With high school graduation looming, Tyler Koch (La Plata) and Luke Schaap (Churchill) celebrated early with the two best rounds of the Maryland State Golf Association’s Amateur / Open qualifier, held over the East Course at Andrews Air Force Base, May 19.
Koch, who plays from Swan Point Yacht & Country Club, led the 127-player field with a 4-under-par 33-35–68, followed by Schapp, from Argyle CC, 34-35–69. Amateur Tyler Herriott, an Ohio University junior, and Andrew Bonn, an assistant professional from Trump National were the low Open qualifiers with 70’s.
With 28 places available for each Championship, it took a score of 75 to advance in each of them. For the Open there were 37 qualifiers, while Michael Standiford, from TPC-Avenel, playing in the final group of the day, posted 75 to be the 28th player in the Amateur field. In so doing, he eliminated eight players at 76 who were poised to make it.
Koch, 18, who will attend Winthrop University in the fall, topped the field with six birdies, including one at No. 9. his final hole, and wound up taking 18 putts, with the longest from 18 feet. Schaap, also 18 and a University of Virginia recruit, hit 15 greens and finished with four birdies, all from inside eight feet. Herriott started on the back and a birdie and two late bogeys left him at 1-over before he took charge on the front with three birdies, including Nos. 8-9. Bonn began at the 10th, turned 2 under, then got even for the front with a birdie at the eighth.
Five players at 71 completed the sub-par scores for the 6,695-yard, par-72 course. Amateur John Torre, from Queenstown Harbor, will play in both events, while Dan Walker, University of Maryland GC and Will Ford, Baltimore CC, will go only in the Amateur. Torre will be joined in the Open by pros Matt Summers, Mountain Branch GC, and Yong Joo, Broad Run GC in Bristow, Va.
The fourth and final Amateur/Open qualifier will be held Monday, May 23, at Hog Neck Golf Course in Easton. The Amateur Championship is scheduled for June 9-12 at the Elkridge Club in Baltimore, and the Open championship for July 11-13 at Bulle Rock GC in Havre de Grace.
Reported By: John Stewart