98th Maryland Open Championship

Round 3

Davis Lamb admitted he had been close in recent weeks, but just had not been able to get over that final hump and into the winner’s circle.

The University of Notre Dame senior took care of that item July 17 when he carded a closing-round 70 at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana  to win the 98th Maryland Open championship. Lamb, 21, finished with 72-70-70–212, one under par for a 35-36–71 course that was played at 7,073 yards.

That was enough to forge ahead of early leaders Peter Knade, from Easton and Talbot CC, and Nick Sorkin, Rockville resident and Lakewood CC member.  Knade, a University of Maryland senior, and playing companion Benton Weinberg, a University of Iowa senior, created excitement when they posted scores of 66-213 and 67-214, respectively, midway of the round.

Sorkin, in the next-to-last group, moved into a tie with Knade when he recovered from a second-round 74 to shoot 70. He had previously taken the first-day lead with a 69. His closing 36-34 included a bogey on the front and another on the back, where he also birdied 13-14-18 to get the tie.

Lamb had already jumped ahead of his playing partners second-round leader Chuck Thatcher, from Beaver Creek CC, and professional Ryan Cole, from Mt. Airy, and all that remained for him to close it out was a 6-foot putt on the 18th to save par and the victory.  Done and won.

“Hit the greens and drink the water,” said Lamb, a Congressional CC member, of his game plan on another hot and steamy day (temperatures were in the high 90’s). He hit most of the fairways and most of the greens, “and there were a lot of greens and a lot of pars the last two days,” he added. “There were no major mistakes and the best part of my game was the ball-striking.”

He reached the stage where he was ready to win after a “not so great” school year, although he had a 66 at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course on a 45-degree spring day. However, in the past couple of months, he has strengthened his game with top-flight competition and direction from teacher John Scott Rattan, finishing second in the Kenridge, medaling with a 65 in on-site qualifying for the MSGA Amateur at the Chevy Chase Club (he went out in the second round), and tying for eighth in the Eastern Amateur.

Two birdies and three 3-putts got him to the turn 1-over, and he ducked under par with short  putts at 10-11. For the final seven holes it was nothing but pars and he finished the round with 11 of them.

Knade’s round featured seven birdies and two bogeys in posting 31-35, while Weinberg eagled the 555-yard 13th (driver, 220-yard 5-iron shot, and an 8-foot putt) and birdied the 18th on his way to hitting 15 greens and finishing  34-33.

There was a four-way tie for fifth place at 215 among Cole, Thatcher, Will Rosenfield, from Baltimore and Woodholme CC, and Evan Brown, a 20-year-old Loyola University Maryland junior from Kennett Square, Pa. Rosenfield had four back-nine birdies in shooting 71, and Brown, recent winner of the Delaware State Amateur, had five birdies, six bogeys for 72.

The event was sponsored and conducted by the Maryland State Golf Association. The 2020 event will be held at the CC at Woodmore.

Round 2

[Bottom Left: Chuck Thatcher (141), Top Right: Davis Lamb (142), Top Left: Ryan Cole (143), Top Center: Nick Sorkin (143), Bottom Right: Evan Brown (143)]

Chuck Thatcher, from Beaver Creek Country Club in Hagerstown, fashioned a 36-hole total of 1-under-par 141 to take the second-day lead in the 98th Maryland Open at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana, July 16. Playing in hot, humid weather, Thatcher added a 1-under 70 to an opening 71 to move one stroke clear of the field.

Davis Lamb, from Congressional CC, moved up to challenge with a 70 of his own to be one stroke back, followed by defending champion Ryan Cole, from Carroll County, the low pro at this stage; first-day leader Nick Sorkin, from Lakewood CC, who came back to the field with a 74, and Kevin Johnson, from Bethesda CC, a recent Gonzaga graduate, all at 143. 

Will Rosenfield, from Woodholme CC, improved dramatically, going from 75 to 69 to wind up being one of three players at 144. His 69 matched Sorkin’s first-day score and was later tied by Cody Pestun, an unattached pro, although his total left him in the middle of the pack. Rosenfield was joined by professionals Ian McConnell, from Springfield (Va.) G&CC, and Matthew Hardman from Woodmont CC.

The cut to the low 40 and ties fell at 150 (+8), and 43 players will move on to the final round.

Thatcher, a veteran of Beaver Creek’s earlier championship entries in MSGA Team Championships, was a quarter-finalist in last month’s MSGA Amateur, and his best Open finish came two years ago when he tied for sixth. He and partner Jim Kyttle also gained recognition when they won the 2017 Middle Atlantic Golf Association’s Mid-Am/Senior Four-Ball with a 10-under 61 at River Bend Club.

Thatcher began his Open round with a birdie at the first, and he would coax in a testy 5-foot downhill putt at the eighth for birdie to help him make the turn in 1 over par. His back nine featured two 10-foot par saves to keep the round going and he finished 2-under for the nine. “I putted very well,” he reported, “but I did not play well off the tee — and that’s usually my strength, but not this time.”

Lamb, 21, a University of Notre Dame senior, recovered from a double-bogey on his front nine to post three birdies on the back, including a 20-foot putt at the 17th. “The wedges were the best part of my game,” he said.

Cole birdied the first three holes on his way to a 32-38 round; Brown birdied all three par-5’s, two of them helping his comeback to 37-34; McConnell used three back-nine birdies in shooting 35, then had a double-bogey in his second nine for 37, while Rosenfield put up four birdies on the back before a bogey at 18 left him at 33, and he had one bogey for his front-nine 36.

Round 1

(Bottom Left: Nick Sorkin, Photo: USGA/Chris Keane)

Nick Sorkin, of Rockville, qualified to play in this week’s Maryland State Open when he finished on the number (78) as one of the last to make it at the Country Club at Woodmore in May. This week, he opened the 98th annual event at the other end of the spectrum.  He posted the first score of the day, a 2-under-par 69, and at the end of a 12-hour program he was still alone at the top of the leaderboard at Worthington Manor Golf Club.

The defending champion, other former winners, past Maryland Amateur champions, Middle Atlantic PGA  champions — all came and went.

At the finish, Sorkin was followed by four players at 70 — amateur, Connor Flach of Ellicott City, professional Steve Delmar and Juniors Kevin Johnson, from Bethesda and Trent Geritz, from Towson. Four others matched par — professionals Bob Dolan, Columbia CC, and Daniel Bengtson, Cattail Creek CC, plus Morgan Egloff, Chevy Chase, and Chuck Thatcher, from Hagerstown.

A second round is scheduled for July 16, with a cut to the low 40 and ties to follow for a third round, July 17. After the first day, the 40 fell among those at 74.

Sorkin, a Lakewood CC member,  bogeyed two of the first four holes, but a birdie at the ninth enabled him to turn in 1-over 36. Coming back, he had four birdies, one bogey for 33. Included in his birdies were all three par 5’s. Overall, the Urbana course was played at 7,073 yards to a par of 35-36–71.

Johnson, from Bethesda CC, finished with three birdies (including 8-9) and two bogeys on the front and nine successive pars on the back for 34-36. Delmar’s round listed two front-nine bogeys and four birdies (including 13-14-15) and a bogey on his second nine (36-34). Geritz, a CC of Maryland member, fashioned a most unusual round, as he put up eight birdies, five bogeys, and one double-bogey in recording 36-34.

Among the 72’s were Dirk Schultz, head professional at Beaver Creek CC in Hagerstown, antd two-time MSGA Amateur champion Ben Warnquist, from Olney. Schultz began at the 10th,  struggled late to turn in 40, then shot up the front in 3-under 32, with an eagle-2 at the 395-yard second,birdies at the first and ninth, and a bogey at the fourth.

This year, in addition to qualifying for this Open, Sorkin, 28, made it to a U.S. Open Sectional and he and his father, Ed, won the Middle Atlantic Golf Association’s Father-Son crown at Congressional CC. He previously had qualified for one U.S. Amateur.

Where golf has featured his sports outlet lately, previously it was ice hockey. From youth leagues in the Washington area to four years at the University of New Hampshire, and on to nine different teams in four leagues, the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder was a productive wing with his share of points.

For the 2018-19 season, he saw action in seven games for Binghamton of the American Hockey League, recording one assist.

Notes: In addition to Schultz, professional Sean Bosdosh, the winner in 2012 and 2016, registered an eagle-2. His came at the 459-yard 12th hole, where his 7-iron shot from 192 yards found the cup. . .Lou Baker, a recent St. Paul’s School graduate from Timonium and Baltimore CC, nearly duplicated Schultz’ numbers, as he recovered from a back-nine 41 to put up four birdies (including 1-2-9), one bogey, for a 32.

Reported by John Stewart