Frazier makes a statement with run to U.S. Senior Amateur semifinals at Kittansett

    I’ve looped for the central Pennsylvania pair of Jeff Frazier and Brent Will in Stonewall’s Fall Scramble three times in the last six years. They both can really play and I love the way they compete.

   Last week, Frazier, a 57-year-old from Mechanicsburg and Carlisle Country Club, put that competitiveness on display in the U.S. Senior Amateur at The Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass. Along the way, Frazier proved something I had long suspected: That he is one of the best senior amateur players in the country.

   Playing in his first U.S. Senior Amateur, Frazier made a run to Wednesday afternoon’s semifinals, where he was finally knocked out in a hard-fought 1-up loss to 2013 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga.

   Frazier admitted to me during last year’s Fall Scramble that he still really gets a kick out of beating the young kids he faces, whether it’s in the club championship at Carlisle or in his seven trips to the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.

   Playing against guys how own age, Frazier proved to be a tough customer last week at Kittansett.

   Frazier fell behind the 65-year-old Hanzel, who has spent a decade being one of America’s top senior amateur players, early in their semifinal match with Hanzel winning the second, third and sixth holes with pars to claim a 3-up advantage.

   Frazier cut into the lead by taking the ninth hole with a birdie, but Hanzel rebuilt his 3-up lead by winning the 11^th hole with a birdie.

   Frazier took the match to the 18^th hole by winning the 12^th hole with a par and taking 17 with a bogey. Hanzel finally buried a five-foot putt for birdie on the par-5 finishing hole at Kittansett to pull out a 1-up victory.

   “I’m sure I’ll feel a lot better tomorrow,” Frazier told the USGA website in the immediate aftermath of his semifinal setback Wednesday evening. “But you know (Doug Hanzel) played great. I don’t need to leave here feeling like I lost, know what I mean? For that, I’m glad.”

   No, Frazier can feel pretty good about his week on a pretty slice of land situated along Buzzards Bay in eastern Massachusetts.

   He earned himself a berth in the match-play bracket by adding a 5-over-par 76 to his opening round of 4-over 75 to get in with a 9-over 151 total. Once in match play, Frazier knew what to do.

   Frazier has proven pretty adept at match play in the last few years. He won the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Brewer Cup, a match-play event that is one of its major championships for seniors, in 2020 and 2021. He rolled to his first individual victory on the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) circuit in May when he won the Pennsylvania Men’s Senior Match Play on his home course at Carlisle.

   Frazier also claimed another of GAP’s major championships for seniors earlier this summer when he captured the title in the Frank H. Chapman Memorial Cup in a playoff at Indian Valley Country Club. He assured himself a berth in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship for an eighth time when he earned medalist honors in a GAP-administered qualifier at his home course at Carlisle last month.

   So Frazier was playing some solid golf coming into the week at Kittansett.

   Frazier opened match play Monday with a 3 and 1 victory over Louis Stephenson of Mansfield, Texas.

   Frazier then survived a marathon battle with Wayne Fredrick of Springfield, Mo. in Tuesday morning’s round of 32, outlasting Fredrick on the 22^nd hole. Frazier evened the match by taking the 15^th hole with a birdie. The pair then halved six straight holes before Frazier finally advanced by taking the 22^nd with a par.

   Frazier then came right back in the afternoon to reach the quarterfinals by rallying for a 2 and 1 victory over Canadian Pete DeTemple, who earned his spot in the field at Kittansett in a GAP-administered qualifier at Old York Road Country Club.

   Frazier found himself 2-down to DeTemple after losing the 10^th hole, but he evened the match by taking the 11^th hole with a par and the 12^th with a birdie and then pulled away by winning the 16^th with a par and the 17^th with a bogey.

   Frazier then booked his spot in the semifinals with a tense 1-up victory over Stephen Jensen of England in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals.

   Frazier took a 2-up advantage with wins at the 12^th and 15^th holes, both with birdies. Jensen cut his deficit in half with a win at the 17^th hole with a par, but Frazier earned a half at the par-5 finishing hole with a par to pull out the victory.

    Frazier’s run to the semifinals at Kittansett makes him exempt from qualifying for next year’s U.S. Senior Amateur at Martis Camp in Truckee, Calif. and the 2024 U.S. Senior Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn.

   In the meantime, Frazier will get a shot at the younger guys when the U.S. Mid-Am tees off next weekend at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis.

   DeTemple drew a tough opening-round opponent when he found himself paired with the legendary Chip Lutz, the Reading native who claimed the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2015 at Hidden Creek Country Club at the Jersey Shore.

   At 67, Lutz might not be quite as formidable as he was when he was dominating the senior amateur scene in Great Britain, Canada and the United States. But Lutz looked pretty much like his old self in qualifying, carding a 1-over 72 in the second round after matching par in the opening round with a 71, to finish in seventh place  with a 1-over 143 total.

   Lutz took a 1-up lead when he won the 15^th hole with a par, but DeTemple pulled out a 1-up victory by taking the 16^th and 18^th holes with pars.

   Another recent U.S. Senior Amateur Championship winner from Pennsylvania, 2017 champion Sean Knapp, a legendary amateur in the Pittsburgh area, had a nice run at Kittansett.

   Knapp was in hunt for medalist honors in qualifying as he matched par in the second round with a 71 after opening with a 1-under 70 for a 1-under 141 total that left him in third place.

   Knapp claimed a pair of 2 and 1 decisions in the first two rounds, getting past John Wright of Fairhope, Ala. in the opening round and Jeff Mallette of North Canton, Ohio in Tuesday morning’s second round.

   Knapp then ran into Hanzel in the round of 16 in a battle of former champions Tuesday afternoon and Hanzel pulled out a hard-fought 1-up victory.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre salvaged what was, by his standards, a disappointing 2022 season when he captured medalist honors in the qualifier at Old York Road.

   The year got better when the 62-year-old Mestre, the current GAP president, carded a pair of 5-over 76s at Kittansett and earned himself a spot in the U.S. Senior Amateur match-play bracket.

   Things looked promising for Mestre in the opening round of match play when he won the 15^th and 17^th holes with pars to take a 1-up lead over Jon Brown of Adel, Iowa to the 18^th tee. Brown, however, sent the match to extra holes by winning the 18^th hole with a birdie and then took the 19^th hole to halt Mestre’s run.

   Still, a pretty nice run by Mestre in the U.S. Senior Amateur.

   LuLu Country Club’s Glenn Smeraglio, another player who advanced out of the local qualifier at Old York Road, was unable to make the match-play bracket at Kittansett as he added a 6-over 77 in the second round to his opening-round 80 for a 160 total.

   Two other local players who punched their ticket to Kittansett out of the Old York Road qualifier, Chris Storck, a clubmate of Chip Lutz at LedgeRock Golf Club, and Bob Beck of Lehigh Country Club, also failed to make it into the match-place bracket.

   Storck added an 86 in the second round to his opening-round 76 for a 162 total while Beck opened with an 83 before adding an 81 in the second round for a 164 total.

   Frazier had crashed the otherwise all-Georgia semifinals as Rusty Strawn of McDonough, Ga. rolled to a 6 and 5 decision over another past champion, 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur winner Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Ga.

   Strawn then denied Hanzel a second U.S. Senior Amateur crown by defeating him, 3 and 2, in Friday’s final.