MAMARONECK, NY – Defending champions Parker Smith and Dan Crockett of the Country Club (TN) carded a second consecutive 3-under 67, then defeated Michael Miller and Matthew Minerva of Knollwood Country Club in a playoff to secure medalist honors and the top seed in the 76th annual John G. Anderson Memorial Tournament at Winged Foot Golf Club as America’s premier fourball golf tournament moves into the weekend’s match play phase. Smith also will be attempting to win the tournament for a record third consecutive time. He won the 2010 Anderson with partner Phil Breeding.
“My partner was really something today,” Crockett explained, referring to Smith’s three birdies over Winged Foot’s fabled West course. “This course is so hard and it tests every part of your golf game, but Parker was solid all day.”
“Well Dan hit the shot of the day for us,” Smith responded as the pair sat together for their interview. “A 5-iron out of the fairway bunker from 170 yards out to a tucked pin at the 18th hole at Winged Foot, and he puts it to 12 feet.”
That’s impressive, considering it was the same pin placement Winged Foot uses on Sundays for U.S. Opens. Remember the nightmares it still gives Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie, and Padraig Harrington, and that’s just from 2006.
Now Smith stands four matches away from a record accomplishment, one never equaled in the 76 years of this august tournament – the greatest fourball event in the country, held at an ancestral seat of American golf and one of the country’s most ancient golf splendors. Smith can become its first three-time consecutive champion.
“Now it’s completely different. Every hole…every shot is a new tournament,” stated Smith, who has won his last eight consecutive competitive matches at Winged Foot. “In stroke play, you’re trying not to make mistakes. To advance in match play you must make birdies so you need to be more aggressive.”
Then the cool, earthy Tennesean sat back, smiled broadly, and said, “It’s more free-wheeling.”
Nevertheless, as the tournament moves back to the East course for the match play phase, Smith and Crockett with have a fierce battle on their hands from the outset as their quadrant of the bracket is choc-a-bloc with well-decorated, nationally-acclaimed amateur champions. Parker and Smith open the weekend’s play against Whisper Rock’s John Marsico and “Big Ben” Hayes, a 16 seed in number only as Hayes has already won the 2010 Travis Invitational and finished second there just two weeks ago, while Marsico has been one of the country’s most prized young amateur champions of the last three years.
Indeed, Big Ben worked his magic yet again yesterday, chiming midnight for two other teams in a 3-for-1-spot playoff for the final seed in the bracket. With the pin tucked flush-left at the playoff hole – the dangerous par-3 10th – perhaps the hole’s most dangerous location, Big Ben belted a screaming 4-iron that lasered the flag all the way, then danced to a delicate two-hop stop six feet from the cup for the winning birdie. Watching Hayes’s clockwork precision there, and indeed for the rest of the round, was like admiring the inexorable march of time itself as marked by his London namesake.
“Amazing! You are so clutch,” gushed Marsico as he hugged Hayes, who wore the grin of a Cheshire cat as the pair returned to the veranda and night finally fell over the gorgeous Gothic castle that is Winged Foot’s clubhouse.
It was a glittering scene: golfers, and golf lovers ringing the entire 10th hole as the drama unfolded. With the right kind of eyes, you could see the ghosts of countless ages past recreating a scene repeated at Winged Foot for over seven and a half decades. At a club like Winged Foot, where promotion and preservation of golf history, virtues, and tradition are its raison d’etre, it’s as though all times are one.
“It was so tough out there today,” confided Hayes, always as gracious and grateful as you could ever ask an amateur champion to be. “The wind was gusting, so it was so tough to judge your shots. And the rough was so tough, so it was hard to control your ball, and this course demands you play great golf every shot.”
There will be no rest for the weary, however, as the winner of that match will face the winner of the 8-9 match, another highlight reel waiting to happen. 8th seeded Joe Saladino (who won the Travis two weeks ago) and Dave Boccia of Huntington C.C. square off against
Jeff Ingram and Michael Sullivan of Champions G.C. in Texas.
Champions G.C. – host of the 1969 U.S. Open famously won by Orville Moody, the rough-speaking, hitch-in-his-giddyup-swinging “Sarge”, who honed his game at army bases – actually has two teams in the match play phase. Gary Durbin and Murray Snow, the 11th seed will face the always dangerous 6th seeded Kevin Marsh and Giles Kibbe of the Floridian. The victor takes on the winner of the 3-14 match – Dan Keogh and Bill Hutcheson of the National Golf Club of Canada versus Max Christiana and Max Buckley from Westchester Country Club.
“We started fast, then held on for dear life. We didn’t hit a single green in the last five holes, but Dan got up and down from the Hamptons, New Jersey, and Connecticut to save us,” said Hutcheson as he and Keogh relaxed after putting the finishing touches on a second consecutive 68 for a 4-under total and the third seed in the bracket. Keogh also made an eagle on the short par-4 320-yard 6th hole, holing a lob wedge from 50 yards for the deuce.
“I just cheered and clapped my hands on that one,” quipped Hutcheson. “But now we have to go out and focus on making more birdies, because pars won’t do it for you in match play. You can’t play ‘not to lose’ in match play, you have to go out and take birdies by attacking the golf course,” he concluded.
On the home front, Winged Foot will rest its hopes on members Greg Rohlf and Jeff Putman, the 2009 champions, who secured the 12th seed and will face 5th seeded Ken Bakst and Kip Kirkpatrick of Friar’s Head.
“That will be a fantastic match as both Kenny and Greg and their partners are always dangerous at any amateur tournament they enter,” explained golf expert Jon Kulok. “They have been two of the country’s premier amateurs for many years, and over the decades they have won a lot of tournaments. It’s match-ups like this that make the tournament so special.” The winner will face the winner of the match between 4th seeded Tom Strange and Wes Pierce of Eagle Point GC, NC against the 13th seeded Buzz Baker and Trent Booher of Shadow Hawk G.C. in Texas.
The final quadrant of the draw is headed by 2nd seeded Michael Miller and Matt Minerva of Knollwood CC – the “M&Ms”, whose brilliant 5-under 65 on Thursday at the East course opened the tournament with fireworks. The tandem balanced five birdies against a lone bogey, then followed with a 69 yesterday for a sparkling 6-under total.
“It was such a struggle with the wind out there today, but Mike put me on his back and carried me all day,” said Minerva. “He was steady all day, and that’s what we needed because the West Course is so tough.”
“Well we ham and egged it great,” replied Miller. “Matty is a great match player, and he’ll be in every hole, so it’ll be relaxing for me knowing I can rely on him. We normally play against each other at Knollwood, but this is our first opportunity to play together, and I’m so looking forward to having him as my partner in the match play.” They’ll face 15th seed Sam Bernstein and Mike Karger of Century CC, with the winner facing the winner of the 7-10 match, Trevor Randolph and Keith Unikel of Congressional against John Kemp and Mark Wharton of John O’Gaunt, England.
“There’s another reason why the Anderson is such a great tournament, they have international stars playing alongside the national and local champions. It’s truly a world-wide event,” asserted Kulok. “It just adds to the wondrous lore of Winged Foot.”
Wondrous – that’s a good word to describe it: not only the golf, but the atmosphere, the camaraderie. Golfers world-wide reuniting each year for a revival, basking in the warm glow the love of the game instills in each one of us. Perhaps the best sentiment was that of famous broadcaster and talk show host Maury Povich, who celebrated long into the day with his fellow competitors even though his team finished out of the championship brackets.
“The friends I have made through golf and the experiences we have shared are a paramount joy in my life,” he once confided when speaking of amateur events. “Instead of my world closing in and shrinking as I got older, my life has broadened and become far more enriched, and for that I am forever grateful.”
That’s why amateur tournaments are so important to golf. We still have something pure and inspiring that unites us.
CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
(Seedings in parentheses)
(1) Parker Smith/Dan Crockett (134, 6-under) The Country Club, TN vs.
(16) “Big Ben” Hayes/John Marsico (142, 2-over) Whisper Rock, AZ
(8) Joe Saladino/Dave Boccia (140, even) Huntington CC, NY
vs.
(9) Jeff Ingram/Michael Sullivan (140, even) Champions GC, TX
(4) Tom Strange/Wes Pierce (138, 2-under) Eagle Pt. GC, NC
vs.
(13) Buzz Baker/Trent Booher (141, 1-over) Shadow Hawk CC, TX
(5) Ken Bakst/Kip Kirkpatrick (139, 1-under) Friar’s Head, NY
vs.
(12) Greg Rohlf/Jeff Putman (141, 1-over) Winged Foot
(2) Mike Miller/Matt Minerva (134, 6-under) Knollwood CC, NY
vs.
(15) Sam Bernstein/Mike Karger (141, 1-over) Century CC, NY
(7) Trevor Randolph/Keith Unikel (139, 1-under) Congressional
vs.
(10) John Kemp/Mark Wharton (140, even) John O’Gaunt, England
(3) Dan Keogh/Bill Hutcheson (136, 4-under) Nat’l GC Canada
vs.
(14) Max Christiana/Max Buckley (141, 1-over) Westchester CC, NY
(6) Kevin Marsh/Giles Kibbe (139, 1-under) The Floridian
vs.
(11) Gary Durbin/Murray Snow (140, even) Champions GC, TX
