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Aberdeen #3 Vol. 3 No. 4 TheMetropolitan Eastside Amateur Page 4-5 UPCOMING EVENTS Conversation with 2016 USGA EVENTS Barb Berkmeyer Page 6 KOVACH TAKES EASTSIDE US AMATEUR QUALIFYING St. Louis Golf History AMATEUR IN PLAYOFF. JULY 18-19, 2016 1972 US Women’s Amateur NIEZING AND BUENTE TIE OLD HICKORY CC Page 10 FOR SECOND US MID-AMATEUR US JUNIOR AMATEUR WOMEN’S AMATEUR GOES QUALIFYING PAGE 14 TO PORT FOR HER 15TH AUGUST 8, 2016 ITLE MAGA OPEN PREVIEW MAGA T SPENCER T. OLIN CGC PAGE 18 BRIAN HENNINGER US WOMEN’S MID- SEASON POINT TOTALS CAPTURES LONE SENIOR AMATEUR QUALIFYING PAGE 19 OPEN SPOT IN PLAYOFF AUGUST 8, 2016 SPENCER T. OLIN CGC US SENIOR OPEN It was a very busy month for PAGE 20-21 the Metropolitan; several USGA US SENIOR WOMEN’S Qualifying events along with the QUALIFYING MAGA WOMEN’S AMATEUR Eastside Amateur and the Women’s AUGUST 24, 2016 PAGE 22 Amateur. In addition, we were busy coordinating the Metropolitan GLEN ECHO CC Open in early July. The field US SENIOR AMATEUR MAGA EVENTS continued to expand as more and more players begin to notice the QUALIFYING Open Championship quality of the event as well as the AUGUST 29, 2016 July 8-10, 2016 prize money. CC OF ST. ALBANS (TC) So, without further ado, let’s Junior Championship take a look back at the players and July 11-12, 2016 events that shaped June 2016 for the Metropolitan! See page 11 for full schedule Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association • 11777 Clayton Rd. • St. Louis, Missouri 63131 314.567.MAGA • Fax: 314.261.9250 • [email protected] The Metropolitan June 2016 STAFF Executive Director URT S OMMENTS Curt Rohe - [email protected] C ’ C Wait a minute...it’s the end of June P.J. Boatwright Interns - 2016 already? As a golf administrator you Schaeffer Bell & Jameson Howard anxiously await for the golf season to [email protected] begin and then BAM, just like that, we are halfway through the season! METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Amateur Championship And now, as I sit here and write this, Match Play Championship I think back and say to myself “What Open Championship happened in June?” It was a busy Curt Rohe Women’s Amateur Championship month with US Junior and US Senior Executive Director Junior Amateur Championship Open qualifiers, wrapping up the Senior Amateur Championship month with the 24th Women’s Championship. Metropolitan Cup Matches Four-Ball Championship Mid-America Junior Cup Looking ahead to an exciting July with the 11th Metropolitan Open Championship at The Country Club USGA QUALIFYING ROUNDS of St. Albans. We have a tremendous field in place with US Open Qualifying (Local and Sectional) 53 of the top amateurs from our area and Missouri along US Senior Open Qualifying with 103 professionals coming from 21 states and Australia. US Amateur Qualifying Enough cannot be said about St. Albans commitment US Mid-Amateur Qualifying to championship golf beginning with the Pro-Am on US Women’s Mid-Amateur Thursday. One of the greatest aspects of this event has US Junior Amateur Qualifying become the housing of players, 37 players are being US Amateur Public Links Qualifying provided a place to stay by CCSA members this year, truly US Senior Amateur Qualifying remarkable! US Women’s Open Qualifying US Amateur Four-Ball US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball With winners from the Web.com, former Nationwide and PGA Tour LatinoAmerica in the field it ensures an exciting EXECUTIVE BOARD 3 days of golf at St. Albans. The event is FREE to the Stanford S. Grossman – President Emeritus public and we encourage you to come out see upcoming Thomas J. O’Toole Jr. – Vice-President stars on tour. 2015 Champion Adam Schenk is having a Thomas O. Sobbe Jr. – Vice-President wonderful season on the Web.com Tour. M. Ray McCraine – Secretary G. Scott Engelbrecht – Treasurer Last month I went back to see how many of you were G.F. (Rick) Meyer Jr. – At-Large Member reading The Metropolitan and was floored by a 95% open H. Mick Wellington – At-Large Member rate from the April issue. All I can say is WOW and thank you for taking a few minutes to read our work, it is much ADVISORY COMMITTEE appreciated! Scott Thomas, Chairman Dustin Ashby Tom Barry Thanks and enjoy the June issue, we have some great pieces Skip Berkmeyer in here including a great interview by Jim Healey with Jim Dunn Barbara Berkmeyer! David Rhoads Curt Rohe Metropolitan Editor Jim Healey 2 The Metropolitan June 2016 RULES OF GOLF CORNER STROKE & DISTANCE The distance portion of a stroke-and-distance digging through the grass. For good measure, penalty for a lost ball can be significant – 100 there were several piles of putting-green grass yards, 200 yards, maybe even more than 300 clippings mixed in with the tall grass. An official yards. So, imagine the circumstances when the advised the player just to closely oversee the distance penalty was less than one yard – and the search (the player would get a one-stroke penalty shot was only 25 yards from the green. under Rule 18-2 if he moved his ball; the other searchers were outside agencies per Rule 18-4). It happened during 2015 USGA Mid-Amateur Qualifying at the Aberdeen Golf Club. A After three minutes, resigned to losing the ball, player’s second shot on the par-four eighteen the player called an end to the search (he could hole went astray right of the green into very tall have looked for a total of five minutes per Rule grass, at a spot just 2-3 feet off the first cut of 27-1c). The player said, “So, I need to go back?” rough. Fortunately, two officials standing near glancing to where he hit his approach shot from the scoring tent saw the shot and found the ball. the fairway. No, the official advised, he needed to drop under stroke and distance from where Describing the area as a hayfield is an he made his last stroke (Rule 27-1a) -- in the tall understatement. Aberdeen is a picturesque links- grass. The player dropped another ball at the style course. The tall grass bordering the holes is spot (Rule 20-5). It was playable, and this time every bit as challenging as that found on courses he managed to extricate his ball from the tall grass in Scotland. The grass ranges from knee-high with great relief. to over waist-high, and is especially thick and gnarly the first 12-18 inches above the ground. Incidentally, the distance portion of a stroke and distance penalty may be zero or even negative! The lucky player arrived at the scene and In Decision 18-2/1, a player misses his tee shot, thanked the officials. He surveyed the lie, which adjusts the tee higher or lower, and then hits was not the best but playable, selected a wedge, the ball (effectively playing under stroke and took his stance, gripped the club firmly, gathered distance). In Decision 28/8, a player’s shot hits his strength, and took a hard swing. The club a rock and bounces behind him (farther from stopped abruptly at the bottom of his stroke. hole), so he invokes stroke-and-distance option Nothing happened. The ball didn’t come out. of Unplayable Ball Rule 28 and replays from the original spot (nearer the hole). The player looked around for his ball and then peered down into the nightmarish grass. John Thorman He started searching for the ball. Two officials MAGA Rules Committee quickly came to his assistance. There was no sign of the ball. Everyone was parting and 3 East Side Amateur EVENT ENDS WITH THREE TIED AT THE TOP WITH 3-UNDER SCORES OF 141. KOVACH BIRDIES FIRST PLAYOFF HOLE TO CLAIM TITLE. NIEZING AND BUENTE TIE FOR 2ND. Blaine Buente and Chris Kovach found themselves atop of the leaderboard after the first round of the 13th East Side Amateur on Saturday, June 11 at Spencer T. Olin Golf Course in Alton, IL. They each shot 4-under 68 on the 6,941 yard Arnold Palmer-Ed Seay designed course. Chad Niezing joined them in the final group with his round of 69. A total of 11 players shot in red figures on Saturday. Chris Dale and the 2016 Normandie Amateur champion Ryan Haxel had 2-under rounds of 70. This duo was paired with defending champion Skip Berkmeyer, who shot 1-under 71, in the next to last group. Sunday’s rounds began under the hot sun, as forecasters predicted highs near 100 Chris Kovach for late in the day. Kovach, a 27-year-old CPA, showed some nervousness as he went bogey-birdie-bogey on his first three holes, before ending on a birdie on the ninth to stay at even par. A lone bogey on the back nine put him in with a 73 at 3-under par. Meanwhile, Buente, a senior-to-be at Milliken, and the first round co-leader, was also feeling the stress as he went out in 37, squeezing in two birdies against three bogeys. He came in with even par, making bogey on the seventeenth to offset a birdie at the tenth. The third member in the final group, Chad Niezing, started the day one behind, needing to make up ground. However, as the leaders came back to the field, his level par round of 72, kept him at 3-under. His round looked more promising as he was 2-under through six before making a double at the par 3 eighth.