at Mississippi State during the fall campaign before turning pro, Oregon sophomore Kiara Romero of San Jose, Calif. and No. 14 in the Women’s WAGR, South Carolina senior Louise Rydqvist of Sweden and No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR, Virginia senior Amanda Sambach of Pinehurst, N.C. and No. 17 in the Women’s WAGR, Gianna Clemente, the talented junior player from Estero, Fla. via Warren, Ohio and No. 21 in the Women’s WAGR, and a trio of South Koreans, Lee Hyosung, Minsol Kim and Soomin Oh, who is No. 9 in the Women’s WAGR.
Florida State junior Luke Clanton of Hiahleah, Fla. and Auburn sophomore Jackson Koivun of Chapel Hill, N.C. were clearly the two best amateur players in the country in 2024 and that’s reflected by the No. 1 and No. 2 spots they hold, respectively, in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) at the beginning of December.
Clanton and Koivun headline the Global Golf Post Men's Amateur first team.
Both were among the group of six players who finished in a tie for second place in the individual chase in the NCAA Championship at La Costa in the spring. Both led their respective teams to spots in the match-play bracket at La Costa.
It was Clanton’s Seminoles and Koivun’s Tigers meeting in the Final Match to determine the national champion.
In the end, it was Koivun, who went 3-0 in match play, and Auburn that claimed the program’s first national championship with a 3-2 victory over Florida State. And it was Koivun who swept all the major Player of the Year awards, the Fred Haskins, the Ben Hogan and the Jack Nicklaus, and, oh yeah, the Phil Mickelson that goes to the top freshman.
Koivun got a start in the Memorial Tournament and made the cut, but it was Clanton who made the most of his PGA Tour starts and that elevated him to the McCormack Award, which goes to the player at the top of the WAGR after all the major summer amateur tournaments are completed.
Clanton made the cut in the U.S. Open at the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 Course, but he was just getting started. He would make six cuts in seven starts, contending right to the end before finishing in a tie for second place in the John Deere Classic.
Clanton did it again since Global Golf Post released its All-Amateur teams in mid-November as he went right to the wire before settling for a tie for second place in the RSM Classic, the last of the PGA Tour’s fall slate of tournaments at the Sea Island Club on St. Simons Island, Ga.
Clanton and Koivun went head to head in the East Lake Cup semifinals a couple of days before Halloween with Clanton claiming a 3 and 2 victory. But Koivun and Auburn won the match on their way to the East Lake crown.
It looks like Clanton and Koivun have committed to remain amateurs for most of 2025 as both accepted an invitation to tee it up in an audition for the U.S. Walker Cup team later this month in Florida. The Walker Cup won’t be contested until September, although a home Walker Cup Match at the iconic Cypress Point Club on the Monterey Peninsula certainly adds to the attraction.
Arizona State senior Josele Ballester became the first Spaniard to capture the title in the U.S. Amateur when he held on for a 2-up victory over Iowa sophomore Noah Kent of Naples, Fla. in the 36-hole final at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. in August.
That earned Ballester, who is No. 5 in the WAGR, a spot on the Men’s Amateur first team.
Ballester also finished in eighth place in the European Amateur Championship and reached the second round of match play in the R&A Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin Golf Club in Ireland.
Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark was the winner at Ballyliffin and that landed him on the Men’s Amateur first team. Skov Olesen, who finished in fifth place in the European Amateur, played collegiately at Arkansas and has turned pro since his victory in the R&A Amateur.
Ballester’s Arizona State teammate last spring, Wenyi Ding of China, won titles in the Southern Amateur and the Asia-Pacific Amateur to earn a spot on the Men’s Amateur first team, but has since turned pro.
A couple of standout American amateurs, Virginia junior Ben James of Milford, Conn. and No. 3 in the WAGR and Vanderbilt senior Gordon Sargent of Birmingham, Ala. and No. 4 in the WAGR, made the Men’s Amateur first team.
James and Sargent joined Koivun in the group tied for second place in the individual standings in the NCAA Championship at La Costa.
James helped the Cavaliers earn a spot in the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship, Virginia falling to eventual national champion Auburn in the quarterfinals. Sargent and the Commodores also earned a spot in the match-play bracket at La Costa, Vanderbilt falling to Ohio State in the quarterfinals.
James was also among the players invited to the practice session for candidates for the U.S. Walker Cup team in a couple of weeks in Florida. James and Sargent were members of the winning U.S. Walker Cup team at the Old Course at St. Andrews late in the summer of 2023.
Sargent’s Vanderbilt teammate, Jackson Van Paris, a senior from Pinehurst, N.C. and No. 9 in the WAGR, also landed on the Men’s Amateur first team. In addition to helping the Commodores reach the quarterfinals at La Costa, Van Paris was the runnerup in the prestigious North & South Amateur Championship at Pinehurst No. 2, the Donald Ross masterpiece in North Carolina.
Van Paris also accepted an invitation to the practice session for candidates for the U.S. Walker Cup team in Florida in a couple of weeks.
Rounding out the Global Golf Post Men’s Amateur first team were Florida senior Ian Gilligan of Reno, Nev. and No. 8 in the WAGR and Connor Jones of Westminster, Colo., who wrapped his college career at Colorado State in the spring.
Gilligan captured the title in one of the top events in Elite Amateur Series, winning the Western Amateur at Moraine Country Club in Dayton, Ohio.
Jones also had a strong summer playing on the Elite Amateur Series, finishing fifth in the Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown, fourth in the Southern Amateur and fourth in the Pacific Coast Amateur.
Nice to see Ohio State’s Neal Shipley earn honorable mention honors, even though the Pittsburgh Central Catholic product turned pro in the middle of the year.
Shipley helped the Buckeyes reach the semifinals in the NCAA Championship at La Costa, Ohio State falling to eventual national champion Auburn.
Using the exemptions he earned with his runnerup finish in the U.S. Amateur in 2023 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado, Shipley was the lone amateur to make the cut in the Masters after a final-round pairing with five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods and earned low-amateur honors in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst before turning pro.
Three players in the top 10 in the WAGR, Texas’ Tommy Morrison, a junior from Dallas and No. 4 in the world, North Carolina’s David Ford, a senior from Peachtree Corners, Ga. and No. 6 in the world, and Koivun’s Auburn teammate Brendan Valdes, a senior from Orlando, Fla. and No. 10 in the world, appear on the Men’s Amateur honorable-mention list.
Morrison is another player who was invited to the practice session for candidates for the U.S. Walker Cup Match later this month in Florida.
Morrison’s Texas teammate, Christian Maas, a junior from South Africa and No. 14 in the WAGR, also landed on the Men’s Amateur honorable-mention list.
Illinois senior Jackson Buchanan of Dacula, Ga. and No. 12 in the WAGR led the Fighting Illini to the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship and reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National. Those credentials certainly made him worthy of honorable mention.
Rounding out the Men’s Amateur honorable-mention list were UCLA senior Omar Morales of Mexico and No. 13 in the WAGR, Oklahoma senior Drew Goodman of Norman, Okla. and No. 20 in the WAGR, Alabama sophomore Dominic Clemons of England and the runnerup to Skov Olesen in the R&A Amateur at Ballyliffin, Frenchman Bastien Amat, who led New Mexico to the NCAA Championship last spring, Valparaiso senior Anthony Delisanti of Sanborn, N.Y., winner of the Northeast Amateur at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I., Spain’s Luis Masaveu Roncal, who lost to friend and fellow Spaniard Ballester in the U.S. Amateur semifinals at Hazeltine National, and Texas Tech senior Callum Scott of Scotland and No. 15 in the WAGR who was the low amateur in The Open Championship on home soil at Scotland’s Royal Troon Golf Club last summer.
Evan Beck, a 34-year-old portfolio manager in Virginia Beach, Va., had been knocking on the door in recent editions of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
But with the U.S. Mid-Am in his home state at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va., Beck broke the door down with a 9 and 8 victory over Bobby Massa of Dallas, Texas in the scheduled 36-hole final.
The U.S. Mid-Am finalists both earned spots on the Global Golf Post Men’s Mid-Amateur first team.
Beck also won two of the major events for mid-ams, the George C. Thomas Invitational at Los Angeles Country Club and the George L. Coleman Invitational at Seminole Golf Club.
Beck has climbed to No. 18 in the WAGR and the U.S. Mid-Am champion has traditionally earned an invitation to the Masters in April. He was also invited to participate in the practice session for candidates for the U.S. Walker Cup team, which will be held later this month in Florida.
Massa also reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National, losing to Ballester, the eventual winner.
Hard to believe it’s been eight years since I watched Stewart Hagestad rally to capture the first of his three U.S. Mid-Amateur titles at Stonewall.
Hagestad lists West Palm Beach, Fla. as home these days and he’s still the second-highest ranked mid-am in the world at No. 24. And he remains a mainstay on the Men’s Mid-Amateur first team.
Hagestad captured the title in the Azaela Invitational in the spring and was a semifinalist in the Crump Cup Memorial at Pine Valley Golf Club in the South Jersey pine barrens.
The defending champion at Kinloch, Hagestad was knocked off in the second round of match play by Will Davenport of Palm City, Fla., who made it to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Mid-Am.
Davenport, who earned a masters degree at Penn’s Wharton School of Business, took out a membership at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club when he lived in the Philadelphia area and has maintained some playing privileges there.
With the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club in the spring, Davenport teamed up with his pal Mike Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. and they made a run to the semifinals before dropping a 1-up decision to Brian Blanchard and Sam Engel, the eventual champions from Scottsdale, Ariz.
Davenport hung around to tee it up in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur since it was at Whitemarsh Valley and made it to the semifinals before falling to Austin Barbin, the eventual champion.
All of that earned Davenport honorable mention on the Global Golf Post Men’s Mid-Amateur team.
Hagestad was joined on the first team by Scott Harvey of Greensboro, N.C., the player he defeated on the 37th hole in that epic final at Stonewall in 2016.
Harvey reached the U.S. Mid-Am quarterfinals at Kinloch and claimed a victory in the inaugural playing of the Huddleston Cup at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas.
Nice to see Jimmy Ellis land on the Men’s Mid-Am first team. He lives in Atlantic Beach, Fla. these days, but Ellis is a Pittsburgh guy and he’d rather beat the young guys than his fellow mid-ams.
The 39-year-old Ellis unfurled a 9-under 61 at the Chaska Town Course, the alternative site for qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, and became the unlikely U.S. Amateur qualifying medalist.
Ellis also won the Florida State Amateur title and I can’t even begin to imagine how tough that field is. He was also the runnerup in the Crump Cup Memorial at Pine Valley.
Andrew Price of Lake Bluff, Ill. was the winner of the Crump Cup at Pine Valley and that earned him a spot on the Men’s Mid-Am first team. Price also won the Illinois State Mid-Am crown and reached the match-play bracket in the U.S. Mid-Am at Kinloch before falling in the first round.
Joe Deraney of Belden, Miss. landed on the Men’s Mid-Am first team on the strength of a victory in the John T. Lupton Memorial and a fourth-place finish in the English Men’s Open Mid-Amateur.
Rounding out the Global Golf Post Men’s Mid-Am first team was a trio of European players, including Markus Habeler of Austria, Matthew McClean of Northern Ireland and Gary Spann of England.
Habeler captured titles in the European Mid-Amateur Championship and the International Austrian Mid-Am Championship.
Habeler reached the second round of match play in the U.S. Mid-Am at Kinloch, advancing out of the first round with a 1-up victory over Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Andy Butler, a former standout at Villanova.
Never really got to the U.S. Mid-Am in the blog, but nice job by Butler to get there and finish in a tie for third in qualifying for match play to earn a spot in the match-play bracket.
McClean won the Irish Men’s Open Amateur and reached the quarterfinals of the Crump Cup at Pine Valley.
Spann claimed the title in the Scottish Mid-Amateur and was the runnerup in the Welsh Mid-Am.
Davenport was joined on the Men’s Mid-Am honorable-mention list by a quartet hailing from Central and South America, including Santiago De La Fuente of Mexico, who was the co-medalist in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Mid-Am at Kinloch, Omar Tejeira Jaen of Panama, Segundo Oliva Pinto of Argentina and Alejandro Villavicencio of Guatemala.
Parker Edens of Brookings, S.D., who shared third place in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Mid-Am at Kinloch with Huntingdon Valley’s Butler and Harvey, also earned a spot on the honorable-mention list.
Rounding out the Men’s Mid-Am group earning honorable mention were Torey Edwards of Long Beach, Calif., Brett Patterson of Oxford, Miss., Colin Prater of Colorado Springs, Colo. and a couple of European entries in Hugh Foley of Ireland and Scott Wormleighton of England.
Todd White, the 56-year-old school teacher from Spartanburg, S.C., could only make it to the quarterfinals in defense of his U.S. Senior Amateur title, but earlier in the summer he went across the pond and captured the R&A Senior Amateur Championship at Saunton in England.
White also finished in fifth place in the South Carolina Amateur Championship.
The two finalists in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., the champion, Louis Brown, a 61-year-old from Marietta, Ga., and runnerup Daniel Sullivan of Pasadena, Calif. both earned spots on the Men’s Senior Amateur first team.
Brown claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Sullivan in the final at The Honors Course.
Sullivan had a tremendous year, winning the title in the Southern California Senior Match Play and finishing in second place in the John T. Lupton Memorial Senior, the George C. Thomas Invitational and the Los Angeles City Senior in addition to his strong showing at The Honors Course.
There are some of the usual suspects on the Men’s Senior Amateur first team, including Matthew Sughrue of Arlington, Va., Randy Haag of Orinda, Calif., Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga. and Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Ga.
The 64-year-old Suhgrue, who overcame a devastating elbow injury in 2019 and continues to play at a high level, reached the semifinals of the U.S. Senior Amateur at The Honors Club before falling to Sullivan. He also claimed a victory in the Chanticleer National Senior Invitational at Greenville Country Club in Greenville, S.C.
The 65-year-old Haag won titles in the National Hall of Fame Championship and in the San Francisco City Senior Championship.
The 67-year-old Hanzel earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Senior Amateur at The Honors Course.
The 64-year-old Royak reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Senior Amateur, was the runnerup to Sughrue in the Chanticleer National Invitational and finished in fifth place in the Jones Cup Senior.
Miles McConnell of Tampa, Fla. captured the title in the Canadian Senior Amateur Championship to land a spot on the Men’s Senior Amateur first team. McConnell also finished in third place in the North & South Senior Amateur at Pinehurst and hopped across the pond and finished eighth in the R&A Men’s Senior Amateur at Saunton.
Jack Larkin of Atlanta, Ga. captured the title in the Jones Cup Senior and that earned him a spot on the Men’s Senior Amateur first team. Larkin also reached the second round of the U.S. Senior Amateur at The Honors Course, where he dropped a 3 and 2 decision to Rick Stimmel of Pittsburgh, a Men’s Senior Amateur honorable-mention pick.
Rounding out the Global Golf Post Men’s Senior Amateur first team was Englishman Stephen Jensen, who captured titles in the English Senior Amateur and the Scottish Senior Match Play and was the runnerup in the Canadian Senior Amateur.
Stimmel, one of Pennsylvania’s top amateur players, regardless of age, headed the honorable-mention list. In addition to reaching the round of 16 in the U.S. Senior Amateur at The Honors Course, Stimmel finished in third place in the Chanticleer National Invitational at Greenville.
Thought I spotted a familiar name among the honorable-mention picks and, sure enough, Stan Humphries of Monroe, La. is indeed the former quarterback of the Washington Redskins and San Diego Chargers.
Iowa is represented by three players who received honorable mention, including the West Des Moines duo of Gene Elliott and Mike McCoy and Jon Brown of Adel.
Rounding out the Men’s Senior Amateur honorable-mention picks were Tim Hogarth of Northridge, Calif., Kevin Vandenberg of Naples, Fla., Dave Bunker of Canada, and the European pair of Michael Flindt of Denmark and John Kemp of England.
Have to give a personal Men’s Senior Amateur honorable mention to Reading’s own Chip Lutz, who reached the second round of the U.S. Senior Amateur at The Honors Course.
I first got turned on to the Global Golf Post All-Amateur teams when it named Lutz the Male Player of the Year in 2016.
When Lutz teed it up in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Stonewall in 2016, I realized his birthday was very close to mine, either Jan. 8 or 12, 1955. He will turn 70 next month and I will hit that same milestone Jan. 20th.
It is the senior amateurs, men and women, who I find the most inspirational, still playing the game they love at a high level after all these years.
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