I’m always bragging about how many great senior golfers
there are in this area and the last few days have provided more evidence of
that.
I’ll get to Chip Lutz, named by Global Golf Post as the top male amateur in the world in 2016, after he tries to defend his Senior Amateur
title at Sunningdale’s Old Course next week,
but it’s already been a successful trip across the pond as he was the low
amateur in last week’s Senior Open Championship at blustery Royal Porthcawl in
Wales.
And the ageless Ray Thompson, at 65, teamed with fellow
Overbrook Golf Club member Oscar Mestre to win the Golf Association of
Philadelphia’s Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship Thursday at Laurel
Creek Country Club.
And, oh yeah, George Forster and Stu Ingraham, two of the
best senior club pros in the country, duked it out in a playoff in the
Philadelphia Section PGA’s Skee Riegel Senior Open Thursday at Forster’s home
course, Radnor Valley Country Club.
I’ll get to all of that in the next few days, but how about
a senior lady who defied her age once again this week. I give you Liz Haines.
The 69-year-old Gladwyne resident and Merion Golf Club
member has been a really good player for a really long time. And guess what,
she still is.
There was only one ticket available for the U.S. Senior
Women’s Amateur Championship in a qualifier Monday at LedgeRock Golf Club in
Mohnton, Berks County, administered by GAP. And Haines got it.
It’s been 13 years since Haines lost in the final of the
U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, dropping a 1-up decision to Carolyn Creekmore at
Pastiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif. She’ll be back in the field for the
2017 edition of the championship, which tees off Sept. 9 at Waverley Country
Club in Portland, Ore.
Haines carded a 1-over-par 75 over a LedgeRock layout that
measured 5,737 yards and played to a par of 74 for the ladies to claim medalist
honors and earn the one available berth to Portland.
She finished three shots clear of another senior stalwart
from this area, Bethlehem’s Noreen Mohler, who posted a 78 and is the first
alternate. Allison Long of Coatesville finished third with an 80 and is the
second alternate.
Haines sank a six-foot putt for birdie at the first and then
rolled in a 50-foot bomb to make a birdie at the 16th. From all
reports, LedgeRock is a tough test, but Haines, after her first look at the
course in a Sunday practice round, passed it with flying colors.
“I’m thrilled with the way I played today,” Haines told the
GAP website. “I played this course for the first time (Sunday). There were a
lot of shots that I wasn’t certain about. It helped today. You can’t come into
a course like this having never played it.”
By the way, another veteran of the Philadelphia scene, Lisa
McGill, booked her ticket to the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur by claiming
medalist honors with a 70 at Haverhill Country Club in Haverhill, Mass. in a
qualifier held Thursday.
The area’s senior men were also at LedgeRock Monday looking
for one of five spots available to the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, which
tees off Aug. 26 at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minn.
David Brown of Ligonier and William Charpek of Red Bank,
N.J. were the co-medalists, each carding a 2-under 70 over a LedgeRock layout
that measured 6,854 yards and played to a par of 72 for the guys.
The 56-year-old Brown was coming off a solid showing in the
Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship at The
Country Club of Scranton, where he lost in the final to four-time U.S.
Mid-Amateur champion Nathan Smith. This will be his 10th USGA
championship, the last one being the 2012 U.S. Senior Open. Brown is the
reigning PAGA Senior Amateur Match Play champion.
Although the 60-year-old Charpek lives in Jersey, he is a
member at Merion Golf Club. The 2015 New Jersey Senior Amateur champion, Charpek will be
playing in the U.S. Senior Amateur for the first time, but he has qualified for
both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Mid-Amateur in the past.
Third place went to the ageless Don Donatoni, who carded a
1-under 71 at LedgeRock. The reigning four-time GAP Super-Senior Player of the
Year, Donatoni will be teeing it up in the Senior Amateur for the fourth time.
Donatoni of White Manor Country Club was part of a large
group of locals at the 2015 Senior Amateur at Hidden Creek Golf Club at the
Jersey Shore that was won by Lutz, the reigning seven-time GAP Senior Player of
the Year. Donatoni just missed qualifying for match play.
By the way, Donatoni will show up when I finally get around
to that GAP Senior Four Ball Stroke Play report because he and his longtime
pal, Merion Golf Club’s Carl Everett, took top honors in the Super- Senior
division.
It looks like there was a three-way playoff for the last two
tickets to Minikahde after Christopher Clauson of Philadelphia, Scott Mayne of
Harrisburg and Doug Fedoryshyn of Malvern finished tied for fourth at even-par
72.
Fedoryshyn, who moved over to Applebrook Golf Club after
many years at Concord Country Club, was the odd man out and is the first
alternate.
Mayne took out a membership at LedgeRock specifically so he
could compete in GAP senior events and that immediately paid off when he won
the Brewer Cup last month.
It wasn’t necessary for Lutz to play his home
course to earn a trip to the 2017 U.S. Senior Amateur. Pretty sure he’s exempt
on a number of criteria, most notably that U.S. Senior Amateur victory at
Hidden Creek in 2015.
In an area that boasts so much senior golf talent – amateur,
professional, men, women, you name it – Lutz might be the best of them all.
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