WARWICK – When the dust finally cleared – and there was some
dust blowing around with gusty winds and blessedly cooler temperatures replacing
searing heat and humidity -- on Day 2 of qualifying for the U.S. Mid-Amateur
Championship at Stonewall’s North Course and Old Course Sunday, only four
players stood under par.
And a cutoff for match play widely speculated in the 6- to
7-over-par ballpark ultimately went up to 8-over. And some lucky player who
finished at 9-over will be the last one into the match-play bracket after 14
players go at it for the last spot beginning at 7:15 a.m. Monday.
Four local players are in the field of 64 for Monday’s
opening-round matches, led by Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Gregor Orlando, the
medalist in a qualifier for this event held at the Cricket Club’s historic
Wissahickon Course. And two others are
in the mix for that dawn shootout for the final match-play berth.
First, let’s give some credit to the three co-medalists who
got it around Tom Doak’s twin challenges in northwest Chester County in 2-under
138.
One of them, Scott Harvey of Greensboro, N.C. carded a
2-over 72 on the 6,870-yard, par-70 Old Course Sunday. Harvey, the Mid-Amateur
champion two years ago and a member of the 2015 U.S. Walker Cup team, becomes
the first four-time qualifying medalist in tournament history. Three others had
been three-time medalists, one of them local legend Jay Sigel, the Aronimink
Golf Club member who compiled one of the greatest amateur records in the
history of the game before finding success on the Champions Tour.
Harvey was joined by Michael Muehr of Potomoc Falls, Va.,
who had one of the three sub-par rounds recorded Sunday, a 2-under 68 at the 6,711-yard,
par-70 North Course, and Thomas Werkmeister of Grandville, Mich., who matched
par on the North with a 70 after posting one of just two sub-par rounds at the
Old Course Saturday, a 2-under 68.
Muehr has made match play five of the six times he’s teed it
up in the U.S. Mid-Am and reached the semifinals in 2011.
The only other player to finish under par in qualifying was
Derek Busby of Ruston, La., who added a 2-over 72 at the Old Course Sunday to
his opening-round 67 at the North Course for a 1-under 139 total.
Orlando had the best finish among the large local
contingent, adding a 74 at the Old Course to his opening-round 71 at the North
for a 5-over 145 total that left him in a tie for 23rd.
Orlando got off to a tough start with bogeys at two, three
and four before righting the ship with a birdie at the par-3 fifth. He then showed
great patience by rattling off nine straight pars. He birdied the tough par-3
15th before making a bogey at 16 and a double bogey at the par-3 17th.
He’ll take on Bradley Lane of Lawrence, Kan. at 9 a.m.
Monday.
Three other locals finished comfortably inside the cutoff for
match play in a tie for 45th at 7-over 147, including Orlando’s fellow
Cricket Club member John Brennan, a social studies teacher at Spring-Ford High
School.
Brennan had put himself in good position to earn a
match-play berth with a 1-under 69 at the North Course Saturday. He struggled
early in Sunday’s round at the Old Course, making double bogeys at the fourth,
sixth and ninth holes. After a bogey at the par-5 11th, Brennan
stopped the bleeding with a birdie at the 14th before making back-to-back
bogeys at 16 and 17. Still, his 78 was more than good enough to get him into
the match-play bracket.
Brennan drew a high-noon match Monday with Dan Sullivan of
Pasadena, Calif.
Also at 147 was three-time BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion
Michael McDermott, who carded a steady 2-over 72 at the North Course after
opening with an adventurous 75 at the Old Course. Playing in his 16th USGA event and
eighth U.S. Mid-Am, McDermott’s experience showed Sunday.
I was looping on the other side of the North at the same
time as McDermott was playing Sunday and the winds, although they backed off as
the day went on, were tricky. And some of the pins were really tough, the ones
at seven and 17 come quickly to mind.
McDermott, the co-medalist in a Mid-Am qualifier at Llanerch
Country Club, birdied the first and the last and in between made bogeys at two,
nine, 13 and 15. He’ll take on Joseph Ida of Overland Park, Kan. at 10:40 a.m.
Monday.
Yardley Country Club bomber Christopher Ault was the third
local player in that group at 147. He added a 76 at the Old Course Sunday to
his solid 71 at the North Saturday. Ault started his round with his only birdie
of the day at the par-5 first. He made a bogey at two, a double bogey at the
treacherous fourth and bogeys at six, 14, 15 and 17.
It earned him an opening-round date with Kevin O’Connell of
Raleigh, N.C. at 1:20 p.m. Monday.
Saucon Valley Country Club’s Matthew Mattare, the GAP
Middle-Amateur champion who was the co-medalist with McDermott at Llanerch, is
in the group of 14 players who will vie for that last ticket to match play
Monday morning. Mattare had a 73 at the North Course after opening with a 76 at
the Old Course.
Also in that group in the playoff is Wyomissing’s Nathan
Sutherland, a Holy Name product who added a 74 at the North Course to the 75 he posted Saturday at
the Old Course.
DuPont Country Club’s Matthew Finger, the runnerup to
Mattare in the GAP Middle-Amateur, had an 81 at the Old Course to finish at
152. Michael McDermott’s brother Brian was another shot back at 153, despite a
solid 74 at the Old Course Sunday.
Sean Seese, like the McDermott brothers a Saint Joseph’s
product, had a 78 at the North Course Sunday for a 158 total. Aronimink’s Dan
Bernard, a former Malvern Prep standout, had an 82 at the North Course for a
160 total. Andy Latkowski, the third member of the Cricket Club trio in the
field, didn’t fare as well as his clubmates as he posted an 85 at the Old
Course for a 164 total.
LedgeRock Golf Club’s Chip Lutz, who will defend his U.S.
Senior Amateur title later this month at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis,
was two shots out of the playoff for match play after adding a 76 at the North
Course to his opening-round 75 at the Old Course.
He was joined at that figure by Pittsburgh’s Nathan Smith, a
four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion who had a 75 at the Old Course Sunday.
Smith was victimized, like so many others at the Old Course, by the 395-yard,
par-4 fourth, where he took a triple-bogey 7.
Two other players who reached Stonewall via the Cricket Club
qualifier, Chris Cassetta of Winston-Salem, N.C. and Brian Payne of Flossmoor,
Ill., failed to reach match play. Cassetta had a 78 at the Old Course for a 152
total while Payne had a 76 at the North Course for a 154 total.
Eric Lefante, a former Rutgers standout out of Florham Park,
N.J. who qualified at Llanerch, had an 82 at the Old Course for a 159 total.
The man whose bag I got to carry for the last four days at
Stonewall, Michael Mitani of Irvine, Calif., had an 80 at the North Course
after an 81 at the Old Course Saturday for a 161 total. It was a lot of work
and it was hot for two practice rounds and Saturday’s first round of qualifying
and it was frustrating to see a lot of five-footers for par slide by the hole,
but Mitani never lost his composure and competed right to the end.
Getting a front-row seat to golf at that level is
fascinating, enlightening, just a great all-around experience. My game was
never going to get me there, but
caddying for a player of Mitani’s ability is a real treat.
One of our practice-round partners, Cameron Tennant, a
former San Diego State standout out of Woodland Hills, Calif., did make match
play with a solid 1-over 71 at the North Course to finish in that group tied
for 45th at 147. The guy is long.
One of our playing partners Saturday and Sunday, Andrew
Rhodes of Westfield, Ind. ended up missing the playoff for that final
match-play berth by one shot. He really battled hard Sunday, posting a 3-over
73 for a 10-over 150 total.
The plan is to turn in my caddy bib for a notepad and continue
to post some live blogs from Stonewall for the rest of the week, but if
somebody needs a looper Monday, I’ll be ready.
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