Warian Is Medalist & Gophers Are Team Champs at Highland Meadows
April 16, 2024
By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
MINNEAPOLIS – Top-seeded David Brown came from behind to win his first match Monday, while defending champion Dave Ryan clinched his match on the final hole as four of the top-5 seeds advanced during the Round of 64 at the 63rd U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at The Minikahda Club.
After tallying 11 birdies during the first two rounds of stroke play, Brown failed to convert a birdie during Monday’s opening round, but managed a 3 and 2 victory over Texas Scott Smith. Down two at the turn, Brown found his footing and won five of seven holes on the back nine to clinch the match at the 16th with a par.
“I would’ve loved to have made five or six birdies today—it’s a little different. You have a different feeling in your body and you’re a little nervous,” Brown said of his opening match Monday. “[Smith] made a few great putts and I made a couple mistakes.
“At the ninth I thought I was going to win the hole and he made a bomb from the back of the green to win. The back nine was more in my favor. I played a little bit better and he made a few mistakes.”
Brown, winner of the 2017 Pennsylvania Golf Association Senior Amateur Match Play Championship, has competed in 10 previous USGA events with his last appearance coming at the 2012 U.S. Senior Open.
He said the biggest hurdle playing deeper into the tournament will be finding and maintaining the relaxed and calm manner in which he played during the first two rounds of stroke play, shooting 6-under par 138.
“It does matter how much you practice or how much you plan, you just have to try to figure out how to get comfortable. That’s all I care about because if I can get comfortable, I can play good golf.”
Ryan, of Taylorville, Ill., defeated Matthew Sughrue, 3 and 2, at last year’s national championship at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis. Seeded No. 5 after finishing the first two rounds of stroke play at 2-under par 142, Ryan trailed Michael Rowley by one after nine holes.
After Ryan won back-to-back holes at the 10th and 11th holes, the two would trade punches from the 13th hole through the 16th as Ryan maintained a 1-up advantage. The two halved the 17th with pars before Rowley was unable to sink his downhill birdie putt from 10 feet to even the match.
“You talk about stress—that was enough to give me a heart attack,” Ryan joked Monday. “[Rowley] was a tough opponent today and it could’ve gone either way. I was fortunate to beat him. I’m very relieved.”
John McClure was one of the first to advance to the Round of 32 Tuesday after downing Robert Polk, 4 and 3. Carding just one birdie through two rounds of qualifying, McClure rolled in birdies on his first two holes Monday to take an early lead.
Polk bounced back by winning the third and fourth holes, but McClure found a steady stride to win the sixth and eighth holes with par and got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to save par to maintain a 2-up lead.
McClure took command by winning three straight holes starting at the 11th to take 5-up lead after 13 holes. Polk cut into McClure’s lead with a par to win the 14th, but McClure would clinch the match at the 15th with a par to advance.
“I jumped out and made two birdies and got ahead and hung on from there,” McClure said after his match Monday. “I played solid golf and made a few bogeys along the way, but hit a lot of fairways and greens and made some up-and-downs at key times."
McClure advanced to the quarterfinals a year ago in St. Louis, dropping his match to Tim Jackson in extra holes. McClure played in the 1981 Trans-Miss Championship at Minikahda while in college.
“When you do it once you want to get back there again,” McClure said of his run at last year’s championship. “It’s been motivation all year to play well in this tournament and keep your game in shape and see if you can go further.”
He will face top-seeded Brown during the first match of the Round of 32 Tuesday at 7 a.m.
Scott Thomas carded a late birdie Monday to earn a 1-up victory over Buzz Fly to advance to the Round of 32 for the first time in his 11th appearance at a USGA national championship.
“It wasn’t the most stellar golf,” Thomas said Monday. “[Buzz Fly] got a couple up and he helped me out with a couple of shots and it went back and forth. I’m using a putter that’s really working for me and made a couple good putts coming down the stretch and that’s probably the key—short game and putting.”
Asked what will be the key to playing deep into the tournament this week, Thomas said, “Like a lot of places, keeping it in play. You can’t stray off the fairway far at all or you’re often blocked out by the tall trees. Just hitting greens—middle of the greens is fine. With the weather they’re talking about, the greens will probably firm up and get a little faster. That will be another key is how you manage your long lag putts."
Thomas, who now lives in Chesterfield, Mo., was born in Hopkins, Minn., and played his collegiate golf at St. Cloud State University. The last time he was at Minikahda was when he played in the Trans-Miss Tournament in 1981.
“I grew up here and several years after graduation moved down to St. Louis for a job I accepted in 1986 and I’ve been down there ever since,” he said. “It’s been fun to come back for this event. I came back for a Mid-Amateur at Hazeltine and a U.S. Public Links at Edinburgh USA.”
Thomas won the 1992 Missouri Amateur Championship and the Missouri Mid-Amateur in 1995. In 2008 he won the Missouri Senior Amateur Championship and named the 2008 Metropolitan Senior Amateur Golf Association Player of the Year.
Aside from qualifying for 10 USGA events, Thomas has competed in six British Amateur Championships. He is the current assistant men’s and women’s golf coach at Maryville University in St. Louis.
Doug Hanzel, of Savannah, Ga., advanced after defeating Michael Dunsmore, 5 and 3, Monday, rolling in six birdies in 15 holes to earn the victory.
Falling behind after a birdie by Dunsmore on the opening hole, Hanzel rolled in a pair of birdies at the second and third before Dunsmore drew even with a birdie at the fourth. A birdie at the par-5 ninth would put Hanzel in the lead for good, winning four consecutive holes starting at the 12th to clinch a 5 and 3 victory at the 15th.
Hanzel, 60, won the 2013 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Wade Hampton Golf Club in Cashiers, N.C. He’s qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship in five different decades from 1978 to 2015.
Hanzel will face Ned Zachar, of Bedford, N.Y., when the Round of 32 gets underway Tuesday.
The 63rd U.S. Senior Amateur Championship continues with the Round of 32 scheduled to start at 7 a.m. Tuesday followed by the Round 16 Tuesday afternoon at The Minikahda Club.
For complete tournament results go to: www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/2017/u-s--senior-amateur-/scoring.html
April 9, 2024
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