Elliott Goes Ahead only when It Matters, Wins U.S. Senior Amateur

September 2, 2021 | 5 min.


GROSSE POINTE, Mich. -- For Gene Elliott, it was the 36th time that turned out to be the charm.

The 59-year-old CEO of Elliott Equipment Company is a former professional who never quite made it to the PGA Tour, but he won the 1985 Iowa Open and the 1988 Quebec Open, beating Dave Barr, who was a PGA Tour regular, in the process. He also won the 1986 Missouri State Open and made it through a Monday qualifier into his only PGA Tour event, the St. Jude Memphis Classic, where he played with Fuzzy Zoeller and ended up finishing sixth (worth $17,732).

Elliott regained his amateur status in 1994, and since then he's won 15 Iowa state championships, including three State Amateurs and four State Mid-Ams. He has also been the medalist at the 1999 U.S. Amateur, which was played at Pebble Beach, won two Canadian Amateur titles, and earlier this summer, he won the British Senior Amateur. But he had never won a U.S.G.A. championship in 35 tries.

Elliott was one of several elite golfers who qualified for a title that conjures up mixed emotions -- Best Player Never to Have Won a USGA Tournament. 

That changed on Thursday. when Elliott came back from 1 down with two holes remaining to defeat Jerry Gunthorpe 1 up at the Country Club of Detroit. Elliott never led until he two-putted for a par from 27 feet at the 421-yard, par-4 18th hole, and Gunthorpe missed an 8-footer for par. 

The CC of Detroit, incidentally, was the site of another breakthrough victory 67 years ago. That was when a 24-year-old Coast Guard veteran named Arnold Palmer beat Robert Sweeney in the 1954 U.S. Amateur final, a victory that convinced Palmer to turn pro and try to make a living as a tournament golfer. 

Elliott had a tough road to this year's Senior Am final. The No. 38 seed, he had to play his fellow Iowan and friend Mike McCoy in the Round of 32. (McCoy was the person who suggested to Elliott during the 1990's that he start playing in USGA events.) It took a an 18-foot putt for par on the 18th hole to get Elliott into extra holes in his match with McCoy, and he won on the 19th hole. Then he had to face 2013 Senior Am champ Doug Hanzel in the next round, and Elliott won that match 1 up. (Hanzel and Elliott are the two highest-ranked seniors in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Hanzel at 269 and Elliott at 294.)

In the semifinals, Elliott got a rematch against Craig Davis, who had edged him in a playoff for the 2017 British Senior Amateur crown. This time it wasn't all that close, Elliott winning it 5&4.

The final, on the other hand, was close all the way. Gunthorpe took an early lead by winning the 460-yard, par-4 second hole with a par. He then birdied the par-5 third (511 yards), but so did Elliott, who squared the match with a birdie at the seventh (417 yards, par 4). Gunthorpe regained the lead with a birdie at the par-5 ninth (471), but Elliott reciprocated by winning the long par-5 10th (596 yards) with a birdie of his own.

Gunthorpe, 58, won the 434-yard, par-4 12th with a par, but that lead didn't last long, either. Elliott won the 130-yard, par-3 13th with a birdie. 

The longest par 3 at the CC of Detroit is the 16th hole, at 201 yards. Gunthorpe won it to go 1 up. Until then, he hadn't made a bogey all day, but he three-putted the par-5 17th from 40 feet, missing a 5 footer for his par. At the 18th, Gunthorpe hit his tee shot into the trees right of the fairway for the second hole in a row. He hit an impressive second shot from an unfavorable position, but he couldn't prevent the ball from running over the green, and he couldn't save his par from there.

Elliott hit his approach into the middle of the green, and his birdie putt came to rest within a foot of the cup.

"That match was so tough that I'm not sure -- did I win?" Elliott joked afterward. "I guess it just hasn't sunk in yet. So much goes with a USGA title that maybe that's why I hadn't won one in the past. It's just so important and so meaningful to win a USGA championship.   

 
U.S. Senior Amateur

At the Country Club of Detroit
       
Par 72

Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. 

Stroke play (the top 64 players advance to match play)


1. Tim Hogarth, Northridge, Calif.            69-65--134

2. Chip Lutz, Redding, Pa.                       68-70--138

T3. Sherrill Britt, West End, N.C.             71-68--139

T3. Sean Knapp, Oakmont, Pa.              73-66--139

5. Roger Newsom, Virginia Beach, Va.   69-71--140

T6. Scott Almquist, Wallace, Idaho          68-73--141

T6. Jeff Knox, Augusta, Ga.                     68-73--141

T6. Doug Hanzel, Savannah, Ga.           71-70--141

T6. Michael McCoy, Des Moines, Iowa   69-72--141

T6. Jerry Gunthorpe, Ovid, Mich.            71-70--141

T6. Chris Fieger, Dnver, Pa.                    69-72--141

T28. Tim Peterson, Forest Lake            74-71--145

T48. Jim Lehman, Minnetonia               74-73--147


Missed cut  --  148

Bob Ralston, Hopkins                            78-74--152/Rou

Lee Kolquist, Geneva, Ill.                       81-80--161



Match play

Round of 64


Lehman (48) def. Pat Thompson (17) 1 up

Peterson (37) def. Tim Jackson (28) 21 holes 


Round of 32

Lehman def. Steve Harwell (16) 1 up

Peterson def. Roger Newsom (5) 20 holes


Round of 16

Rusty Strawn (33) def. Lehman 21 holes

Jerry Gunthorpe (9) def. Jim Scorse (25) 4&3 

Dave Bunker (20) def. Daniel Russo (29) 5&3

Billy Mitchell (44) def. Peterson 4&3

Chip Lutz (2) def. Eddie Hargett (50) 3&2

Craig Davis (58) def. Lewis Stephenson 3&2

Tom Gieselman (46) def. Joe Jaspers (30) 1 up

Gene Elliott (38) def. Doug Hanzel (11) 1 up


Quarterfinals 

Gunthorpe def. Strawn 2&1

Bunker def. Mitchell 1 up

Davis def. Lutz 3&2

Elliott def. Gieselman 2&1


Semifinals 

Gunthorpe def. Bunker 3&1

Elliott def. Davis 5&4


Final 

Elliott def. Gunthorpe 1 up

 

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