Charlie Winegardner had quality and quantity, while Kevin Allis pointed to one event, but both were rewarded by earning 2018 Player-of-the-Year titles in the program sponsored and conducted by the Maryland State Golf Association. They were among those honored at the organization’s annual dinner meeting on November 16, at the Chevy Chase Club.
Winegardner, from Lothian, and a member of Old South Country Club, collected 565 points from eight events, a campaign that featured a second place in the MSGA Mid-Am (210) and a place in the second round of the MSGA Amateur (125). Four other MSGA starts returned 40 points each, including a second in the Four-Ball and a tie for second in the Father-Son. Outside activity included winning the Washington Metropolitan Amateur and the Middle Atlantic Father-Son.
Chevy Chase members Lee Detmer and Morgan Egloff placed 2-3 with 510 and 485 points, respectively. In five events, Detmer’s best were a fourth in the Maryland Open (215) and as a quarter-finalist in the Maryland State Amateur (175), while Egloff, a Rollins College student, won the MSGA Amateur (375) but was in only four events, none after July 9.
Winegardner, 28, grew up in the area and is a graduate of Coastal Carolina University. He had a brief stint as a professional before regaining his amateur status. Asked if he would pursue a similar schedule in 2019 to the one just completed, he replied, “If Dad gives me the time off I will.” Senior standout Tom Winegardner owns an automobile business and Charlie works for him.
Allis, the Senior recipient, who lives in Columbia and plays out of Hobbit’s Glen Golf Club, started in only four events, and he was close in the one he wanted, the MSGA Senior Amateur (100) to overtake early leader Lee Flemister, from the University of Maryland GC. Allis totaled 255 points to 250 for Flemister for the closest finish in the 12-year history of the program. David Nocar Jr., of Chartwell G&CC, finished third, 195 points. A year ago, Nocar and Flemister ran 1-2.
“I put a big emphasis on the Maryland State Senior Amateur this year,” Allis, 56, reported recently. “If I could win it, I would be the second (joining Dave King) to hold all three Maryland State amateur championships — Amateur (1984), Mid-Amateur (2006), and Senior Amateur.” At Talbot CC in Easton in mid-September, Allis came up just short of his goal. He trailed eventual winner Tom Winegardner by six shots after the first round, but closed the gap to two at the finish, 68-75–143 to 74-71–145 for solo second.
Allis is a Baltimore native, a graduate of Mount St. Joseph High School – he was on a golf team that won three Maryland Scholastic Assn. and two national championships (Nocar was a high school golf teammate), and is in the school’s athletic hall of fame — and Louisiana State University. He is a lawyer by trade and owns his own government relations practice in Washington, D.C.
Through the years, his golfing accomplishments include, in addition to his MSGA titles, the 1985 Baltimore City Amateur, 2003 Middle Atlantic Amateur, and three club championships at Rolling Road Golf Club.
Undaunted by his MSGA setback, Allis figures there will be other chances, especially at the national level. At the time of the conversation last month. He had already competed in 16 (of 20) senior amateur events and was ranked 48th by GolfWeek Magazine. He plans on a full schedule for next year, and one may be sure the MSGA Senior Amateur will be on the list.
Aiming high, Allis says, “I’ve been working with [teaching professional] Mark Evenson for a couple of years, retooling my swing for Senior golf. Working hard, with a goal of being in the [Senior] top 10 in the country by 2020.”
Reported by John Stewart
