Annbriar #11 Vol. 3 No. 5 TheMetropolitan MAGA Open UPCOMING EVENTS Page 4-5 2016 USGA EVENTS Conversation with Jeff Whitfield WOLTMAN CRUISES TO US MID-AMATEUR Page 6 MAGA OPEN TITLE QUALIFYING AUGUST 8, 2016 St. Louis Golf History LOW SCORES FEATURED AT SPENCER T. OLIN CGC 2001 US Women’s Mid-Am MAGA JUNIOR Page 10 US WOMEN’S MID- JAKE MARRIOTT OF AMATEUR QUALIFYING MAGA JUNIOR PAGE 14 AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY AUGUST 8, 2016 CLAIMS MEDAL IN SPENCER T. OLIN CGC SEASON POINT TOTALS US AMATEUR QUALIFYING PAGE 19 US SENIOR WOMEN’S Dan Woltman earned the $25,000 QUALIFYING US AMATEUR QUALIFYING first prize at the MAGA Open at St. AUGUST 24, 2016 PAGE 20 Albans after posting rounds of 63 GLEN ECHO CC and 67, then cruising to a respectable 74, winning by a stroke. FACT OR FICTION? US SENIOR AMATEUR PAGE 22 Franklin County Country Club QUALIFYING saw two local players - one only 12 - post a round of 70 to win their AUGUST 29, 2016 CC OF ST. ALBANS (TC) MAGA EVENTS respective divisions. Qualifying for the US Amateur US AMATEUR 4-BALL Amateur Championship saw Jake Marriott take the top spot, QUALIFYING (M&W) August 4-6, 2016 with a three-way tie for the lone second position. It would be eight SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 LAKE FOREST CC Senior Championship holes into sudden death before the August 15-16, 2016 second and final qualifying spot was decided. 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 July 2016 STAFF Executive Director URT S OMMENTS Curt Rohe - [email protected] C ’ C Greetings to our members and P.J. Boatwright Interns - 2016 welcome to August! Did I just say Schaeffer Bell & Jameson Howard August? We had a tremendous [email protected] stretch of things taking place in METROPOLITAN CHAMPIONSHIPS July at the MAGA...Open, Junior Amateur Championship Championships, US Amateur Match Play Championship Qualifying. Open Championship Curt Rohe Women’s Amateur Championship The Open, not the one on the other Executive Director Junior Amateur Championship Senior Amateur Championship side of the pond, OUR Open was Metropolitan Cup Matches fabulous! Dan Woltman, a professional from Wisconsin Four-Ball Championship capture the 11th Open and $25,000 first prize. I want to Mid-America Junior Cup concentrate on St. Albans here for a minute, the club was USGA QUALIFYING ROUNDS remarkable and the players recognized that. The golf US Open Qualifying (Local and Sectional) course was unbelievable, the hospitality shown by CCSA US Senior Open Qualifying was first rate and the championship is going to continue US Amateur Qualifying to elevate itself as the best State and Regional Open in the US Mid-Amateur Qualifying US Women’s Mid-Amateur country! US Junior Amateur Qualifying US Amateur Public Links Qualifying We look ahead this week to our 2nd “major” the 26th US Senior Amateur Qualifying Amateur Championship at Glen Echo CC. The Amateur US Women’s Open Qualifying was last played there in 2004 when John Kelly captured US Amateur Four-Ball US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball the title. Should be a great week again on one of St. Louis’ classic golf courses. Jimmy Siegfried is the defending EXECUTIVE BOARD champion and is in the field. Who will hoist the Jim Tom Stanford S. Grossman – President Emeritus Blair trophy next Saturday? Thomas J. O’Toole Jr. – Vice-President Thomas O. Sobbe Jr. – Vice-President M. Ray McCraine – Secretary The Amateur represents the pinnacle of our tournament G. Scott Engelbrecht – Treasurer season, but certainly not the end. Looking forward, we have G.F. (Rick) Meyer Jr. – At-Large Member the MAGA Senior at WingHaven, the 2016 US Senior H. Mick Wellington – At-Large Member Amateur Championship qualifying in September and the ADVISORY COMMITTEE Mid-America Junior Cup at St. Louis CC in October. Scott Thomas, Chairman Dustin Ashby Thank you, as always, for reading The Metropolitan! Enjoy Tom Barry and if you have any questions or comments please feel free Skip Berkmeyer Jim Dunn to email me at [email protected]. David Rhoads Curt Rohe Metropolitan Editor Jim Healey 2 The Metropolitan July 2016 The competitor faced a difficult shot, playing from a tough lie, over a stream, under trees, with a bunker between his ball and the putting surface. The official RULES OF GOLF CORNER cautioned the player about Rule 13-4 prohibitions, not to ground his club, test the condition of the hazard, or PLAY IT AS IT LIES VS. TAKING RELIEF move any loose impediments, including the leaf that was replaced over his ball when he recreated his lie. At the 11th Metropolitan Open played at the The player made a stroke (his third), but only advanced Country Club of St. Alban’s Lewis and Clark course, the ball 10 -12 feet, short of the stream and still in the a competitor faced a difficult situation as he was hazard. It took a few minutes to find the ball, during finishing his round on the par 4 9th hole (he had which time the official cautioned the player and his started on hole #10). In making his 125- yard approach caddie to be careful not to accidentally step on or move shot from the fairway, the player hit the ball into a the ball (Rule 18-2). After finding the ball, the player lateral water hazard right of the putting surface. The had to re -evaluate his situation. All of his previous ball flew through trees, over a stream, and into an area options were still available (Rule 26- 2a), plus he could of short undergrowth, sticks and leaves. An nearby have re-dropped under stroke and distance from where official, who witnessed the shot, quickly went into the he had just played in the hazard (Rule 27-1a). Once area and found the ball. again, he decided to play his ball as it lay. His next shot When the competitor arrived, he found a ball in (his fourth) made it over the stream but came to rest on a playable position but covered with a large leaf, the muddy bank above the stream. The resulting lie was hampering identification. The official advised the much better, while all of his previous Rule 26-1 relief competitor that in order to identify the ball, he must options were still available. Before playing from the mark the position of the ball and that he could remove bank, the player asked if he could get line-of -play relief the large leaf before lifting the ball. Further, he from an irrigation box outside the hazard. The official cautioned that the ball may not be cleaned and that, replied that Rule 24-2a does not grant relief from after identifying the ball, the ball must be replaced line -of -play interference with an immovable obstruction, under the leaf to recreate the lie. (Rule 12-2 and just interference with a lie and areas of intended stance Decision 23- 1/7) and swing. With that, the player finally extricated his This is where things got interesting. The official and ball from the hazard, ending short of the bunker, from player discussed the player’s options. He could play which spot he chipped onto the green and two-putted the ball as it lies without penalty (Rule 13-1). Also, for a quadruple- bogey eight. with a one- stroke penalty, under Rule 26 -1, he could Both players and officials can learn from this incident. (1) play the ball from where the last stroke was made As part of their decision making process, when presented in the fairway or (2) drop a ball within two club lengths with a difficult situation, players are well advised to no closer to the hole where his ball last crossed the check with an official, if available, as to their range of margin of the lateral hazard. His other options under options and consider potential complications. Officials Rule 26- 1 (dropping on the flagline behind where his should anticipate the player asking for help, and be ball entered the hazard, and dropping within two club prepared to cover available options and offer cautions lengths on the opposite side of the hazard equidistant to protect the player from possible Rules infractions. to the hole) were impractical under the circumstances. After pondering the choices with his caddie, the Woody Johnson competitor opted to play the ball where it lay. MAGA Rules Committee 3 Metropolitan Open DAN WOLTMAN ENTERED THE METROPOLITAN OPEN ON HIS WAY TO A WEB.COM QUALI- FIER AND WALKED AWAY WITH THE TOP PRIZE AND A TON OF RESPECT FOR ST. ALBANS. This past year has been difficult for the Woltman’s. The 29-year-old former Wisconsin Badger, spent the past year playing the European Tour. Except that the European Tour includes events in Australia, China, Russia, India, as well as Europe. However, it did toughen his resolve and improve his game as he entered the 2016 season. Despite not having status on a tour, Dan and his wife Merissa, now his full-time caddie after she left her job, are getting closer to their goal of joining the Web.com tour, and hopefully, leading soon to the PGA Tour. With a friend telling him to enter the Metropolitan Open, he fit the event into his schedule on his way to a qualifier in Springfield, IL. He was certainly glad he took the advice. An opening round of 66, followed by a brilliant 64, enabled him to put his game on cruise control - hitting Dan and Merissa Woltman with the fairways with ease and shooting for the middle of the greens, as he James Manion Trophy posted a good-enough round of 74 to take the title by a single shot over three players tied for second place.