Senior 4 Ball
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Maloney Wins Normandie Amateur
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Updated: Mon 5/18/2009 6:31 pm
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Ted Moloney will be the first to tell you that it's a bit misleading to say he captured the Normandie Amateur at Normandie Golf Club on Sunday. It was more like he surrounded it, as if the two — player and golf course — reached an understanding.
"Normandie had some teeth, that's for sure," Moloney said.
Normandie is one of the more unusual and challenging layouts in the area. Wet from rain and protected by winds, it was especially disagreeable over the weekend. The two days included 238 rounds of competition, not a single golfer scored at par or better. Of those rounds, 165 were in the 80s or higher.
But Moloney, who jumped into a share of the lead with a 1-over-par 72 Saturday, carded a 3-over 74 Sunday to finish at 4-over 146 for the two days and edge Skip Berkmeyer (75-72-147) by a stroke. John Anderson closed with a 72 to finish two strokes back, while Jeff Johnson's 76 left him three back in fourth place.
Bob Hanneken had a second consecutive 75 to finish fifth. Brad Welch, a co-leader with Moloney after shooting a first-round 72, closed with an 80. For Moloney, who has qualified for a U.S. Mid-Amateur, it was his first area victory. He played golf at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., where he said he was "just kind of average."
Seems he has improved with age. "As I play a bit, I get a little wiser with each year," said the 36-year-old Moloney, who was ninth in the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association Player of the Year standings last year. "It's great just to win."
The day did not start so promising for Moloney, who bogeyed two of the first three holes. But a string of pars, and a birdie at No. 13, put him in position to survive a scary bogey at Normandie's notorious closing hole, the 246-yard par 3 No. 18.
"Obviously, I wasn't feeling very good as the day started," he said. "But I settled down and made a bunch of pars. And I started getting reports that nobody was going low, so I knew I had a chance."
Ahead by two at No. 18, Moloney blocked out his tee shot and went way right. "I was in position to make double there," he said. But he managed to put an 8-iron on the green 20 feet from the flag and get down in two to "save" bogey and win with a stroke to spare.
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