U.S. Senior Amateur champion
Paul
Simson
’s busy golf schedule continues
through this week. He is scheduled to
compete in the North Carolina Four-
Ball at River Landing Country Club
with
Walker Taylor
of Wilmington,
N.C., which began Friday, less than 24
hours after he claimed the U.S. Senior
Amateur title.
Simson is riding high and may not
need anything but adrenaline to carry
him through the next nine days as he
also competes in the Eagle Point Ama-
teur Invitational (Oct 11-13) and The
Captains’ Putter Matches (Carolinas-
Virginias Team Matches, Oct 15-16. One
of his opponents in the Captain’s Putter
Matches will be
Pat Tallent
of Vienna,
Va., his final foe in the Senior Amateur
Championship.
Giles’ defense came up short, as he
went down to fellow Virginian and
friend Tallent in 20 holes in the third
round.
The first round of match play fea-
tured a clash of good friends and USGA
servants.
Steve Smyers
, a member of
the USGA Executive Committee, faced
off against 2008 Senior Amateur cham-
pion
Buddy Marucci
. Marucci was un-
able to defend that title in 2009 because
he was serving as captain of the victori-
ous U.S. Walker Cup team at Merion, a
team that Smyers had a hand in choos-
ing. Smyers won the match in 19 holes.
Smyers was not the first USGA
Executive Committee member to play
in the Senior Amateur.
William C.
Campbell
and
O. Gordon Brewer
both won the championship while
on the executive committee,
and
Bruce Richards
and
Jack
Vardaman
both qualified for the
tournament while serving.
Chip Lutz
had every reason to
celebrate his 55th birthday this past
January. And it didn’t take the Read-
ing, Pa., native very long to announce
himself to the competition, winning
the
Golfweek
Senior National Cham-
pionship at Doral Resort & Spa in
Miami, six days after blowing out the
candles. He has turned in a dominat-
ing performance thus far, winning
the International Four-Ball, Society
of Seniors Spring Classic, Trans-Mis-
sissippi, North and South Senior and
Sunnehanna Senior in 2010.
After earning a second consecutive
1-up decision in his first USGA Senior
Amateur, ousting 2002 U.S. Mid-Ama-
teur champion and 2008 Senior Ama-
teur runner-up
George J. Zahringer
III
of New York. He advanced to the
semifinals of his first Senior Amateur
before falling to Tallent, 5 and 4.
Vinny Giles
played the role of
defending champion at Lake Nona;
next year, he plays the role of de facto
host. The 2011 Senior Amateur will
be played at Virginia’s Kinloch Club,
which Giles co-founded along with
C.B.
Robertson III
and
Charlie Staples
.
Frank Ford III
couldn’t tell you how
many trophies can be found at his
Charleston, S.C., home. He estimates
there are around 150, many from club,
state and regional competitions. But
there is one piece of hardware notice-
Pat Tallent (right) defeated Vinny Giles and Chip
Lutz, but fell in the finals to Paul Simson.
ably absent from the collection: a USGA
gold medal.
The 58-year-old Ford would have
loved nothing more than to achieve
that feat last week at Lake Nona Golf
and Country Club, where on Tuesday
he posted a pair of victories to reach
the quarterfinal round for the third
time in the last four appearances
at the Senior Amateur. His 4 and 2
triumph over
Dave Ryan
of Taylorville,
Ill., vaulted Ford into the round of eight
where he lost to Tallent.
Lake Nona was put on grand display
during the Senior Amateur. Players
raved about the quality of the golf
course and facilities. But it also was
a big week for a couple of Lake Nona
residents. U.S. Open champion
Graeme
McDowell
clinched the winning point
for the European Ryder Cup team on
Monday to secure the 14. 5-13. 5 vic-
tory.
Ian Poulter
, another Lake Nona
resident, also picked up a crucial point
by earning a decisive win over 1997 U.S.
Amateur champion
Matt Kuchar
.
he only applied to two – Santa Clara
and Notre Dame – and despite develop-
ing a disdain for travel, chose to leave
northern California for the Midwest.
Jeff Burda
never played golf in high
school. Like a lot of kids in the late
1960s and early ‘70s, he played football,
basketball and baseball. But he dab-
bled in golf during the summer months.
When it came time to choose a college,
He walked onto the men’s golf team
and eventually captained the squad
for two seasons. He even qualified as
an individual for the 1974 NCAA Golf
Championship held in Columbus, Ohio.
So meeting former Notre Dame football
coach
Lou Holtz
at the “Sweet Sixteen”
dinner Tuesday night at Lake Nona
was a treat for Burda, who watched
the Fighting Irish claim two national
football titles while in school.
“We talked about the glory days and
had a nice chat,” said Burda. l
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