Will Ford, from Baltimore Country Club, and Jong Kim, from Hobbit’s Glen Golf Club, each recorded a 2-under-par 70 to share the top spot in the Maryland State Golf Association’s final local qualifier for its Amateur and Open championships at Queenstown Harbor Golf Links on the Eastern Shore, May 23.
They were entered in both divisions and were joined in the Amateur by Phillip Fenstermaker, from Ocean City Golf Club. It marked the third successive qualifier with a low round of 70. The opener, on April 15, had a 71 in the Open division and two 72’s in the Amateur division.
The cutoff figures this time were the same, 76, with 31 in the Amateur and 27 in the Open, playing the River course at 6,853 yards. The Amateur championship will be conducted June 6-9 at the Chevy Chase Club, and the Open championship July 15-17 at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana.
Ford, a rising junior at High Point University, holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th green, his final hole, to claim his share of the best score. There were three front-nine birdies, with a longest of 15 feet, and his closing birdie followed eight straight pars on the back.
Kim, a Columbia resident, started on No. 10 and converted three putts in the 20-30-foot range, turned in 35, then bogeyed 2 and 4, ahead of a birdie at 6 that led to another 35.
Fenstermaker, a regular competitor in past years, was making his first start in about four years. and had his wife, Amanda, as his caddy. His 34-36 included three front-nine birdies and his back, two birdies, two bogeys. The birdies were on the par-5 11th and 18th, the latter lifting him into a tie for the low round.
There were 71’s by Dan Oddis, from the Golf Club at South River, in the Amateur group and one by Evan Santa, from Crofton CC, who birdied his final two holes, 17-18, to finish 37-34, and who will now play in both championships. Among the five at 72 was Brad Hastings, a long-time Eastern Shore resident who once led a Hog Neck GC Amateur/Open qualifier and who won two MSGA Amateurs (1999 and 2007).
Brendan McGrath, from Hidden Creek GC, and Craig Balsinger, competing unattached, shared low pro laurels.
Play was interrupted by a weather delay of 85 minutes in late afternoon, prompted by lightning and rain.
Reported By : Jon Stewart
