At 66, Buddy Marucci has nothing to prove to anyone on the
golf course.
The Haverford High and University of Maryland product
followed the lead of his mentor Jay Sigel and has been one of the top figures
in amateur golf for more than 40 years.
But he showed Monday that the competitive juices are still flowing
with a dramatic victory in 21 holes over a formidable opponent in Randy Haag of
Orinda, Calif. in the opening round of match play in the U.S. Senior Amateur at
Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
Marucci had a memorable three-year stretch beginning in 2007
when he captained the U.S. Walker Cup team to a dramatic victory over Great
Britain & Ireland at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland. He followed
that up by taking the 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur at Shady Oaks Country Club in
Fort Worth, Texas.
He capped it on his home course, the famed East Course at
Merion Golf Club -- the seventh hole of which was literally in his backyard as
a youngster – by once again captaining the U.S. Walker Cup team to a resounding
victory over GB&I in 2009.
He could have ridden off in the sunset after that, but there
he was Sunday, grinding out a 1-over 73 over the 6,869-yard, par-72 Eugene
layout to earn a spot in match play.
His reward was a tough draw in Haag in the first round. Haag
was the runnerup in The Seniors Amateur Championship earlier this summer at
Royal Porthcawl in Wales. He was a quarterfinalist in the 1993 U.S. Mid-Amateur
Championship at Eugene, so he was familiar with the golf course.
Marucci won the sixth and seventh holes with birdies and the
eighth and 10th holes with pars to turn a 2-down deficit into a 2-up
advantage. Haag won 12 with a birdie and 13 with a par to draw even.
Haag won the 17th with a par, but Marucci
answered by taking the 18th with a par to send the match to extra
holes.
When Haag pulled his approach to the 21st hole,
the par-4 third at Eugene, Marucci had his opening. Marucci lagged his birdie
putt to two feet while Haag was left with a 30-footer for par after his
approach left him no shot to chip it close. When Haag missed his par putt, he
conceded Marucci’s par putt and the match.
“It’s been a while,” Marucci told the USGA website.
“Normally, I get beaten before that. We didn’t play our best. Randy is a lot
better player than he showed today. I’m a little over the hill, but he was kind
of nice to me. Every once in a while, you get a break.”
Marucci was one of three former U.S. Senior Amateur
champions from Pennsylvania in the match-play bracket to advance Monday.
Chip Lutz, the Reading native who plays out of LedgeRock
Golf Club, cruised to a 4 and 2 victory over Thomas Immenschuh of San Antonio,
Texas.
The 63-year-old Lutz, winner of the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur
at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. and the best senior
amateur on the planet for nearly a decade, had a narrow 1-up lead after 12
holes before pulling away by winning three of the next four holes. He made
birdie on the par-5 13th to take that hole and finished off the
match by winning the par-5 16th with a birdie.
Sean Knapp, the longtime western Pennsylvania amateur
standout and the defending U.S. Senior Amateur champion, withstood a tough
challenge from Tom Brandes of Bellevue, Wash. before advancing with a 2 and 1
victory. Brandes, a Eugene native, was the runnerup to Lutz in 2015 at Hidden
Creek.
David Blichar, the Lehigh Valley’s top senior amateur and
the medalist in the Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at
Tavistock Country Club, advanced with a 3 and 2 victory over Timothy Sheppard
of East Peoria, Ill. The 55-year-old Blichar is in his first year of
eligibility for the U.S. Senior Amateur.
Edward Armogast is technically playing out of the RiverWinds
Golf & Tennis Club in West Deptford, N.J. He is listed as being from
Jupiter, Fla. But it is at the caddyshack at the iconic Pine Valley Golf Club
where I’m guessing his progress in the U.S. Senior Amateur is being followed
the most closely.
The Pine Valley looper also emerged from the Tavistock
qualifier. He winters at the Seminole Golf Club, the legendary Donald Ross
layout where I suspect he also knows the greens pretty well.
Armogast advanced to the second round with a 3 and 2 win
over Richard Kerper of Orlando, Fla. Wonder if he took one of his fellow Pine
Valley loopers with him or grabbed a local caddy?
The only GAP player who failed to advance was David West.
He’s listed as being from Oxford, but he was an Exton guy and a Whitford
Country Club guy most of his life. West dropped a 3 and 2 decision to Joe
Palmer of West Des Moines, Iowa.
The qualifying co-medalists, Greg Condon of Monte Vista, Colo.
and Jeff Wilson of Fairfield, Calif. reached the second round.
Condon, a man of modest golf means and considerable golf
talent, claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Kirk Wright, a firefighter from Oklahoma
City, Okla. Wilson, the low amateur in last month’s U.S. Senior Open at The
Broadmoor’s East Course in Colorado Springs, Colo., earned a 3 and 2 win over
Richard Jeffers of Mobile, Ala.
Only eight senior standouts will still be standing if the
two rounds of match play scheduled for Tuesday are completed.
No comments:
Post a Comment