Tuesday, September 15 at 1:00 p.m.
It's quite a sight out here at Beverly as the field of 32 gets pared down to 16. The old guys are more than happy to celebrate Sweet Sixteen in their fifties and sixties. As we have seen all week, these old guys give Senior Golf a good name.
Let's start with the presumptive favorite (always a stretch in match play), Paul Simson, who was Co-Medalist in Stroke Play at Beverly. He shot 65 today. So he's in, easily, right? Well, not exactly. Simson won, 1 up, on the 18th green. Andy Nichols (looking like Nicklaus in '67 at the Bev) shot 66 and couldn't get the job done. Looks like he caught a tough draw in the round of 32.
The former U.S. Amateur champ Vinny Giles, at a young 68, bested local favorite Tom Studer of Joliet, even though Studer led much of the match. Giles knows how to get the job done at the right time, like yesterday when he eagled 18 to send his match into extra holes.
Pat O'Donnell, a youthful looking (you gotta remember, I'm 55, too) Senior from Portland, Oregon, won 2 up over Marty West. On the lopsided side of life, past champ Stan Lee had a surprisingly easy time beating the very capable Buddy Alexander, winning 5&4. Likewise, Jeff Burda, who was very strong in stroke play, won 6&5 over the very tall Allan Small.
The play has been nothing short of spectacular. The Sweet 16 tee off around 1:45 p.m.
Terry Lavin
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
MATCH PLAY SPEEDS ALONG
Monday, September 14 at 4:15
After two relatively grueling days of stroke play with a full field of 156, the match play rounds today are speeding along. The difference between three players in a group and a single match makes the golf quicker and very few of the matches make it to the 17th hole. Despite having said that, we had one match go 20 holes today. Vinny Giles, of Kinloch Club in Virginia, was one down on the 18th tee after his opponent birdied #17. Undeterred, the 68 year-0ld Giles hit the 566 yard 18th hole in two and made the eagle putt to put the match into extra holes. After that spectacular play on the final two holes, the match ended on a somewhat ugly note, with both players chopping their way to the second green where it appeared to one observer that Giles' opponent conceded with Giles ready to put for a seven!
Bill Ploeger, a 69 year-0ld from Columbus, Ohio made it into the next round of match play with a victory today. My dark horse pick, Pat O'Donnell from Happy Valley Oregon, won 4&2 to advance to the round of 32, as did Paul Simson, George Zahringer and Bill Doughtie.
The golf course is getting more difficult as it firms up. The fairways are now very hard underfoot and the greens are starting to get that shiny look from all of the direct sunshine of the past week. Luckily enough, the forecast calls for warm temperatures, blue skies and clouds for decoration.
I worked as a forecaddie on the 9th hole today and had the chance to speak to a couple dozen players and USGA Rules Officials. The praise was uniform. The feelings were genuine.
We should all be proud to be a member of Beverly because our club is really at its zenith this week. It's not often that the committee members from golf's governing body consistently say that a club and its golf course are perfect sites for their championship. But that's what we're hearing this week.
Terry Lavin
After two relatively grueling days of stroke play with a full field of 156, the match play rounds today are speeding along. The difference between three players in a group and a single match makes the golf quicker and very few of the matches make it to the 17th hole. Despite having said that, we had one match go 20 holes today. Vinny Giles, of Kinloch Club in Virginia, was one down on the 18th tee after his opponent birdied #17. Undeterred, the 68 year-0ld Giles hit the 566 yard 18th hole in two and made the eagle putt to put the match into extra holes. After that spectacular play on the final two holes, the match ended on a somewhat ugly note, with both players chopping their way to the second green where it appeared to one observer that Giles' opponent conceded with Giles ready to put for a seven!
Bill Ploeger, a 69 year-0ld from Columbus, Ohio made it into the next round of match play with a victory today. My dark horse pick, Pat O'Donnell from Happy Valley Oregon, won 4&2 to advance to the round of 32, as did Paul Simson, George Zahringer and Bill Doughtie.
The golf course is getting more difficult as it firms up. The fairways are now very hard underfoot and the greens are starting to get that shiny look from all of the direct sunshine of the past week. Luckily enough, the forecast calls for warm temperatures, blue skies and clouds for decoration.
I worked as a forecaddie on the 9th hole today and had the chance to speak to a couple dozen players and USGA Rules Officials. The praise was uniform. The feelings were genuine.
We should all be proud to be a member of Beverly because our club is really at its zenith this week. It's not often that the committee members from golf's governing body consistently say that a club and its golf course are perfect sites for their championship. But that's what we're hearing this week.
Terry Lavin
BEVERLY CADDYSHACK GOES NATIONAL
Monday, September 14 at 10:20 a.m.
The Beverly caddie corps is well represented in this year's Senior Amateur Championship. Approximately twelve caddies got loops in the Championship, with a handful carrying bags that made it into match play.
Chris Shallow, an Evans Scholar out of Northwestern, is caddying for Steve Whitaker, who is from Minnesota. Chris doesn't play golf, so he is feeling a bit of pressure since his player is always asking him to read putts and is also looking for advice on "where to miss". Chris is a jovial, but soft spoken, young man and he looks like he's just waiting for the pressure to end. Whitaker, I'm sure, is thinking the same thing with the possible exception that he'd be happy for it to end on Thursday afternoon!
Jason Moss is quite possibly Beverly's most talented caddie. He is bright, intuitive and very motivated. He also plays the game and has a handicap of less than ten. His player, K. Simon, had to win in a playoff this morning in order to advance to match play, so Jason lives to loop another day! He and one other player won and eight or so were eliminated. Jason is ecstatic about this experience, saying, "[t]his thing is so cool."
David Healy, the diminutive, perpetually smiling #1 ranked caddie at Beverly, drew a dream bag for the Championship when he was assigned the job of looping for Mike Bell, a past champion from Indianapolis. Bell is an easy-going fellow who told me that he just loves the fact that David always has a smile on his face. "If he's walking, he's smiling. If he's running, he's smiling. And if he has the bag on his shoulder, he's smiling too," Bell said. David, unfortunately, had to go to school today, so Todd Enderle now takes Bell's bag. Lucky guy, he might have the bag of the winner.
Dan Prendergast, who just got back from a 21st birthday in Las Vegas with his dad and brother is caddying for Doug Poole, who just made it into match play. Poole is from (where else?) Las Vegas.
Zach Jennings, an ever-alert caddie at the Bev is working with Robert Linn, a happy-go-lucky guy from Connecticut with a gray ponytail. Linn is having the "greatest week of my golfing life" and says that he thinks Beverly is "just terrific. I'm going to try to get my club to start a tree removal program so it can look as good as this golf course," he said.
Last but not least, Paul Richards is still on the bag for George Zahringer, who made it into the final match last year. Richards has had some observed difficulties with interpreting distances on the "pin sheet", but otherwise is really enjoying his week. He is blogging about the experience on golfweek.com
MATCH PLAY BEGINS IN JUST A FEW MINUTES.
GET UP TO THE CLUB AND TAKE IN THE SIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Terry Lavin
The Beverly caddie corps is well represented in this year's Senior Amateur Championship. Approximately twelve caddies got loops in the Championship, with a handful carrying bags that made it into match play.
Chris Shallow, an Evans Scholar out of Northwestern, is caddying for Steve Whitaker, who is from Minnesota. Chris doesn't play golf, so he is feeling a bit of pressure since his player is always asking him to read putts and is also looking for advice on "where to miss". Chris is a jovial, but soft spoken, young man and he looks like he's just waiting for the pressure to end. Whitaker, I'm sure, is thinking the same thing with the possible exception that he'd be happy for it to end on Thursday afternoon!
Jason Moss is quite possibly Beverly's most talented caddie. He is bright, intuitive and very motivated. He also plays the game and has a handicap of less than ten. His player, K. Simon, had to win in a playoff this morning in order to advance to match play, so Jason lives to loop another day! He and one other player won and eight or so were eliminated. Jason is ecstatic about this experience, saying, "[t]his thing is so cool."
David Healy, the diminutive, perpetually smiling #1 ranked caddie at Beverly, drew a dream bag for the Championship when he was assigned the job of looping for Mike Bell, a past champion from Indianapolis. Bell is an easy-going fellow who told me that he just loves the fact that David always has a smile on his face. "If he's walking, he's smiling. If he's running, he's smiling. And if he has the bag on his shoulder, he's smiling too," Bell said. David, unfortunately, had to go to school today, so Todd Enderle now takes Bell's bag. Lucky guy, he might have the bag of the winner.
Dan Prendergast, who just got back from a 21st birthday in Las Vegas with his dad and brother is caddying for Doug Poole, who just made it into match play. Poole is from (where else?) Las Vegas.
Zach Jennings, an ever-alert caddie at the Bev is working with Robert Linn, a happy-go-lucky guy from Connecticut with a gray ponytail. Linn is having the "greatest week of my golfing life" and says that he thinks Beverly is "just terrific. I'm going to try to get my club to start a tree removal program so it can look as good as this golf course," he said.
Last but not least, Paul Richards is still on the bag for George Zahringer, who made it into the final match last year. Richards has had some observed difficulties with interpreting distances on the "pin sheet", but otherwise is really enjoying his week. He is blogging about the experience on golfweek.com
MATCH PLAY BEGINS IN JUST A FEW MINUTES.
GET UP TO THE CLUB AND TAKE IN THE SIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Terry Lavin
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Let the Playoff Begin
As previously thought the cut has been made at 151 and 11 players will be contending for 8 spots in the Match Play round.
The excitement will begin Monday morning at 8:30AM with the rest of the field teeing off at 9:30AM.
We should know within a couple of holes who will have these 8 spots, but as we know Beverly makes quick victories very challenging. (We saw players struggle immensely with the pin placement on 18 today, a lot of 3 putts...)
Another day in the books and another exciting one ahead. Please come join us in the morning to see the playoff... it should be interesting.
Ashley Whitten
The excitement will begin Monday morning at 8:30AM with the rest of the field teeing off at 9:30AM.
We should know within a couple of holes who will have these 8 spots, but as we know Beverly makes quick victories very challenging. (We saw players struggle immensely with the pin placement on 18 today, a lot of 3 putts...)
Another day in the books and another exciting one ahead. Please come join us in the morning to see the playoff... it should be interesting.
Ashley Whitten
Sunday Play Grinds On
Sunday, 6:00 p.m.
It's looking like the cut line will be right around 151.
Some interesting sidebar stories have emerged today:
Bill Ploeger, a 69 year-young player from Columbus Ohio will surely make the cut! Now that's some impressive super senior play.
Local favorite Tom Studer from Joliet has made the cut.
George Zahringer, with an assist on the bag from Beverly member Paul Richards (himself a former Bev caddie) shot 69 today and is well under the cut line at 142.
Former US Amateur champ Vinnie Giles is at 145 and will be in the match play round tomorrow.
Buddy Alexander, former US Amateur champ and the coach of the Florida Gator Men's Golf Team (which arrives this week to play in the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields) is also at 145. Spectacular short game out of the Gator coach.
Paul Simson, Rick Ten Broeck's Pick to Click, shot 67 today, the low round in stroke play thus far and is tied for the lead at this point. He is a two-time winner of the British Senior Amateur and a winner of the Canadian Senior Amateur. He would be a great guy to follow in tomorrow's match play.
Gary Daniels carded a 9 on the 13th hole (I'm sure there are painful details, but I haven't heard any!) but still shot 39 on the back nine. Talk about hanging in there!
Finally, first round leader Jeff Burda has made the cut and sits at 142.
We're off to watch the Bears annihilate the Packers but hope to see some of you tomorrow!
Terry Lavin
It's looking like the cut line will be right around 151.
Some interesting sidebar stories have emerged today:
Bill Ploeger, a 69 year-young player from Columbus Ohio will surely make the cut! Now that's some impressive super senior play.
Local favorite Tom Studer from Joliet has made the cut.
George Zahringer, with an assist on the bag from Beverly member Paul Richards (himself a former Bev caddie) shot 69 today and is well under the cut line at 142.
Former US Amateur champ Vinnie Giles is at 145 and will be in the match play round tomorrow.
Buddy Alexander, former US Amateur champ and the coach of the Florida Gator Men's Golf Team (which arrives this week to play in the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields) is also at 145. Spectacular short game out of the Gator coach.
Paul Simson, Rick Ten Broeck's Pick to Click, shot 67 today, the low round in stroke play thus far and is tied for the lead at this point. He is a two-time winner of the British Senior Amateur and a winner of the Canadian Senior Amateur. He would be a great guy to follow in tomorrow's match play.
Gary Daniels carded a 9 on the 13th hole (I'm sure there are painful details, but I haven't heard any!) but still shot 39 on the back nine. Talk about hanging in there!
Finally, first round leader Jeff Burda has made the cut and sits at 142.
We're off to watch the Bears annihilate the Packers but hope to see some of you tomorrow!
Terry Lavin
NEW LEADER IN THE CLUBHOUSE
Sunday, September 13 at 1:40 p.m.
I talked with Rick Ten Broeck before the championship began and asked him who he thought the favorites would be. He mentioned past champion Mike Bell (from the Country Club of Indianapolis) and a couple other prominent names, like George Zahringer, but when pressed, he thought Paul Simson of Raleigh, North Carolina had the best chance.
Turns out he has pretty good radar. Paul Simson is currently the leader in the clubhouse at two under par. Mike Bell is done for the day just one shot behind.
It looks like the cut line will be somewhere around 152. No matter what the number is, the inevitable playoff will commence Monday morning, because there simply isn't enough daylight to get it done tonight.
Terry Lavin
Co-Chair
USGA Senior Amateur Committee
I talked with Rick Ten Broeck before the championship began and asked him who he thought the favorites would be. He mentioned past champion Mike Bell (from the Country Club of Indianapolis) and a couple other prominent names, like George Zahringer, but when pressed, he thought Paul Simson of Raleigh, North Carolina had the best chance.
Turns out he has pretty good radar. Paul Simson is currently the leader in the clubhouse at two under par. Mike Bell is done for the day just one shot behind.
It looks like the cut line will be somewhere around 152. No matter what the number is, the inevitable playoff will commence Monday morning, because there simply isn't enough daylight to get it done tonight.
Terry Lavin
Co-Chair
USGA Senior Amateur Committee
Another Day in Paradise
Sunday, Sept. 13 at 1:20 p.m.
Well, it's another Chamber of Commerce weather day here at the USGA Senior Amateur at Beverly. The golf course is firming up and the players are having a bit more difficulty, particularly on the greens. I'll go into the scoring in a later post, but the purpose of this missive is to let the Beverly members know what the players, the USGA officials and the spectators are saying. In a word, "perfect". It surely doesn't help that the weather is spectacular, but it would be an insult if one didn't take time to take note of the perfection that has been achieved by our grounds crew.
Yesterday, Steve Coates was talking to a USGA official and the man was absolutely glowing about the agronomic condition of the golf course. "There's no ground under repair on the entire golf course," he said. "Not one bit of white paint. I've been working at USGA events for twenty years and I've never seen that, never." If that isn't enough, every single player that I've talked to for the past three days is positively raving about the beauty, condition and playability of the golf course. Pat Kaufman, the chair of the USGA Senior Amateur committee, said that the first day of the Championship was "flawless". I have heard many officials utter the same expression over the past three days: "I would never get tired of playing this golf course." That is very reassuring to me, because that is Rick Ten Broeck's mantra about being a member at Beverly. And he's only been playing the golf course for more than 50 years.
And they aren't blowing smoke. This place looks like it could host a Senior Tour event this week. The amateurs are playing the course at around 6500 yards, which is essentially the white tees, but they aren't killing the course in any way, shape or form. The principal difficulty is with the putting surfaces. The players, to my eye, seem to be overly cautious and tend to leave their approach shots well beneath the hole locations, leading to very difficult birdie putts. The hole on 18 has been a real devil for the players today. Joe Claffy was marshaling near the 18th green for two hours today and he saw more three putts than two putts.
Last thought for this post: This Championship has been a real whirlwind for Dick Carparelli. I honored Dick with a speech at the Players Dinner on Friday night. I would venture to say that half the field has sat down with Dick for at least a few minutes to pick his golfing brain. He has been giving a few lessons, as well, but the main thing that Dick has been doing is soaking it all in. He told me that all of the members should "get out here and see this tournament; it's the best thing to happen at Beverly in thirty years."
He should know: he's been here 63 years! Get out to the club and take a look at your golf course in the best condition that I've seen in 22 years of being a member. Talk to some of the players about Beverly. You'll never be prouder to be a member.
Terry Lavin
Co-Chair USGA Senior Amateur Committee
Well, it's another Chamber of Commerce weather day here at the USGA Senior Amateur at Beverly. The golf course is firming up and the players are having a bit more difficulty, particularly on the greens. I'll go into the scoring in a later post, but the purpose of this missive is to let the Beverly members know what the players, the USGA officials and the spectators are saying. In a word, "perfect". It surely doesn't help that the weather is spectacular, but it would be an insult if one didn't take time to take note of the perfection that has been achieved by our grounds crew.
Yesterday, Steve Coates was talking to a USGA official and the man was absolutely glowing about the agronomic condition of the golf course. "There's no ground under repair on the entire golf course," he said. "Not one bit of white paint. I've been working at USGA events for twenty years and I've never seen that, never." If that isn't enough, every single player that I've talked to for the past three days is positively raving about the beauty, condition and playability of the golf course. Pat Kaufman, the chair of the USGA Senior Amateur committee, said that the first day of the Championship was "flawless". I have heard many officials utter the same expression over the past three days: "I would never get tired of playing this golf course." That is very reassuring to me, because that is Rick Ten Broeck's mantra about being a member at Beverly. And he's only been playing the golf course for more than 50 years.
And they aren't blowing smoke. This place looks like it could host a Senior Tour event this week. The amateurs are playing the course at around 6500 yards, which is essentially the white tees, but they aren't killing the course in any way, shape or form. The principal difficulty is with the putting surfaces. The players, to my eye, seem to be overly cautious and tend to leave their approach shots well beneath the hole locations, leading to very difficult birdie putts. The hole on 18 has been a real devil for the players today. Joe Claffy was marshaling near the 18th green for two hours today and he saw more three putts than two putts.
Last thought for this post: This Championship has been a real whirlwind for Dick Carparelli. I honored Dick with a speech at the Players Dinner on Friday night. I would venture to say that half the field has sat down with Dick for at least a few minutes to pick his golfing brain. He has been giving a few lessons, as well, but the main thing that Dick has been doing is soaking it all in. He told me that all of the members should "get out here and see this tournament; it's the best thing to happen at Beverly in thirty years."
He should know: he's been here 63 years! Get out to the club and take a look at your golf course in the best condition that I've seen in 22 years of being a member. Talk to some of the players about Beverly. You'll never be prouder to be a member.
Terry Lavin
Co-Chair USGA Senior Amateur Committee
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)