Chris Fieger Sr., in his third appearance in the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, made it into the match-play bracket for the third time as he added a 5-over-par 77 Sunday at the Martis Camp Club in Truckee, Calif. to his opening-round 73 to finish among the group tied for 22nd place with a 6-over 150 total.
The 60-year-old Fieger, a Denver, Lancaster County resident who starred scholastically at Nether Providence back in the day, was the medalist in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier last month at Kennett Square Golf & Country Club.
He reached the second round of the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur at the Country Club of Detroit in Gross Pointe Farms, Mich., but was unable to get out of the local qualifier a year ago.
Fieger will open match play Monday at the 7,251-yard, par-72 Martis Camp layout against Jack Schlotterback of Naples, Fla.
Joining Fieger in the match-play bracket was Chip Lutz, the Reading native who plays out of LedgeRock Golf Club and has built a legendary senior amateur resume.
After knocking on the door early in the senior portion of his amateur career, the 68-year-old Lutz busted down the door to capture the U.S. Senior Amateur crown in 2015 at Hidden Creek Golf Club at the Jersey Shore. Lutz had already won The Senior Amateur Championship across the pond three times and owned two Canadian Senior Amateur crowns when he finally broke through in the U.S. Senior Am.
Lutz added a 5-over 77 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 75 to finish among the group tied for 38th place with an 8-over 152 total. Lutz will open match play Monday against Lee Porter of Pinehurst, N.C.
Lutz is one of the older senior amateur campaigners these days, but he reached the quarterfinals as recently as two years ago at the Country Club of Detroit. He remains a formidable opponent in match play.
Fieger, who is playing out of Heidelberg Country Club, put together a solid opening round Saturday, offsetting three bogeys with a pair of birdies to get it in at 1-over.
Despite perfect weather, Martis Camp proved to be a difficult challenge in Sunday’s second round. Fieger picked up birdies at the 10th and 15th holes, but his scorecard included five bogeys and a double bogey.
Lutz made back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh holes to offset five bogeys and a double bogey.
Pittsburgh’s Rick Stimmel also earned a spot in the match-play bracket as he added a 3-over 75 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 74 and was tied for 14th place in stroke play with a 5-over 149 total.
Stimmel, coming off a victory in the Pennsylvania Senior Amateur Championship earlier this month at The Club at Nevillewood, will square off against Ken Wade of Kennewick, Wash. in an opening-round match Monday.
None of the senior standouts could better par over 36 holes as medalist honors went to Todd White of Spartanburg, S.C. White matched par at Martis Camp with a 72 for the second day in a row for an even-par 144 total.
A senior “rookie” at age 55, White teamed with Pennsylvanian Nathan Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, to capture the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship in 2015 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.
A foursome of players finished in a tie for second place, a shot behind White at 1-over 145, a group that included Matt Sughure of Arlington, Va., the U.S. Senior Amateur runnerup in 2016, and Roger Newsom of Virginia Beach, Va., the U.S. Senior Am runnerup in 2019.
John Barry, a Lancaster guy who lists University Park, Fla. as home these days, was one of six players who survived a playoff Monday morning as I was wrapping up this post to earn a spot in the match-play bracket.
Barry, who emerged from the GAP-administered qualifier at Kennett Square, added an 80 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 75 to finish in a tie for 59th place with nine other players with an 11-over 155 total.
Barry made a par on the first hole of the playoff, the par-3 17th at Martis Camp, Monday morning to give him a starting time in the opening round of match play against Sughure.
It was a disappointing day for Carlisle Country Club’s Jeff Frazier as he struggled to an 82 in Sunday’s second round after opening with a solid 3-over 75 for a 13-over 157 total that left him two shots out of the playoff for the final match-play berths.
The talented left-hander had made a spectacular run to the semifinals in the U.S. Senior Amateur a year ago at The Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass.
Joining Frazier at 13-over was western Pennsylvania legend Sean Kanpp, winner of the 2017 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis. Knapp, who lost in a playoff to Stimmel in the Pennsylvania Senior Amateur at Nevillewood earlier this month, added a 79 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 78.
Reading’s Chris Storck, a clubmate of Lutz’s at LedgeRock, also landed at 13-over 157 as he added a solid 4-over 76 in Sunday’s second round after struggling a little in the opening round with an 81.
The 56-year-old Storck was the runnerup to Fieger in the GAP-administered qualifier at Kennett Square as he earned a trip to the U.S. Senior Amateur for the second year in a row.
John Winner of Churchville, Md. also punched his ticket to Martis Camp at Kennett Square, but failed to survive the cut for match play as he added an 86 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 80 for a 166 total.
Art Brunn, a Hanover Township resident who plays out of Wyoming Valley Country Club, also came out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Kennett Square, but never got it going at Martis Camp. After opening with an 89, the 56-year-old Brunn registered a 90 in Sunday’s second round for a 179 total.
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