The format may have changed in Wednesday’s second round of the U.S. Senior Challenge, but the team at the top of the leaderboard didn’t.
The format may have changed in Wednesday’s second round of the U.S. Senior Challenge, but the team at the top of the leaderboard didn’t. Team Ohio, captained by Jim Durr, maintained its first-round lead thanks in large part to multiple rounds of even par at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia.
In the opening round of this unique senior amateur event, which pits four-man teams from different states against each other over 54 holes while an individual race runs simultaneously, teams played in the same group and the team score was made up of the three best scores on each hole.
In Wednesday’s second round, however, players were paired according to their individual score from Day 1 and their standing on the individual leaderboard in each of four age divisions. The team format switched to a play-four-count-three format, similar to college golf.
Ohio counted rounds of even-par 71 from TJ Brudzinski and Jeff Mallette with Durr contributing a 75. All three of Ohio’s counters birdied the par-5 third hole while Brudzinski and Mallette made birdie and eagle, respectively, on the par-5 seventh.
Ohio is now at 4 over for two rounds.
Team Texas climbed the standings on Day 2 and at 8 under, is within striking distance for the final round. The Texans’ best score, a 1-under 70, came from captain Gary Mundy.
Team Arkansas, captained by veteran player Bev Hargraves, and a second Texas team, this one captained by Mac McGee, are tied for third at 9 over.
The individual leaderboards are just as tight as the team standings after two rounds, with Crispin Fuentes having the biggest lead of five shots (over Durr) in the super senior division. Fuentes is 1 over.
Trey Womack leads the senior division at 2 over after back-to-back rounds of 72. Dan Pouliot is even and three ahead at the top of the legend division. Gary Jeffreys leads the super legend division at 6 over after first-round leader Bill Engel followed and opening 70 with a second-round 80.
Team captain Jim Durr led the way for his Ohio foursome in the opening round of the U.S. Senior Challenge.
Team captain Jim Durr led the way for his Ohio foursome in the opening round of the U.S. Senior Challenge, and thanks in part to his contribution of four birdies to the team score, Ohio is 3 under and three ahead of the competition.
Just a week after the end of the college golf season, the U.S. Senior Challenge presents a unique senior amateur opportunity for players to get that team atmosphere by competing in four-man teams representing their home state. That was particularly apparent in Tuesday’s first round at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, when each four-man team was paired together and the team score consisted of the three best scores on each hole.
Playing in that format, Ohio reached 3-under 213 for the day despite starting a bit behind the 8-ball when the team counted a birdie, a bogey and a double on their opening 13th hole (the first round featured a shot-gun start).
The beauty of the event, as noted by Mike Quinlan, executive director of the U.S. Senior Challenge, is that there’s always a chance to come back, and that was Ohio’s story of the day.
“You can sort of relive your college glory days and travel with three other guys on your team and have a really fun week,” Quinlan said before the tournament, “because even if you did really poorly one day, you’re always wanting to be part of that team score, to have one of the low three scores.”
The California team captained by Nicholas Bock and the Texas team captained by Gary Mundy are both even par after the opening day.
From here, the teams split and do battle on their own as players continue to compete not only for the team title, but for the individual title in each of four age divisions. In the second round, players will be grouped according to their first-round score. A state team score will be figured based on the best three 18-hole scores on each four-man team.
Individually, Crispin Fuentes fired the round of the day with a 2-under 69 that left him one ahead of Durr and Tommy Reynolds in the super senior division.
Bill Engel also was in the red for the day and his 1-under 70 left him with a one-shot lead in the super legend division.
Trey Womack, at 1-over 72, leads the senior division and a three-man tie at 2 over in the legend division includes Dan Pouliot, Brad Mosing and Richard Doebler.
The U.S. Senior Challenge will be played June 4-6.
At the end of May, team golf got its annual moment in the spotlight as the NCAA men’s and women’s national championships were broadcast over two weeks on Golf Channel. Mike Quinlan, executive director of the U.S. Senior Challenge, wants to note the connection between those tournaments and what’s about to happen at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, next week.
“What we’re trying to model now is this is exactly like a college tournament, just like everybody watched on TV where you have teams playing against each other and also at the same time, you’re vying to be the individual champion of the tournament,” Quinlan said.
Outside of two-man best-ball tournaments, the U.S. Senior Challenge, to be played June 4-6, is one of very few opportunities a senior amateur has to compete in a national team competition. State teams are made up of four individuals, with the best three scores counting toward the team total in each of three rounds. While one team champion is crowned, individual champions will be named in each of four age divisions: senior, super senior, legends and super legends. World Amateur Golf Ranking points are also awarded.
The format, Quinlan said, is exactly what makes the U.S. Senior Challenge such an interesting draw for competitive senior amateurs.
“My belief is that this event is super unique,” he said. “You can sort of relive your college glory days and travel with three other guys on your team and have a really fun week, because even if you did really poorly one day, you’re always wanting to be part of that team score, to have one of the low three scores.”
Part of the reason for the void in amateur team golf on the national level has to do with the discontinuation of the U.S. Golf Association’s State Team Championship in 2017. That tournament, which featured three-person teams from each state, however, was not just for seniors.
The U.S. Senior Challenge dates to the mid-1980s but has matured into its current format. The Sun Country Amateur Golf Association, in cooperation with the U.S. Senior Challenge Board of Directors and Golfweek, handles tournament operations, and the event is elevated by a dedicated USGA Boatwright Intern from the SCAGA.
Quinlan’s involvement increased in 2016, when former executive director Jim Bianco was looking to pass the torch. Quinlan, who had been heavily involved in the board of the directors, picked it up. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, resident helped bring in the SCAGA, his local state golf association.
“When we took over, Jim actually had two tournaments, he had the team and the individual event,” Quinlan said. “When we took it over, we combined the two into the college-kind of format because we really didn’t have an interest, No. 1, in running two events and No. 2, there were so many individual events that the unique part of this is that college-kind of format where you’re both playing as a team and individuals.”
State flags fly at a past U.S. Senior Challenge. (Photo courtesy Sun Country Amateur Golf Association)
Teams are formed by a state captain representing participating states (participation, Quinlan notes, varies from year to year depending on where the tournament is played geographically). Some state captains recruit their state’s top players – for example, Quinlan remembers when Arkansas won the team title in 2019 and the state team included brothers Stan Lee and Louis Lee, who had both won U.S. Senior Amateur titles, in 2007 and 2011, respectively.
Sometimes, however, it becomes more of a buddies’ trip. In other cases, teams may not meet until they show up for the practice round. That’s because individuals who are not part of their state’s team can also compete in the tournament, and organizers work to group them into teams from the same state, when possible, or regionally. In this year’s field, almost a third of the 19 teams were formulated that way.
“The longtime captains, they really understand the format well and they’re probably more modeled together as a team versus the people who show up on the first tee and meet for the first time,” Quinlan said.
Quinlan, who captains a New Mexico team and will also play in the event, said the largest U.S. Senior Challenge team field featured 20 teams from 20 different states. He hopes the event continues to gain momentum.
“There’s just never been something like this for seniors and I think going forward it’s a big advantage for us to have the premier team event in the United States.”
