The four players who opened the first round of the 17th annual Amateur Public Links championship of the Maryland State Golf Association with scores in the 60’s all shot upward into the 70’s in the second round at Clustered Spires Golf Club in Frederick, August 12.
Chuck Thatcher, from Beaver Creek Country Club in Hagerstown, who had started the morning with a 6-under-par 65, slipped back to 72, but the afternoon wait proved worthwhile when his 36-hole total of 65-72–137 stood up as the best score of the championship. The course was played at 6,698 yards to a par of 36-35–71.
Mike Filler, from Mount Pleasant Golf Course in Baltimore, wound up second with 67-73–140, trailed by two-time champion Billy Wingerd, from Mount Pleasant, and Ryan Crabtree, Beaver Creek, who tied for third at 141.
Greg Cline, from the University of Maryland GC, used the only sub-par round of the afternoon to vault into fifth place with 74-70–144.
Thatcher, 39, whose only previous APL experience was in 2013 when he tied for second with 70-68–138, two shots behind winner Steve Delmar, also at Clustered Spires. This time, he had seven birdies to highlight his morning round, then stumbled out of the gate in the afternoon with two bogeys in his first three holes on the back nine. He turned 1-over and had a birdie and a bogey on the front.
“In the morning, the greens were smoother and softer with a light wind,” Thatcher said, “but in the afternoon, the wind changed directions and picked up. . .and I started to tighten up. That’s a lot of golf in one day.”
Still, it’s been a busy summer for him. He reached the quarterfinals of the MSGA Amateur; tied for eighth in the MSGA Mid-Amateur; was the second-round leader in the Maryland Open (finished tied for fifth); he and Crabtree were on the winning team in the Washington Metropolitan Golf Association’s Team Matches, and Thatcher also added the club championship at Maryland National GC. In two weeks, he will go for his fifth successive victory in the annual Frederick City Championship, all at Clustered Spires. “I think this course fits my game,” he added, with a laugh.
Filler highlighted his morning round with an eagle-3 (5-iron to six feet and a putt) on the 510-yard third hole, and was in a good position during his second round, but bogeyed Nos. 7-8-9 (his last three holes) to drop back.
Wingerd, sixth in the MSGA Mid-Am, had two birdies on each nine in the morning, but was not as good later and ended with two bogeys in the last three holes.
Crabtree birdied 12, 18, and 3 in his first round, then was 2-under for eight holes In his second, before the roof fell in with out-of-bounds woes that led to a 9 at the ninth. He responded by playing par golf on the back, with a birdie at the 18th. That turned out to be worth a solo third early, only to be tied by Wingerd later.
Reported by John Stewart
