The U.S. Senior Amateur is about to enter stroke play at The Kittansett Club. Jeff Wilson of Fairfield, Calif., and Miles McConnell of Tampa, Fla., both finished their two rounds of stroke play at 2-under 140 to earn co-medalist honors and top seeds. Sean Knapp, the 2017 champion from Oakmont, Pa., … [Read more...]
U.S. Senior Amateur: Why Steve Harwell will be a quiet contender
MARION, Mass. – As the U.S. Senior Amateur kicks off this weekend, with two rounds of stroke-play qualifying at The Kittansett Club), there’s a quiet 59-year-old lifelong amateur, from Mooresville, N.C., who is inclined to let his clubs do the talking, exactly as he has done, tournament after … [Read more...]
For late starter Tom Brandes, golf’s always been a matter of trust
The U.S. Senior Amateur unfolds at The Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass., from Saturday through Thursday, Sept. 1. The field will be composed of 156 players, all 55 years of age and up, culled from a record number of 2,865 entries. There are 36 exempt players and a remaining group of 120 qualifiers … [Read more...]
Unveiling the “new” 10 commandments for amateur golfers
Nearly 40 years ago, I distributed an 18-page golf survey via snail mail to the top 200 mid-amateur golfers in the country. The vast majority of these 200 players were strangers to me. The survey that stretched on forever needed to be filled out by hand (remember, it was 40 years ago). It covered a … [Read more...]
How John Broderick, Aidan Emmerich are extending U.S. Junior Am stays
Two stroke-play qualifying rounds of the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship were conducted on Monday and Tuesday at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore. They proved, without a doubt, that the games of the best Massachusetts junior golfers travel very well. John Broderick (Wellesley, Mass.), … [Read more...]
Aidan Emmerich, headed to U.S. Junior Amateur again, is making a mark
It was a blur of a four-day tournament golf road trip, one that junior players dream about and 96 hours that Aidan Emmerich will not soon forget. On Tuesday, June 14, Emmerich (Swampscott, Mass.) traveled to Rockaway Hunting Club on Long Island (a perennial AJGA Tournament host site) to compete in … [Read more...]
Don’t be surprised to see Christian Emmerich’s game take off this summer
The demonstrated ability of a player to go low when it counts, to keep his foot on the gas without backing off and get into the clubhouse by posting a sub-70 score, is a strong indicator of potential golfing success. A prime example of one such player – a gunslinger who actually seems to revel in … [Read more...]
For the Spitz brothers of Massachusetts, this golf season is already looking up
Nothing personifies the meritocratic nature of competitive golf more acutely than the qualifying processes for the U.S. Open and the U.S. Senior Open. For this year’s U.S. Open, for instance, local qualifying rounds have reduced 8,880 non-exempt entrants to 530 advancers. Those 1-out-of-every-17 … [Read more...]
BU women, despite loss in NCAA regionals, add ‘a big jolt of confidence’ to program
BU women's golf coach Bruce Chalas surveyed the NCAA Division 1 Regional scoreboard over the final nine holes at Vanderbilt’s Legends Club on Wednesday. No, his team, which would eventually finish 11th, would not be one of the four squads to advance to the NCAA championship. But two things jumped … [Read more...]
Preparation, then a curve ball: How the BU women have readied for NCAA Regionals
As the Sunday evening JetBlue flight to Boston lifted off from Reagan Airport on April 17, all was right with the world of BU women’s golf. That afternoon, at the US Naval Academy golf course in Annapolis, Md., Flair Kuan had calmly rolled in a 6-foot putt on the 54th hole of the Patriot League … [Read more...]
Jack O’Donnell has renewed optimism about his college career at Michigan
A college golf recruiting commitment is a complicated marriage negotiated among an academic institution, an athlete and the school’s golf program. When University of Michigan sophomore Jack O’Donnell (Cohasset, Mass.) of Boston GC (Hingham, Mass.) signed his college golf National Letter of Intent … [Read more...]
How Bruce Chalas built the BU women’s golf team into perennial contenders
A person’s legacy in the game of golf is generally clear-cut and, most of the time, one-dimensional. A teacher is remembered for golf swing theories; a course architect may be noted for railroad-ties surrounding difficult par 3s; recollections of a tournament player are usually reserved for his/her … [Read more...]
