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Sunday, August 25, 2019

Lutz, Fieger grab spots in match-place bracket in U.S. Senior Amateur at Old Chatham


   You keep thinking maybe, at 64, Reading’s Chip Lutz might be getting up there in terms of still being competitive on the senior amateur circuit.
   And then Lutz does stuff like match the low score of the day Sunday in the second round of qualifying for match play in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C. with a sparkling 4-under-par 68 and you think … no, he’s still got it.
   Lutz, who plays out of LedgeRock Golf Club, finally added a U.S. Senior Amateur championship in 2015 to the three R&A Senior Amateur titles he had already won across the pond and the two Canadian Men’s Senior Championship titles he had won in the Great North when he triumphed at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. His resume was complete.
   But heck, he was only 60 and he’s proved in the ensuing four years that he is anything but washed up. He took his annual trip to the British Isles last month and finished in a tie for seventh in the R&A Senior Amateur at North Berwick.
   Lutz, the reigning nine-time Golf Association of Philadelphia Senior Player of the Year, struggled a little in Saturday’s opening round in rainy weather in Durham with a 3-over 75.
   Lutz started on the back nine Sunday and got off to a quick start on the Rees Jones design with birdies at the 11th, 16th and 17th holes. A bogey at the 18th left him at 2-under for the day heading to the outgoing nine. After a birdie at the first, Lutz made a bogey at the fourth, a birdie at the sixth and a bogey at the seventh before making a late bid for medalist honors with birdies at the eighth and ninth holes.
   The 4-under 68 left him in a tie for fourth at 1-under 143, just a shot behind the trio of players that shared medalist honors.
   Lutz made a run to the semifinals in this championship a year ago at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore. before suffering a tough 2 and 1 setback to eventual champion Jeff Wilson of Fairfield, Calif. Playing in his 10th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, Lutz looks like he means business.
   Meanwhile, somebody who I’m certain is flying completely under the radar at Old Chatham, 56-year-old Chris Fieger, completed two solid rounds and snuck into the top 10 in qualifying, finishing in a tie for ninth at 1-over 145 after adding an even-par 72 Sunday to his opening-round 73.
   Fieger, playing out of Foxchase Golf Club, is a resident of Denver, Lancaster County, but he’s a Delco native, a member of the golfing Fieger family of Nether Providence/Strath Haven fame. Fieger earned his first ticket to a USGA event out of a GAP-administered qualifier at LuLu Country Club and he is making the most of the opportunity.
   Fieger made birdies at the first and sixth holes around bogeys at the fourth and fifth holes to make the turn at even-par for his round. Bogeys at the 11th and 12th holes dropped him back to 2-over for the day before he battled back with birdies at the 13th and 16th holes to get it back to red figures for the two days of stroke play.
   This time last year, Edward Armagost emerged from a GAP-administered qualifier to reach the second round of match play at Eugene. Playing out of Jupiter, Fla., the story was that Armagost was a caddy at Pine Valley Golf Club and a winter looper at the equally iconic Seminole Golf Club. I’ve heard tales that Armogast was once a terror on the mini-tours back in the day.
   In any event, the guy again found his way into the match-play bracket again with solid rounds of 73 and 76 that left him in the group tied for 30th at 5-over 149.
   Nine players who landed on 8-over 152 will battle it out for the final spots in the match-play bracket early Monday morning. The opening round of match play will commence shortly thereafter.
Lutz will take on Titus Harris of Houston while Fieger is matched up against Victor Minovich of Thornton, Colo.
   Two former champions from Pennsylvania were in the group at 10-over 154 that was two shots out of the playoff, Merion Golf Club’s George “Buddy” Marucci, the 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, and western Pennsylvania’s Sean Knapp, who had played in the last two U.S. Senior Amateur finals, claiming his first USGA title in 2017 at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis before falling in the final to Wilson a year ago in Eugene.
   The 67-year-old Marucci, who capped his two-term captaincy of the U.S. Walker Cup team by seeing his guys retain the Cup in 2009 on his home course, the historic East Course at Merion, added a 4-over 76 to his opening-round 78.
   The 57-year-old Knapp, the one-time Oakmont Country Club looper who has been one of the top amateurs in the Pittsburgh area for decades, had to be a little disappointed after adding a 6-over 78 to his opening-round 76.
   Pretty neat feature by USGA free-lancer Dave Shedloski on the USGA website on how Knapp’s sterling amateur career has become a family affair.
    Also landing on that 10-over 154 total was Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre, who was the medalist in the GAP-administered qualifier at LuLu, earning a trip to the U.S. Senior Amateur for the first time. The 58-year-old Mestre, in the midst of a strong season on the GAP senior circuit, added a 4-over 76 to his opening-round 78.
   Another name familiar to long-time followers of the Philadelphia amateur scene, 63-year-old Duke Delcher of Bluffton, S.C., also ended up at 154 after adding a 79 to his solid opening round of 3-over 75.
   Delcher played out of Sandy Run Country Club for years and fell to Huntingdon Valley Country Club legend O. Gordon Brewer Jr. in the 1976 Philadelphia Amateur final.
   John Robinson got through the qualifier on his home course at LuLu, but struggled at Old Chatham in his U.S. Senior Amateur debut. The 61-year-old Robinson shaved seven shots off an opening-round 89 with an 82 Sunday that left him with a 171 total.
   Sharing medalist honors at 2-under 142 were a couple of heavyweights, Michael McCoy of Norwalk, Iowa, who lost in the semifinals to Knapp a year ago, and 2013 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga. and local favorite Dean Channell of Cary, N.C.
   The 56-year-old McCoy, who became the second oldest winner of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 2013, added a 2-under 70, making two birdies and 16 pars, to his opening-round 72. The 62-year-old Hanzel, who lost in the quarterfinals to Knapp a year ago in Eugene, carded his second straight 1-under 71.
   Channell, playing eight miles from home at a course he is very familiar with, had grabbed the lead in qualifying with an opening round of 4-under 68 Saturday before adding a 2-over 74 in Sunday’s second round.
   Sharing fourth place with Lutz at 1-under 140 was Gregory Condon of Monte Vista, Calif., who added a 1-over 73 to his opening-round 70.
   Defending champion Wilson made it clear he has designs on a repeat as he fired a 1-under 71 Sunday to get into a tie for sixth place at even-par 144.
   Wilson was joined at that figured by Frank Vana of Boxford, Mass., who carded a second straight 72, and Gene Elliott of West Des Moines, Iowa, who matched Lutz for the low round of the day with a 68. Elliott, who, like McCoy, was bogey-free Sunday, lost in a playoff for the title in the R&A Senior Amateur at North Berwick earlier this summer.
   In the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, being held at Cedar Rapids Country Club in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bethlehem’s Noreen Mohler, a Lehigh Valley legend, added another entry to her sparkling resume by earning a spot in the match-play bracket at 65 years young.
   Mohler was the medalist in the GAP-administered qualifier held simultaneously with the senior guys at LuLu last month. After opening with an 81 Saturday, Mohler gutted out a 7-over 79 for a 16-over 160 total that got her a ticket to match play.
   There was a playoff among eight players who landed on 17-over 161, a shot behind Mohler, for the final five spots in match play.
   Starting on the back nine Sunday, Mohler, who captained the winning 2010 U.S. Curtis Cup team, got on the bogey train for a while with bogeys at the 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th and first holes before making a birdie at the second hole. She made bogeys at the third and fourth holes and got a critical birdie at the fifth hole before finishing up with bogeys at the sixth and eighth holes.
   Also earning a spot in the match-play bracket was Suzi Spotleson of Canton, Ohio, who added a solid 3-over 75 to her opening-round 76 to finish among the group tied for 14th place. The 52-year-old Spotleson also plays out RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve and was the winner of the 2015 Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship.
   Karen Siegel of Maple Glen was three shots shy of a match-play berth as she carded a second straight 82 for a 164 total. Siegel got into the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur as an alternate out of the LuLu qualifier.
   Two other players who emerged from the LuLu qualifier, Sue Sardi of Skillman, N.J. and Donna Young of Ewing, N.J., also failed to nail down a spot in match play. The 63-year-old Sardi, who was a successful fashion designer in New York City, added an 83 to her opening-round 84 for a 167 total. The 62-year-old Young shaved five shots off her opening-round 88 with an 83 Sunday that left her at 171.
   Martha Leach of Hebron, Ky., the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, claimed medalist honors as she added a 1-over 73 to her opening-round 70 for a 1-under 143 total.
   The 57-year-old Leach, the sister of six-time USGA champion Hollis Stacy, offset five bogeys with four birdies.
   Don’t look now, but one of the players Leach had to hold off for medalist honors was Ellen Port of St. Louis, who is on the prowl for an eighth USGA championship, which would leave her tied with a couple of people named JoAnne Carner and Jack Nicklaus on the all-time list.
   The 57-year-old Port has won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am four times and the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur three times. She added a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 71 to finish in a tie for second at 1-over 145, two shots behind Leach.
   Port was joined at 1-over 145 by 59-year-old Canadian Mary Ann Hayward, the 2005 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion. Hayward’s even-par 72 matched the low round of the day Sunday after she had opened with a 1-over 73.
   Corey Weworski of Carlsbad, Calif. was alone in fourth place at 2-over 146 after adding a 3-over 75 to her opening-round 71. The 57-year-old Weworski was the 2005 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion.
   Three former champions headed a group of five players tied for fifth at 4-over 148, including defending champion Lara Tennant of Portland, who fell back from an opening-round 70 with a 78 Sunday. Tennant defeated Australian Sue Wooster, 3 and 2, in the final a year ago at the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club in Vero Beach, Fla.
   Canada’s Judith Kyrinis, the 2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion at Waverly Country Club in Portland, matched Hayward for the low round of the day with an even-par 72 after opening with a 76.
   Three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Diane Lang of Weston, Fla. joined the group at 148 as she, like Tennant, struggled to a 78 after opening with a 2-under 70.
   Rounding out the group at 148 were Laura Webb of Ireland and Leigh Klasse of Cumberland, Wis. Webb carded a second straight 74 while Klasse mirrored the rounds of Tennant and Lang, adding a 78 to her opening-round 70 as Cedar Rapids seemed to play a little tougher in Sunday’s second round.
   Webb will take on Bethlehem’s Mohler in an opening-round match Monday.






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