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Dates: Saturday, September 29th through Thursday, October 4th Sites: Mountain Ridge Country Club, West Caldwell, New Jersey Course Architects: Donald Ross (1913), Ron Forse (2011) Par: 71 Yardage: 6,838
Hole-By-Hole (Conway Farms):
Hole
Par and Yards
Hole
Par and Yards
1
Par 4 407 yds
10
Par 4 415 yds
2
Par 4 438 yds
11
Par 4 435 yds
3
Par 4 359 yds
12
Par 4 375 yds
4
Par 3 208 yds
13
Par 4 436 yds
5
Par 4 416 yds
14
Par 3 182 yds
6
Par 5 507 yds
15
Par 4 401 yds
7
Par 3 165 yds
16
Par 3 154 yds
8
Par 4 479 yds
17
Par 5 547 yds
9
Par 5 502 yds
18
Par 4 412 yds
36 3,481 yds
35 3,357 yds
Annual: 58th Television: None Schedule of Play:Stroke PlaySaturday and Sunday, September 30-31, (field reduced to the lowest 64 players, who advance to match play). Match Play - Monday, October 1 - First Round, Tuesday, October 2 - Second & Third Rounds, Wednesday, October 3 - Quarters and Semis, Thursday, October 4 - Championship Match Defending Champion: Louis Lee Runner-Up: Philip Pleat Lowest Medalist Score (36 holes): 134 (Billy Clagett, 2005), 136 (John Harbottle, 1993) Lowest Medalist Score (18 holes): 65 (Bill Zylstra, 2007)
Last Year's Results
Championship
Louis Lee def. Philip Pleat, 1-up
Semifinals
Louis Lee def. William Thomas Doughtie, 5 & 4
Philip Pleat def. Chip Lutz, 1-up
Quarterfinals
Louis Lee def. Stan Lee, 1-up (19 holes)
Philip Pleat def. Paul Simson, 2-up
William Thomas Doughtie def. Ronald Kilby, 3 & 2
Chip Lutz def. Jeff Burda, 1-up
Past USGA Senior Amateur Championship Results
Year
Winner
2011
Louis Lee def. Philip Pleat, 1-up
2010
Paul Simson def. Pat Tallent, 2 & 1
2009
Marvin Giles III def. John Grace, 1-up
2008
George Marucci Jr def. George Zahringer, 2-up
2007
Stanford Lee def. Sam Farlow, 4 & 3
2006
Mike Bell def. Tom McGraw, 1-up
2005
Mark Rice def. Mark Bemowski, 1-up
2004
Mark Bemowski def. Greg Reynolds, 4 & 3
2003
Kemp Richardson def. Frank Abbott, 1-up (19 holes)
2002
Greg Reynolds def. Mark Bemowski, 4 & 3
2001
Kemp Richardson def. Bill Ploeger, 2 & 1
2000
Bill Shean Jr def. Richard Van Leuvan, 2 & 1
1999
Bill Ploeger def. Gary Menzel, 3 & 2
1998
Bll Shean Jr def. William King, 5 & 3
1997
Cliff Cunningham def. Ed Bartlett, 5 & 3
1996
O. Gordon Brewer def. Heyward Sullivan, 2-up
1995
James Stahl Jr def. Rennie Law, 2 & 1
1994
O. Gordon Brewer def. Bob Hullender, 5 & 4
1993
Joe Ungvary def. Jerry Nelson, 7 & 6
1992
Clarence Morris def. Robert Harris, 6 & 4
1991
Bill Bosshard def. Morris Beecroft, 5 & 4
1990
Jackie Cummings def. Bobby Clark, 3 & 2
1989
R.S. (Bo) Williams def.Joe Simpson, 1-up (19 holes)
1988
Clarence Moore def. Bud Stevens, 5 & 4
1987
John Richardson def. James Kite, 5 & 4
1986
R.S. (Bo) Williams def. John Harbottle, 3 & 2
1985
Lewis Oehmig def. Ed Hopkins, 1-up (20 holes)
1984
Robert Rawlins def. Richard Runkie, 1-up (19 holes)
1983
William Hyndman III def. Richard Runke, 1-up
1982
Alton Duhon def. Edgar R. Updegraff, 2-up
1981
Edgar R. Updegraff def. Dale Morey, 2 & 1
1980
William C. Campbell def. Keith K. Compton, 3 & 2
1979
William C. Campbell def. Lewis W. Oehmig, 2 & 1
1978
Keith K. Compton def. John Kline, 1-up
1977
Dale Morey def. Lewis W. Oehmig, 4 & 3
1976
Lewis H. Oehmig def. John Richardson, 4 & 3
1975
William F. Colm def. Stephen Stimac, 4 & 3
1974
Dale Morey def. Lewis W. Oehmig, 4 & 2
1973
William Hyndman III def. Harry Welch, 3 & 2
1972
Lewis W. Oehmig def. Ernest Pieper Jr, 1-up (20 holes)
1971
Tom Draper def. Ernest Pieper Jr, 3 & 1
1970
Gene Andrews def. James Ferrie, 1-up
1969
Curtis Person Sr def. David Goldman, 1-up
1968
Curtis Person Sr def. Ben Goodes, 2 & 1
1967
Ray Palmer def. Walter D. Bronson, 3 & 2
1966
Dexter H. Daniels def. George Beechler, 1-up
1965
Robert B. Kiersky def. George Beechler, 1-up (19 holes)
1964
William D. Higgins def. Edward Murphy, 2 & 1
1963
Merrill L. Carlsmith def. William D. Higgins, 3 & 2
1962
Merrill L. Carlsmith def. Willis H. Blakely, 4 & 2
1961
Dexter H. Daniels def. Col. William K. Lanman, Jr, 2 & 1
1960
Michael Cestone def. David Rose, 1-up (20 holes)
1959
J. Clark Espie def. J. Wolcott Brown, 3 & 1
1958
Thomas C. Robbins def. John W. Dawson, 2 & 1
1957
J. Clark Espie def. Frederick J. Wright, 2 & 1
1956
Frederick J. Wright def. J. Clark Espie, 4 & 3
1955
J. Wood Platt def. George Studlinger, 5 & 4
NOTES: The USGA Senior Amateur Championship is open to amateurs, age 55 and older, who have a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 7.4. The deadline for entries was Aug. 15. 2,260 entries were accepted for the 2012 championship. A record 2,498 entries were accepted for the 2005 USGA Senior Amateur Championship.
Last year, Louis Lee defeated Philip Pleat, 1-up in the championship match to become the second-youngest Senior Amateur champion with a 4-foot par putt on the 18th hole. He also joined his brother, Stan, the 2007 Senior Amateur winner, as the holder of the Frederick L. Dold Trophy. Lee never trailed in the match, as he won the fourth and fifth holes, but lost the sixth. After winning holes nine through 11, Pleat won the next three holes to narrow the match to one hole, but the duo halved the next four holes. The championship was staged at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va.
Paul Simson defeated Pat Tallent, 2 & 1 in 2010 to become the first golfer to hold the senior national amateur titles of the U.S., Great Britain and Canada in the same year.
After trading birdies on the first two holes and halving the next two, Simson took control of the match, as he birdied four of the next five holes to take a 4-up advantage with nine holes to play. Tallent, the stroke-play medalist, cut into the lead with birdies on 13 and 16, but in the end, Simson's advantage was to big to overcome.
Played in Orlando at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, the course proved to be very difficult, as only three players shot in the 60s, with the low round, a 68 by Bruce Scamehorn.
In 2009, Marvin Giles III sank a left-to-right, downhill 18-footer for birdie on the final hole to outlast John Grace, 1-up. With the victory, Giles established a record for most years between USGA championship titles, having last won the 1972 U.S. Amateur. His 37 years between championship wins eclipsed the mark held by Bruce Fleisher, who had gone 33 years between his U.S. Amateur (1968) and U.S. Senior Open (2001) victories.
Giles opened up an early 1-up lead with a birdie on the third hole, however Grace halved the match with a birdie of his own on nine and then took the lead on 14 with a par. Once a gain the duo were tied when Giles was able to par the 15th hole, setting up his dramatic victory on the last. Ironically, Giles and Grace were teammates on the 1975 USA Walker Cup team. Grace was also runner-up at the 1974 U.S. Amateur Championship.
The champion receives a gold medal and custody of the Frederick L. Dold Trophy for the ensuing year. He also receives an exemption from local qualifying at the next U.S. Open, as well as exemptions from sectional qualifying at the next two U.S. Senior Opens, the next two U.S. Amateurs, the next two U.S. Mid-Amateurs, the next two U.S. Amateur Public Links, and the next 10 USGA Senior Amateurs, if otherwise eligible.
George "Buddy" Marucci Jr defeated George Zahringer in 2008, 2-up at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Marucci never trailed in his match with Zahringer taking the lead for the first time with a birdie on number seven. Three up through 12, Zahringer cut the deficit to 1 down through 15. Marucci managed to snake in an eight-foot putt for par on No. 16 to maintain the lead and then the duo halved the 17th. Both players had birdie attempts on the final hole, however Zahringer, who putted first from 25 feet, missed and then conceded to Marucci.
In 2007, Stan Lee defeated Sam Farlow, 4 & 3, to win the USGA Senior Amateur at Flint Hills National Golf Club. The pair halved the first two holes, but Lee parred the third to win the hole. He captured four with a par and six with a birdie and found himself 3-up out of the gate. Farlow took the seventh, but Lee regrouped with a birdie to win at the eighth. At the ninth, Lee made a tricky par save, but Farlow made birdie to once again cut the margin to 2-down. Lee again made birdie after a lost hole to go 3-up through 10. Lee won the 14th with a par and closed the match with a birdie and win at 15.
Lee became the youngest USGA Senior Amateur winner in history at 55 years and five days old. The previous record was 55 years, three months and 18 days set by Bill Bosshard in 1991.
In 2006, Mike Bell sank an eight-foot par putt on the final hole at Victoria National Golf Club in Indiana to defeat Tom McGraw, 1-up. Bell, the winner of the 2006 Indiana State Senior Amateur and the Senior Porter Cup, received his place in the field when Jerry Jackson of Kokomo, Indiana, withdrew. Bell duplicated the feat of 2002 champion Greg Reynolds of Grand Blanc, Michigan, who also won as an alternate. Bell became the first champion to win in his home state since Chicago's Bill Shean won the 1998 championship at Skokie (Ill.) Country Club.
Mike Rice thwarted Mark Bemowski's attempt to repeat in 2005, when the 61-year-old Rice won 1-up in the finals. Rice injured his left shoulder on Wednesday of championship week and was treated that night. The injury did not stop him from becoming the oldest champion since John Richardson, who was 66 when he titled in 1987.
In the finals of the 2004 championship, Bemowski reversed the outcome of the 2002 event by defeating Greg Reynolds, 4 & 3, at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, California. In his six matches, Bemowski never played the final hole and was extended to the 17th only twice. In 2002, Reynolds had beaten Bemowski by the same margin.
Thirteen players have won this championship more than once. They are: J. Clark Espie (1957, 1959); Dexter H. Daniels (1961, 1966); Merrill L. Carlsmith (1962, 1963); Curtis Person Sr. (1968, 1969); Lewis W. Oehmig (1972, 1976, 1985); William Hyndman III (1973, 1983); Dale Morey (1974, 1977), William C. Campbell (1979, 1980); R.S. Williams (1986, 1989); Clarence Moore (1988, 1992); O. Gordon Brewer, Jr. (1994 and 1996); Bill Shean, Jr. (1998 and 2000); and Kemp Richardson (2001, 2003). Carlsmith, Person and Campbell are the only three champions who won the title in consecutive years.
The 2012 USGA Senior Amateur will be the first USGA championship conducted at Mountain Ridge Country Club. The course has previously hosted the Metropolitan Golf Association's Met Open, Ike Championship and Met Amateur and the New Jersey State Golf Association's PGA and Senior Amateur championships.
This will be the 57th USGA championship conducted in New Jersey and the third of three championships contested in the state in 2012. The U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links (June 18-23) and the USGA Men's Team State (Sept. 19-21) championships will also be held in New Jersey.
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