U.S. Senior Amateur – Syndication Server

Chris Hall in front after opening round at 2023 Golfweek Super Senior National Championship

Hall not only qualified for the U.S. Senior Am but is atop the leaderboard early on at the Golfweek Super Senior National Championship

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Chris Hall isn’t your typical elite senior amateur golfer.

The 65-year-old golf course arborist isn’t able to play in a lot of the big events throughout the year because of his job. Assisting in jobs across the country, Hall most recently completed a project at the Honors course in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is starting another at East Lake soon.

That hasn’t stopped him from completing one of the hardest achievements to accomplish in the senior amateur game – qualifying for the U.S. Senior Amateur.

In what will be his sixth U.S. Senior Amateur later this summer, Hall was able to forego qualifying for the event, earning an exemption into the event as a top-25 senior golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

“I’m not a ‘professional amateur’,” Hall said. “They get to play nearly every week somewhere. I don’t get to do that.”

Despite not teeing it up regularly, Hall not only qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur but finds himself atop the leaderboard early on at the Golfweek Super Senior National Championship held at The Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta.

Hall carded a bogey-free 3-under 69 in the opening round.

“This is my first super senior event, and I’m still pretty long,” he said. “(The course) takes the longer clubs out of my bag. I’m hitting a lot of 3-wood and rescue off of the tee.”

Feeling his way through the golf course, Hall stuck to his game plan of keeping his ball in the short stuff, resulting in hitting 14 greens in regulation and just 30 putts. Not too bad for a guy new to the 65-70 age division.

So what’s the mentality for Hall the rest of the way? Well, it’s simple.

“Play smart golf.”

Three shots back from Hall is Georgia’s Robert Allen II who looks to piece together another solid round following a first-round 72. Mike Arter (1 over) is in third and will look to close the gap during Wednesday’s second round.

Five more players are tied at 2 over, including Hall’s Central Alabama Community College teammate Emile Vaughan.

Legends (70-74)

Don Kuehn paces the legends age division, shooting a 73. Kuehn takes a one-shot lead into moving day. Three players are tied at 2 over. and five more are within five shots of Kuehn.

Super Legends (75+)

Alabama’s Wayne Gardner bested his age to take command of a one-shot lead in the Super Legends division. With three birdies on his scorecard, Gardner could have flirted with a sub-70 score had it not been for an eight on the par-5 11th hole.

Gardner leads the way with Florida’s Bill Engel just one shot back (3 over) and eight more golfers within five strokes of his lead.

Rusty Strawn outduels fellow Georgian Doug Hanzel for 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur title

It was a Peach State battle in the Bay State.

Fellow Georgians Rusty Strawn and Doug Hanzel locked horns in the final Thursday of the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur and it was Strawn coming out on top thanks to a 3-and-2 win at The Kittansett Club in Marion, Massachusetts.

Strawn, who was the 2021 Golfweek Senior Player of the Year, is the fourth golfer from Georgia to win. This December, he’ll be the captain for the Golfweek Challenge Cup at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Strawn, 59, is also the fourth Georgia Southern alum to win a USGA championship, following in the footsteps of his former college teammate Gene Sauers (2016 U.S. Senior Open), Jodie Mudd (1980 and 1981 U.S. Amateur Public Links) and Stewart “Buddy” Alexander (1986 U.S. Amateur).

“It’s amazing,” said Strawn. “I mean, I never thought that I’d have this opportunity [or] if I could actually pull it off. I felt like that I had the game in the right conditions and the right course setup, because I have that determination. But it’s just amazing.”

This was the first time in 19 years that the U.S. Senior Amateur came down to two golfers from the same state.

Strawn jumped out to an early lead, winning five of the first six holes.

“I gave him some simple holes,” said Hanzel, 65, who was competing in his 40th USGA championship.

With the win, Strawn is exempt into the next 10 U.S. Senior Ams, the next two U.S. Amateurs, as well as the 2023 U.S. Senior Open Championship, which will be staged at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

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Top-ranked senior Gene Elliott leads Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champions

Top-ranked senior amateur Gene Elliott is back where he is most familiar: atop the leaderboard.

Gene Elliott, the top-ranked senior amateur, is back where he is most familiar: at the top of the leaderboard.

With 18 holes to play at the Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champions at The Forest Country Club Bear Course in Ft. Myers, Florida, Elliott should feel pretty comfortable.

The 59-year-old from Iowa has already had a year for the record books, winning both the U.S. Senior Amateur and the British Senior Amateur. He also has a track record at this event where he has won twice since its inception in 2018.

Elliott began the second round two shots back of co-leaders Dave Bunker and Jerry Gunthorpe, who each began the day at 2 under. Carding birdies on holes Nos. 2, 3, and 4, Elliott made quick work in erasing the deficit. Despite a bogey on the par-4 16th, he did enough to take the top spot heading into Friday’s final round.

Bunker negated any ground made up on the field in the first round with a second-round 75. Having four bogeys on his card, the top-ranked Canadian senior slid from a tie for first to solo second at 1 over. As for Gunthorpe, a trio of back-to-back bogeys throughout the day saw him fall into a tie for sixth at 4 over.

Seven golfers are within five strokes of Elliott heading into Friday’s final round. The two co-leaders from round one find themselves still atop the Super Senior division. Randy King and Edward Turner account for two-thirds of tomorrow’s final pairing as they sit at 5 over with Keith McKelvy.

Defending Legend champion Jim Rollefson leads the pack that will be looking to chase Charley Yandell, who backed up his opening 1-over 73 with yet another to take a commanding four-stroke lead in the Legend division.

Gil Stenholm of Illinois bounced back from a first round 78 with a 1-over 73 on Thursday to go 7 over for the tournament. The 75-year old leads by two over Jack Marin who sits in solo second. Round 1 leader Steve Wilson and defending champion Charlie Busbee lurk at 10 and 11 over respectively.

Four golfers will take home trophies and have bragging rights as a ‘Champion of Champions’ following play on Friday.

Leaving the cold at home, Jerry Gunthorpe, Dave Bunker share lead at Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champions

Jerry Gunthorpe and Dave Bunker headline the leaderboard after Round 1 at The Forest Country Club.

The runner up from the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur, Jerry Gunthorpe, and top Canadian senior Dave Bunker headline the leaderboard after the first round of the Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champions at The Forest Country Club Bear Course in Ft. Myers, Florida.

Firing a pair of 2-under 70s on Wednesday, the snow birds flew south, leaving any rust they had at home and starting out in form to open the tournament. Gunthorpe, a native of Michigan, has been beating balls on his indoor simulator he built in his home. Even through seven holes, Gunthorpe dropped a 40-foot bomb on the par-5 ninth for an eagle, giving him a two shot swing. That putt brought him back to red numbers after trading a birdie and bogey earlier on the front nine.

With another bogey on No. 14, the 58-year old Michigander claimed another birdie on the par-4 16th to get himself back to 2-under, making the eagle on No. 9 the difference maker.

As for Bunker, his day got off to an odd start with a double-bogey on the par-4 4th. Carding a birdie on No. 9, Bunker rattled off three more birdies in a five hole stretch on the back-nine to more than negate his mistake early on in the day.

Reigning U.S. Senior Amateur champion and two-time winner of this event in 2018 and 2020, Gene Elliott sits in solo fourth, just three shots off the lead with 36 holes remaining. Separating him from the top is Joe Shaktman of Coral Spring, Florida, who opened the tournament with a 1-under 71. Nine golfers are separated by four strokes making Thursday’s moving day all the more interesting.

In the Super Senior division, defending champion Doug Hopton-Jones is tied with John Armstrong, Randy King and Edward Turner at 3 over. Charley Yandell leads the Legends flight after almost shooting his age, posting a 1-over 73. He leads by two in the age 70-74 bracket.

In the Super Legends flight for golfers 75 and up, California’s Steve Wilson, who dropped in two birdies en route to an impressive three-over 75 just two weeks shy of his 80th birthday, who leads.

Second-round action tees off at 8 a.m. ET.

Meet Jeff Wright, the former model and rock star who lost it all but has found his way back to golf at the U.S. Senior Amateur

Get to know the most interesting man in the U.S. Senior Amateur field.

It’s been a few years but Jeff Wright can still feel the embarrassment of being woken up in his car in the middle of the night by security because he was sleeping in the parking lot.

“I’ve slept in the back of my car so many times after being just beaten up on a course over the last couple of years,” Wright said earlier this week from a hotel room in Detroit. “Getting woken up in the middle of the night by security because I’m not supposed to be parked in the parking lot of a tournament I’m playing in and just being humiliated. It’s like, dude, if you had any idea the only reason why I’m here is because I can’t afford to get a hotel but I’m five shots out of the lead.”

Wright hasn’t always been a homeless golfer chasing his dream on the course. In fact, the former millionaire has lived a life most thrill-seekers can only dream of. Coming out of high school in California, he was one of the best players in the country. After losing his game in a short stint at Arizona State, Wright returned home to the University of California-Irvine with a new hobby: the guitar.

“I kind of discovered that I had a little bit of a gift for writing and creativity. Low and behold my human sex education teacher at UC-Irvine, in an auditorium of about 250 people, wants to read my exemplary paper out loud. Everybody on my golf team is there, all my friends, and he goes, ‘This what an A-plus paper should be,’ and I just sunk in my chair. I walked off campus and never went back to school. I was like, ‘I’m done.’”

What came next for Wright was a successful 30 years in the music business where he opened for everyone from Hall and Oates to Train and Sugar Ray, followed by an epic fall from grace that left him, you guessed it, homeless. Despite misstep after setback, the former model, rock star and Millionaire Matchmaker contestant has found his way back to golf and will put his game on display Aug 28-Sept. 2. at the U.S. Senior Amateur at Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.

Get to know the most interesting man in the U.S. Senior Amateur field.

Country Club of Detroit to host U.S. Senior Amateur in 2021

The USGA is bringing the U.S. Senior Amateur to Detroit in 2021. The announcement came as part of changes to future host sites.

The U.S. Golf Association is bringing the U.S. Senior Amateur to Detroit in 2021. The announcement came as part of changes to future host sites for the event.

The Country Club of Detroit, in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, will be the site of the 66th championship in 2021, scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 2. The Honors Course, in Ooltewah, Tennessee, will host the 69th U.S. Senior Amateur on Aug. 24-29, 2024.

The Country Club of Detroit, the site of two previous U.S. Amateur Championships, was originally slated to host the 2020 U.S. Senior Amateur, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Honors Course, which hosted the 1991 U.S. Amateur and 1994 Curtis Cup Match among its five previous USGA championships, was scheduled to host the 2021 Senior Amateur but is moving to allow for a more complete recovery from damage sustained in a tornado in April.

“The Country Club of Detroit is excited to continue our long tradition of supporting amateur golf by proudly hosting the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship,” said George J. Baer III, club president. “As the location where Arnold Palmer launched his historic career by winning the 1954 U.S. Amateur, the Country Club of Detroit holds a unique place in golf history, and we look forward to continuing this great tradition.”

The Country Club of Detroit was founded in 1897 and designed by two Brits, golf architects Harry Colt and Charles Hugh Alison. It was restored by Tom Doak in 2011.

In addition to Palmer’s victory in the 1954 U.S. Am, the beginning of a storied career, the U.S. Amateur was also contested there in 1915, when Robert A. Gardner claimed the second of his two championships.

By stepping up to host in 2021, the Country Club of Detroit provides some welcome relief for the Honors Course, designed by Pete Dye and opened in 1983.

“The Honors Course is grateful to the Country Club of Detroit for taking on the 2021 championship while our course attempts to recover from the recent tornado,” said Joe Richardson, chairman of The Honors Course. “Our club’s mission has always been to honor amateur golf and we are pleased to be hosting USGA championships into the next decade.”

The U.S. Senior Amateur has been played since 1955.

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