Billy Wingerd, from Mountain Branch Golf Club, put another notch in his Maryland State Golf Association championship belt, August 9, when he finished recording two-day rounds of 68-69–137, to take the 31st Mid-Amateur championship of the MSGA at Chartwell Country Club in Severna Park. He had finished second to Dan Falls two years ago when he shot the second round in 66 at the Elkridge Club.
Bart Mease, from Manor CC, who finished third in this tournament three years ago, and who began the day tied with Wingerd and Andrew Kolarik, from the University of Maryland Golf Club, finished 68-71–139, followed by Mike Stackus, Hobbit’s Glen GC, 69-72–141, and Brandon Cigna, Manor CC, 141. Kolarik, who led early in the round, ended 68-74–142.
Wingerd, 34, could point to two key holes in getting the lead. He collected a birdie at the ninth when he reached the green of the 512-yard hole in two and two-putted, and at the 509-yard 10th where he hit hybrid, 6-iron to 12 feet and — for the second day in a row at the same hole — sank an eagle putt. When Wingerd birdied 12 from eight feet, he topped Mease (who had birdied 10-11) by three and Kolarik by four. There were no birdies in the group the rest of the way.
Mease, 40, winner of the recent Washington Metropolitan Amateur, was within one of the lead when Wingerd made two bogeys, but a Mease bogey at the 17th left him two behind.
“The birdie at 9 brought me back, and on the last nine, I started hitting better shots,” Wngerd said. He had previously won the MSGA Amateur (2004), Open (2007, at Chartwell), and the Public Links (2017, when he posted 64-66–130 at Clustered Spires GC in Frederick).
Two birdies in the first five holes had sent Kolarik ahead, and he and Wingerd were tied after nine, but they soon went in opposite directions.
Notes — Mike Steinhardt, from Hayfields CC, made the third hole-in-one of his career when he struck a 7-iron shot at the 161-yard 11th hole. . .Robert Lindstrom had the low round of the tournament when he closed with 67 to tie Kolarik at 142…Cigna hit driver, 6-iron to 10 feet to set up his eagle at the 10th hole.
Day 1 Recap:
Bart Mease and Billy Wingerd, each of whom won a tournament over last weekend, continued that pace as they fired 3-under-par 68’s to be part of a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the 31st Mid-Amateur championship of the Maryland State Golf Association at Chartwell Country Club in Severna Park, August 8. Andrew Kolarik sandwiched in a similar round between them.
Play had been originally scheduled to begin August 7, but morning rain and the threat of afternoon thunderstorms was enough for tournament officials to postpone the start of play one day.
Mease, who won the Washington Metropolitan Amateur Sunday at his home course, Manor CC, started eagle-birdie (Nos. 10-11) and went on to shoot 35-33; Wingerd, winner of the Baltimore Amateur championship Sunday, who started on the front, also eagled the 10th en route to 35-33, while Kolarik, medalist (67 at Clifton Park) and runner-up in the Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation’s recent Match Play championship, went bogey-free with three birdies.
All three are long hitters with solid short games, but Mease is especially recognized at Manor for an uncanny ability to sink long putts and he put this on display at Chartwell. At the 509-yard 10th, he hit a hybrid second shot just off the green and chipped in, then made 20-footers for birdies at Nos. 6 and 11. He finished with four birdies, three bogeys.
Wingerd, from Mountain Branch GC, hit driver-5-iron to 15 feet and made the putt at 10, then fashioned eight successive pars. The 18th was the only green he missed in regulation. Kolarik, out of the University of Maryland GC, runner-up to Doug McIlvain last year and an alternate for the U.S. Mid-Am two years ago, made his three birdie putts from 15-20 feet.
Ryan Richardson, from mountain Branch GC, and Mike Stackus, Hobbit’s Glen GC, followed the leaders with 69’s, backed by Rye Stinson, Breton Bay G&CC, and Brandon Cigna, Manor CC, with 70’s. The only ones to match par in the 90-man were Bart DeLuca, Rolling Road GC, and Chuanjung Chen, Blue Mash GC.
With the field cut to the low 40 and ties for a second and concluding round, August 9, 46 players at 76 and better advanced.
Reported by John Stewart
