The 34th MSGA Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship took place at Argyle Country Club in Silver Spring, MD on August 3. The first round began on Monday and showcased a lot of great golfers from our state all vying to win the coveted title. The second round of the tournament was unfortunately cancelled due to an impending tropical storm that was set to hit our state the very next day. The Net Division of the competition had to be cancelled Monday due to the first wave of storms from Hurricane Isaias hitting late Monday afternoon.
The tournament champion was Billy Wingerd, who shot a phenomenal round of 64 to keep him atop of the leaderboard after round 1. Wingerd attributed his win to hitting the ball really well in tight spots and his chipping game also was key because it gave him birdies on holes 7 and 10. Wingerd had an eagle on his second hole and 8 birdies, while making 3 bogeys during his round. This proved to be very crucial to his one stroke victory over runner-up Charlie Winegardner, who finished tied for third in last year’s Mid-Amateur tournament. Winegardner was even through the first 3 holes in his round and started to turn things up a notch by making 7 birdies and only one bogey on hole 17.
The rest of the competition also played well on a challenging course at Argyle with par being 71 played to a total yardage of 6,582. Six players came in tied for third place with total scores of 69. Last year’s tournament champion, Kevin Grady was among those who finished in third-place. The tournament field included 96 players from clubs across the State that held handicaps of 7.1 and under.
