On Thursday, June 5, Denny McCarthy was probably a heavier favorite to win the Maryland State Amateur Championship at Baltimore Country Club than California Chrome was to win the Belmont Stakes in New York. Thoroughbred that he is, McCarthy, an Argyle CC member, upheld his end much better than “Chrome, dominating five foes in three days of scheduled 36-hole play, and capping it with an 8-and-7 victory over Chris Baloga in the final on a mild, sunny day.
For all intents and purposes, this one opened and closed during a 10-hole East-Course stretch in the morning round, as McCarthy won eight of them, all but two (birdies) with pars. A bogey-free 3-under-par 67 sent him to lunch 8-up.
Baloga, from Hillendale CC, whose only sub-par effort in a morning 74 was a conceded eagle-three at the 583-yard sixth, showed heart and skill in the afternoon, gamely hanging in with a winning par (against McCarthy’s only bogey in 29 holes) and two birdies against two McCarthy birdies for a 7-and-6 deficit. The leader closed him out on the 20th hole (No. 11) with a 14-foot downhill birdie putt.
“I’ve definitely gotten better [than last year],” said the defender, a 21-year-old University of Virginia senior. “Each year of college has been better. I’ve learned more about distance control and course management [what club to hit and where to hit it]. It’s like a picture puzzle. I’ve got all the pieces and now I’m trying to put them in the proper spots.”
In the afternoon, McCarthy was -2 under for 11 holes and Baloga, the Loyola University Maryland golf coach who turns 31 on June 9, was 1 under. “This is the only tournament with two 18-hole matches for three days. It takes a lot out of you and I’m just not used to it,” said Baloga, a former MSGA Mid-Am and Middle Atlantic Amateur champion.
While Baloga used a caddy, McCarthy carried his own bag every day and felt it was an advantage. “We do it in college so, again, you get used to it. You develop a rhythm, and I’m more comfortable by myself rather than with somebody.”
Asked about being a target for everybody else in the field, McCarthy shrugged it off. “I don’t really think about it, but I know it’s there and it motivates me,” he declared. “It’s been there for several years so I’m used to it.”
In his resume are two Washington Metropolitan Schoolboy crowns, a semifinal berth in the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur, two Maryland Amateur and two Maryland Open titles and a recent tie for sixth in the NCAA men’s individual championship.
On his upcoming schedule is a trip to the British Amateur, which starts June 16 at Royal Portrush in Ireland — two rounds of qualifying for a match-play bracket of 64 players. Later, he will defend his 2013 Maryland Open crown and attempt to qualify for the U.S. Amateur.
In reaching the final, McCarthy defeated David Nocar, Nick Sorkin, Mike Blasey, and Ben Warnquist, while Baloga put out Patrick McCormick, Alex Hoffman, Joe Rice, IV, and Matt Bassler. During his title runs in the last two years, McCarthy had one stretch of seven successive matches that did not go beyond the 15th green, and overall, except for his two morning tours in the finals, he did not go past the 16th green.
Multiple MSGA Amateur Winners:
1925-26 — Charles McCourt
1933-34 — Roger Peacock
1948-49 — Ralph Bogart
1951-52-53 — Ralph Bogart
1956-57 — Claude Wild
1973-74 — Marty West, III
1978-79 — Marty West, III
1981-82-83 — Marty West, III
2013-14 — Denny McCarthy
-Reported by John Stewart
