Tennessee’s Watford tops U.S. Mid-Amateur QualifierWAYNE, Pa. — Tennesseans Tim Blount and Kevin Watford usually center a summer trip around U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying events. They decided to make St. Davids Golf Club one of their stops this year. It was worth it. Watford, with Blount on the bag, carded a 5-under-par 65 to earn medalist honors in a qualifier administered by the Golf Association of Philadelphia at the par 70, 6,583 yard-layout. Watford will now compete in his third straight and fifth overall U.S. Mid-Amateur. “It feels good,” Watford, 38, said. “You know that you have to come out and play a solid round of golf. You get it to 1 or 2 under and you want to keep your foot on the gas because you never know how you’re going to finish.” Watford stomped on that pedal, carding four birdies and two eagles on the day. File his experience on Nos. 4 (par 4,372 yards) and 5 (par 4,428 yards) under golf oddities. He flew a front left hole location on the first with a wedge from 130 yards. Watford then left his birdie putt short, ran his next try eight feet by and missed the comebacker to save bogey. He quickly erased the error with an energizing eagle on No. 5; Watford holed a full 8-iron from 145 yards. “I knew it was close,” Watford, a three-time Nashville City Champion, said. “It settled me down a little bit.” Watford began his inward tour ablaze. He drilled a 5-iron to 15 feet on No. 10 (par 3, 175 yards) and drained a left-to-right breaker for birdie. A stick-centric 3-wood sailed 246 yards and settled a foot from the No. 11 (par 5, 544 yards) jar; Watford tapped in for eagle. He dumped a wedge from 125 yards into the front right bunker on No. 13 (par 4, 420 yards) and failed to get up-and-down. Watford then fired three straight birdies to move to 5 under. He canned a 25-footer from the back fringe on No. 14 (par 3, 165 yards) following a 6-iron tee shot; a 10-footer on No. 15 (par 4, 448 yards) following a 7-iron from 160 yards. Watford reached the No. 16 (par 5, 499 yards) green in two strokes with a 3-iron from 220 yards and two-putted from 40 feet. Over the weekend, St. Davids member Emmet Fitzgerald showed Watford the lay of the land. The visit paid off. “There are a lot of uphill shots here that you have to adjust for,” Watford, a member at The Governor’s Club of Tennessee, said. “The greens are pretty severe in terms of back-to-front slopes. This is a greens and fairways golf course. If you get out of the fairway, and it’s going to penalize you quite a bit.” Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Marc Mandel fired a 4-under-par 66 to place second. The Conshohocken, Pa. resident thrived after a birdie-birdie start to qualify for his second straight U.S. Mid-Amateur. “I kept the ball in play. I didn’t make any big numbers out there,” Mandel, 30, said. Starting on the back nine, Mandel knocked a 6-iron to six feet for birdie. He also inked 4s on a pair of par 5s (Nos. 11 and 16) following superb sand shots that stopped six feet and a foot, respectively, from the cup. Mandel hit a gap wedge 130 yards to 15 feet for birdie on No. 18 (par 4, 394 yards) to turn at 4 under. He maintained that number coming in, carding two birdies against two bogeys. Earning a spot in his first national championship was Matthew Mattare of Saucon Valley Country Club, who carded a 3-under-par 67 Monday. “I’ve been trying to qualify for USGA events for six or seven years. It’s nice to finally break through and get it done,” Mattare, 26, of New York, N.Y., said. Also booking tickets to Illinois were Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Joe April and John Brennan, Patrick Knott of Merion Golf Club and Glenn Smeraglio of Mercer Oaks Golf Course. The U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship will be held Sept. 8-13 at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill. Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 145 Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
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A Walk Through Time
GAP is the oldest state or regional golf association in the country. It started courtesy of a friendly competition – the Team Matches – and has grown into the preeminent golf association in the country. Along the way, golf history has been made.
