Find out all you want to know about the MGA Amateur going on this week. June 24-29 at Norwood Hills CC
Link to Match Play Bracket Results
Link to Stroke Play Results Joey Johnson Stroke Play Medalist
64/71 7 under par 135 Congratulations Joey! (2013 Missouri Amateur Champion)
Missouri Amateur Quarterfinal and Semifinal Matches Saturday 6/28/14
St Louis
The eight quarterfinalists gathered at Norwood Hills CC Saturday morning to play the four matches that would determine the semifinalists. We saw a sunny day with a strong late morning wind out of the south that would intensify as the day wore on. It was behind the players on the north oriented holes such as one, three, and seven and made them play quite short. However, it bedeviled the players on the many east-west holes at Norwood Hills as it swept across them and added difficulty to club selection and aiming lines.
The first match pitted the defending champion, Joey Johnson of Missouri State U., against Mizzou golfer Michael Wootten. The latter got off to a rocky start with bogies at one, three, and five to fall 4 down. He birdied the sixth, but Johnson answered with a birdie at seven and was never headed. Johnson closed out Wootten 5 & 4 at the 14th.
Defending Missouri Senior Amateur champ Mark Gardiner squared off against Cy Moritz, the #1 player on Central Missouri State’s highly ranked Division II program. Moritz got off to an early two up lead but Gardiner twice got the match back to all square before losing the 14th and 15th. Moritz won 2 & 1 with a par on 17. The players combined for seven birdies on a tough day for scoring featuring lots of difficult hole locations.
The next match saw #2 seed Skip Berkmeyer attempt to win his fourth title at what was his home course for many years. Joe Atkisson, an UMSL senior and the #7 seed, played steady golf and outlasted Berkmeyer in a tight duel. The match turned on the par-five 8th as Berkmeyer could not make par, let alone birdie, after a good drive that set up a chance to reach in two. Atkisson hit a quick hook off the tee and was barely past the teeing ground after his ball hit the trees and came back out where he could at least lay up his second. He did just that, reached the green in three, and won the hole with par to go one up. Skip got things back to all square with a birdie at the 11th, but his bogey at 14 and Atkisson’s birdie at 16 put him two down and led at a 2 down loss on 18. Berkmeyer’s defeat assured us that a college player, not a mid- amateur nor a senior (Gardiner), would win the 107th Missouri Amateur.
The final match in the quarters saw University of Kansas sophomore-to-be Chase Hanna go against Michigan State player Mitchell Rutledge. Hanna got off to a hot start and was two under and three up after seven holes. Rutledge’s par at 14 got him all the way back to all square before he missed a four-footer on 18 to lose one down. Both players are the #1 players on their college teams and will only get better as they continue their college careers.
The afternoon semifinals saw Johnson v Moritz and Atkisson v Hanna to see who would advance to the 36 hole final on Sunday.
Johnson saw his first bit of adversity this week when he lost the 7th and 8th and fell two down to Moritz. He came back with a nice birdie on 9 and “flipped” the match in his favor when Moritz three-putted 13 and 14. Both players parred in from 14 to give Johnson a tight one up win and a spot for the second straight year in the finals.
The second afternoon match saw Hanna get off to a bad start and lose four of the first five holes to the steady Atkisson. Chase got all the way back to all square after 12, only to lose 13 and 14 to Atkisson’s birdie and par. Hanna’s normally solid putting betrayed him as he knocked it close on the 16th and 17th, but failed to convert either to lose 2 & 1. Atkisson made only one bogey all afternoon as he showed that steady wins the day when the wind is up and conditions are tough.
Johnson and Atkisson will meet Sunday morning to determine our 2014 champion over 36 holes at Norwood Hills’ west course. Six players have defended the Amateur title a total of seven times since 1905. Tom Watson is the only player to do it twice, in 1967-8 and 1970-71. The last repeat winner was Mark McBride in 2000-01. Joey Johnson has a chance to become the seventh player to accomplish the feat if he can defeat Atkisson and defend the title he won last year at Blue Hills CC.
Jim Vastyan
The Missouri Golf Post
Missouri Amateur June 27 Rounds of 32 and 16
St. Louis—
The Missouri Golf Association’s version of “the longest day” began Friday at 8 AM with 16 morning matches going off between winners from the first day of match play. The course was fast and firm and the hole locations difficult as the players vied to continue into the afternoon round of eight matches. Afternoon thunderstorms delayed play for several hours and softened the course slightly. It was indeed a long day as the final “afternoon” matches finished up in the gathering darkness.
Eight competitors remain—six collegiate players, a decorated mid-amateur, and the winner of the 2013 MGA Senior title. It is not really unusual that six of the eight quarterfinalists are collegians given that almost half of the match play field of 64 was comprised of college players.
#1 seed Joey Johnson from Missouri State U. had the easiest and shortest day as he continued his defense of his 2013 title with a morning win by 6 & 4 and an afternoon victory by 4 & 3. He will be fresh for Saturday’s quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. His opponent, Mizzou’s Michael Wootten, won by 6 & 5 Friday morning but had a tight battle with Kansas State’s Kyle Weldon before winning in 19 holes.
The competitors in match two, Mark Gardiner and Cy Moritz, both survived two tough matches on Friday. Gardiner, the 2013 MGA Senior winner, won 1 up in the morning and outlasted fellow senior Steve Groom in 19 holes in the afternoon. Moritz, a Central Missouri State player, also won 1 up in the morning and had to go 20 holes to defeat incoming Drury freshman Mark Martin in the afternoon. (Actually, it was evening by the time the second matches finished.)
The third match features three-time Missouri Am winner Skip Berkmeyer against UMSL standout Joseph Atkisson. Both had relatively easy times in the morning and battles in the afternoon/evening. Atkisson defeated Matt Barry 1 up and Berkmeyer won a tight battle against Alex Cusumano on the 21st hole.
The final match pits Kansas golfer Chase Hanna against Michigan State’s Mitch Rutledge in what should be a good match. Both players, underclassmen at their respective universities, have risen to the top spot as both golf teams seek to rebuild from disappointing seasons where their squads finished near the bottom of their conferences despite both Hanna and Rutledge showing well during the season and in their conference tournaments. Hanna was taken to 21 holes Friday morning by Central Missouri’s Alex Springer before defeating Mitchell Mather in his second Friday match. Rutledge won both Friday matches by 3 & 2.
Saturday promises to be another long day as the competitors attempt to move on to the Sunday 36 hole final match. Will the college players win the day or will the “old guys,” in separate ends of the bracket, advance to play one another? Will the hole locations again be difficult? Probably. What other surprises has MGA Executive Director Scott Hovis got up his sleeve in the course setup? We’re sure he has something. One thing we know for sure is that it will be another exciting day of golf at Norwood Hills as the 107th Amateur continues on toward Sunday’s conclusion.
Jim Vastyan
The Missouri Golf Post
Missouri Amateur Thursday Round of 64 June 26
St. Louis—
The 32 matches in the first round of match play went off starting at 8 on a beautiful summer morning at Norwood Hills CC.
The six remaining in the playoff, suspended due to darkness on Wednesday night, gathered at the 10th tee at 7:30 to identify one player to advance into the round of 64. Justin Mitchell of West Plains made a five-footer for birdie after Brett Windsor, the youngster from Boonville HS, missed a slightly longer putt and none of the other four could do better than par. Mitchell advanced to play #1 seed Joey Johnson in the last match of the day. Johnson beat a game Mitchell ,2 & 1.
Given the overall skill level and the tightly bunched qualifying scores, we can’t call any of the Thursday outcomes an “upset.” That said, we did see the #3 seed, Matt Green, go down to Mitchell Mather, and #8 seed Ryan Eckelkamp lose to Alex Palen. In all, 19 of the 32 higher seeds won.
Two matches took extra holes to get a decision. Carr Vernon, a collegiate player from Poplar Bluff, was taken to 19 holes by young Jack Litzelfelner III of Jackson. Ryan Buerk came back from 2 down through 15 to defeat Buddy Allen on the fourth extra hole in Thursday’s longest match.
So, we have 32 players getting ready for Friday’s double round that will get us to eight players in the Saturday quarterfinals. MGA Executive Director Scott Hovis, a former Kansas State player and accomplished amateur, believes that somewhat difficult hole locations on Friday lead to a better identification of the players most worthy of advancing. I have seen the Friday hole locations and can tell you that Scott has achieved his goal of making it tough. The golfers on Friday know that they’re going to be facing some risky shots when going at the pin may not be the wisest choice, yet playing too conservatively will lead to a long and difficult approach putt. Add to that Superintendent Mike Null’s plan to double-cut and roll the greens Friday morning and we have what many players call “golf’s toughest day” in their quest for the Amateur title. What to do? Scott will tell you to make smart choices and, more importantly, hit quality shots.
Three former champions remain: Skip Berkmeyer, Brad Nurski, and defending champ Joey Johnson. The oldest guy in match play, four-time Amateur winner Don Bliss, was ousted by 16-year-old Tanner Elder on the 18th hole. This was Don’s 31st time making match play in a Missouri Amateur career that began in 1972! You do the math… Young Tanner gets no break Friday as he now faces Steve Groom, arguably the best senior player in the state the past couple of years.
Let the fun begin Friday morning as we march on to the Sunday finals of the 107th Missouri Amateur.
Jim Vastyan
The Missouri Golf Post
Missouri Amateur Day 2 June 25 Second Round of Qualifying
St. Louis, MO—
And then there were 64—oops, not quite.
Day two of qualifying went off without a hitch beginning with another #1 and #10 tee start at 7:30 on the Norwood Hills CC West course. Almost 12 hours later the MGA almost had its 64 qualifiers right “on the number” at 7 over par 149. Alas, only 63 players finished two days at 149 or better, so all 12 players at 150 had to go back out for a 12 for 1 playoff that started at hole #14, a long a difficult par-4. After over an hour and three playoff holes we still had six players standing who will reconvene at 7:30 this morning to go to #10 and find out who gets the 64th spot and the “privilege” of meeting the medalist, Joey Johnson, in the round of 64.
The playoff mirrored the field of 147 in that we saw young Boonville HS player Brett Windsor and two “seniors”—Charlie Schorgl and Scott Edwards– keep fighting through the three playoff holes Wednesday night amidst a crowd of college players and mid-amateurs. There were several scrambling pars made on 14, 17, and 18, but no one was able to make a birdie and end matters in the Wednesday evening gloaming.
I’m pulling for Windsor in the morning. He followed up a birdie-free and disappointing 79 with a nice even par 71 and a spot in the playoff. Although giving up 50 or more yards to bigger and stronger competitors, he knows how to scramble and he made a couple of clutch putts to stay alive in the playoff. Plus, when it’s his turn to play he does so without undue delay. He pulls a club in hits it…No meteorological séances, no getting ready and then repeatedly backing off– just golf the way it is meant to be played.
Defending champion Johnson could not follow his 64 with another low round. But he didn’t need to. He had a rather uneventful even par 71 with two birdies and his first two bogeys of the qualifying. The latter came on his opening nine and dropped him at one point to five under and in jeopardy of losing the qualifying medal to runner-up Skip Berkmeyer. In fact, Skip had pulled to within one shot of Johnson after 34 holes before making a 7 on the par-five 8th, their 35th hole.
We ended 36 holes with 7 players under par and eight more at even. The hole locations were not overly difficult during qualifying, as the MGA had to get a large field around the course in a reasonable period of time. MGA Executive Director Scott Hovis will stay true to past history and begin to increase the difficulty now that we’re about to be down to 64. Friday’s double round, when we get to 16 and then 8, will feature some very tricky and tough locations and a course, barring rain, that will play even “faster” and more difficult.
This year’s qualifying field included two 15-year-olds, Caleb Picker and Chris Ferris, who missed the cut, and the almost 63-year-old Don Bliss who shot 147 to easily make the round of 64. Don is a 4-time Missouri Amateur champion and joins Johnson, Berkmeyer, and Brad Nurski as former champs who have made match play.
Jim Vastyan
The Missouri Golf Post
Missouri Amateur Tuesday June 24 Blog
The 107th Missouri Amateur kicked off this morning on Norwood Hills CC, West with 7:30 tee times on the first and 10th holes. The last group in the afternoon wave teed off at 2:26. It was a full day of golf—and will be again tomorrow as the field flips and the early players go late and vice versa. A field of 146 is competing over two rounds to determine the low 64 to advance into match play.
18 players were exempt from the “pre-qualifying: the five Missouri Amateur champions in the field, nine players from the 2013 MGA points list, three more who won individual MGA championships in 2013, and Patrick Britt, last year’s Norwood Hills club champion. The remaining 128 earned their way in by way of the six regional qualifiers.
As is often the case, the morning wave got the better golf weather with temps not extreme, an overcast sky for part of the morning, and not enough wind to seriously impact club selection. In the afternoon it was dry , hot, and breezy– and the scores were a bit higher.
At the end of the day there were 14 scores under par and another 8 at level par. I was lucky enough to follow what turned out to be the “feature” group in the morning. Joey Johnson, last year’s champion, shot a bogey-free 7 under 64 that was a thing of beauty. Joey birdied all three par-fives and finished with ten fours and eight threes. No twos, but no fives, either. Skip Berkmeyer and KU golfer Chase Hanna shot 67 and 69 respectively as the threesome shot 13 under. Berkmeyer and Hanna made only two bogeys each as the group racked up 17 birdies total.
The low 64 right now looks to be in the 150-151 range, and it will be a small miracle if we get to 64 tomorrow without a playoff for the last spots.
MGA Executive Director has promised a slightly tougher setup for tomorrow, but he won’t start “hiding” hole locations until the start of match play on Thursday. Go to www.mogolf.org for complete results of today’s round.
Jim Vastyan
The Missouri Golf Post