Match Play Final
Billy Peel, IV, from Columbia Country Club, won the 98th Amateur championship of the Maryland State Golf Association in unusual fashion at the Chevy Chase Club, June 9, when Pete DeTemple, from Breton Bay Golf & CC, in pain from badly blistered feet and a sore back, was forced to concede their final-round match.
A qualifying round followed by two days of double-round walking took its toll and DeTemple, at 56, the oldest finalist in tournament history, finally yielded in the middle of the sixth fairway — the 24th hole of a scheduled 36-hole match. “Five rounds in three days [leading up to the final] was just too much,” DeTemple said afterward. “My body just wouldn’t let me continue.” At the time, Peel was 5 up.
Peel used an eagle and a birdie in turning the opening nine, 1 up, as DeTemple won three holes in keeping it close. That was pretty much it, however, as Peel birdied three holes on the back to finish the morning round 4 up. The course was played at 6,918 yards with a par of 70.
A looming rainstorm and the mutual agreement of the players sent the match back to the first tee without the usual break for lunch, and Peel promptly won the hole with a par; DeTemple won the second with a par, and Peel ended the scoring with a winning par at the fifth.
“The birdie on 18 was huge,” Peel pointed out later. DeTemple had it four feet for par when his opponent had his bid from 25 feet fall into the cup.
Earlier, Peel, 30, who works in securities, was 1 up through No.4, then won the 350-yard fifth when his wedge second shot from 85 yards took one bounce and rolled into the hole. Conceded birdies at the ninth and 10th enabled Peel to go 2 up and he tacked on one more at the 16th to set the stage for his stroke at the 18th.
“I was nervous at the start, but was able to settle down,” Peel said in thinking of such past Columbia champions as Marty West, III, who was 9-for-9 in final-round wins; two-time winner Richard Lattimer, and Mike Mitchell, who won once.
In getting to the final, Peel (qualified with a 69) eliminated Matt Barnes, Lou Baker, Kyle Nordheimer, and David Putney, while DeTemple (qualified with 68) put out Mac Webster, Keegan Shreves, defender Morgan Egloff, and Brad Riley.
The 2020 championship will be played at the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club in suburban Baltimore.
Runner-up Pete DeTemple and MSGA President and Officer-in-Charge Brian Fitzgerald
Match Play Quarterfinals & Semifinals
Pete DeTemple, from Breton Bay Golf & Country Club, became the oldest finalist in the 98-year history of the Maryland State Golf Association’s Amateur championship at 56, when he scored a 1-up victory over Brad Riley, Norbeck CC, in the semifinals at the Chevy Chase Club, June 8.
In the scheduled 36-hole final on June 9, DeTemple will make a bid to become the oldest champion, replacing Charlie Harris, CC Maryland, who was 54 when he won in 1990. Standing in the way is Billy Peel, IV, 30, from Columbia CC, who defeated David Putney, TPC Potomac, 3 and 2, in the other semifinal.
“I played pretty solid — 16 pars and two bogeys — and had to pay attention because the wind kept changing,” said DeTemple, whose best previous showing in the event was his first appearance in 2007, when he made the quarterfinals at Columbia CC. “Still, my caddy [Bachiri Idriss, a Chevy Chase looper] gets about 90 per cent of the credit, as he told me where to hit it (I wasn’t always able to do it) and helped on the greens.
“There were some good up-and-downs, too, especially for a win at the 17th that turned out to be the difference when we halved 18. Overall, I hit woods to all the greens [they ranged in length from 167 yards to 248 yards] — and I carried five woods, 6-7-8-9 irons, and four wedges.”
Riley, 1 down at the turn, stayed in the hunt with birdies at Nos. 11 and 13, but marred his card with four bogeys, which proved to be too much of a deficit to overcome, despite some otherwise strong play.
Peel, whose best previous showing in the event was the round of 16 in 2012 at Chartwell G&CC, was never behind, aided by two front-nine birdies, as he turned 3 up. Putney, 31, was unable to do much for his own cause, as he had no birdies and finished 6 over par for the 16 holes.
“An eagle-3 at No. 10 helped jump-start my morning round,” Peel said, “and I was able to go on and play a more solid round, hitting it better than I was able to in the afternoon. However, I made some good back-nine pars there that helped protect my lead.”
In the other quarterfinals, DeTemple put out defending champion Morgan Egloff, from the host club, 1 up, as he won three holes early on the back nine for 2 up, then held on at the last after his opponent had closed to within 1 up at the 17th. Riley was 3 up as late as 13 against Evan Santa, Crofton CC, but Santa won 14 and 16 to narrow the gap, only to have Riley win 17 with a par for a 2-and-1 decision. Putney won four of the last six holes on the front side to turn 4 up en route to a 4-and-2 victory over Chuck Thatcher, Beaver Creek CC.
Match Play Round 1 & 2
Close, well-played matches featured the first two rounds of the 98th Amateur championship of the Maryland State Golf Association at the Chevy Chase Club, June 7. Twelve of the 16 opening-round pairings went to the 17th green, with five of them going extra holes. In the afternoon, all but two of the eight matches also went to the 17th green.
The exceptions were Pete DeTemple, Breton Bay G&CC, a 4-and-3 winner against Keegan Shreves, Congressional CC, and Lou Baker, Baltimore CC, who conceded to Billy Peel, Columbia CC after 16 holes. After each birdied the 16th and with Baker leading,1 up, he chose to concede, knowing — if he won — he would have to forfeit in the next round because of a conflict with his graduation exercises at the St. Paul’s School.
Not counting Morgan Egloff, the defending champion from Chevy Chase who advanced through the two rounds, the top five qualifying scorers were all gone by the end of the first day. The group included medalist Davis Lamb, Congressional CC, Vance Welch, Hobbit’s Glen GC, a playoff loser for the medal; two-time medalist and champion Ben Warnquist, Manor CC, and Connor Tendall, Congressional CC.
In their places are second-round victors Kyle Nordheimer, Woodmont CC, 17, who was not behind in beating Welch, 3 and 1, and David Putney, TPC Potomac, who called his driving,”the best I’ve hit it,” in an afternoon 2-and-1 decision against Lamb, who nailed 300-yard drives, but won only three holes and never led after the first hole.
Also, Phillip Fenstermaker, Ocean City GC, who birdied the second extra hole to dispatch Warnquist, who eagled 10 to get even and later won the 18th to force overtime in the first round, and Evan Santa, Crofton CC, a former Washington Metropolitan Amateur titlist, who won in 20 holes in the morning, then eliminated Tendall, 2 and 1. Later, Brad Riley stopped Fenstermaker, 2 and 1, using birds at 14 and 15 and a win at 17 to erase a 1-down deficit through 13.
Brandon Berry, who registered out of the MSGA eClub, went ahead of Chuck Thatcher, Beaver Creek CC, for the first time with a birdie at the 10th, but Thatcher birdied 15 (straight uphill from seven feet) and 16 (a breaking 25-footer) to go 2-up, lost 17, but halved 18 for a 1-up win.
Saturday morning’s play will have Egloff against DeTemple; Riley vs. Santa; Putney vs. Thatcher, and Nordheimer against Peel. Winners advance to afternoon semifinals, with a 36-hole final scheduled for Sunday.
Stroke Play Qualifying
Davis Lamb set the scoring tone in the on-site qualifying round for the Maryland State Golf Association’s 98th annual Men’s Amateur championship when he posted the day’s first score, a 5-under-par 65, at the Chevy Chase Club. It soon was followed by another 65, a 66, and two 67’s.
Overall, the 132 starters were reduced to 32 for the match-play draw, and the cutoff (with no playoff) fell at 72, one of the lowest such scores in years. The well-groomed Connecticut Avenue course was played at 6,918 yards to a par of 35-35–70.
Individually, Lamb, from Congressional CC, was joined by Vance Welch, from Hobbit’s Glen GC, and their 65’s have been beaten only by Josh Eure’s 64 at Chartwell CC in 2012 during the past 50 years.
Ben Warnquist, from Manor CC, continued his stellar qualifying play with a 66. He had previously been a medalist (66) and a champion at Manor CC in 2015 and a medalist (65) and champion at Columbia CC in 2017. Connor Tendall, from Congressional CC, and Lou Baker, from Baltimore CC, finished at 67.
Lamb, 21, a University of Notre Dame senior, highlighted his 32-33 tour with an eagle-2 at the 429-yard second hole, hitting a 120-yard pitching wedge second shot that bounced and rolled into the cup. He followed with three birdies, including one on a 20-foot putt at the fifth hole.
Welch also had a bogey-free round, finishing 33-32 with five birdies. He hit it well, but made a couple of 20-foot putts to save pars, as he got up-and-down three times and totaled 24 putts.
Warnquist, 26, started on No. 10 and ran home four birdies (three from inside eight feet) in a row (17-18-1-2), then balanced two bogeys with an eagle-3 at the 595-yard eighth. “I hit my best drive [of the day] and a 4-iron second to 10 feet,” he said.
Tendall, 26, jumped out to a great start with an eagle-3 at the 481-yard 10th, where he hit an 8-iron second shot to five feet. He went to the turn backed by four birdies and two bogeys for 31, then settled for a birdie and two bogeys on the front nine.
Baker, 18, a recent St. Paul’s School graduate headed for the University of Richmond, ended with five birdies — all on puts inside of 15 feet — and two bogeys for 34-33. At 68, Pete DeTemple, from Breton Bay G&CC included five birdies in his 34-34, while Chuck Thatcher, from Beaver Creek CC, also had 34-34 with five birdies.
An end-of-day playoff for the medal saw Lamb and Welch each make pars at the par-3, 248-yard ninth hole, with Welch two-putting from the front edge and Lamb pouring in a 13-foot putt to save par from the right, greenside bunker. Lamb won it with a driver-pitching wedge to 23 feet and a birdie putt on hole No. 1.
Two rounds on June 7 and 8 will sort out two finalists for a scheduled 36-hole pairing on June 9.
MSGA President and Officer-in-Charge, Brian Fitzgerald, Davis Lamb, and Vance Welch
Reported by John Stewart
