Strong Field at St. Louis District Golf Association Championship
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Updated: Fri 6/19/2009 1:49 pm
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June 19 - Country Club of The Legends - Ted Maloney has already won twice in 2009. He tied with two other players at the Publinx Open at Forest Park in early May and later that month won the Normandie Amateur. Adam Long had a successful season as a member of the Duke University golf team, earning a spot in the NCAA Championship. Both players enter Friday's match play portion of the St. Louis District Golf Association Men's Championship on top of their game, poised to make a run at the STLDGA Major Championship.
Long won his first major amateur event in the Metro area last year, winning the Metropolitan Amateur Championship at Norwood Hills Country Club. Playing a combination of national amateur and local amateur tournaments, Long's schedule didn't always allow him to play the full local schedule. But Long's win last year at Norwood Hills Country Club cemented his position as one of the area's top amateurs, at least for the time being while he remains an amateur.
Maloney on the other hand is a true amateur player, maintaining a real job while juggling his passion for competitive golf. It isn't always easy for the "old" guys to compete against the college players, but Maloney has managed to hold off the young guns a few times already this year and looks to do it again this weekend at The Country Club of the Legends.
Sixteen players advanced to the Match Play portion of the competition which began a day earlier than normal. Usually the competition consists of stroke play qualifying on Thursday and Friday with match play beginning on Saturday, concluding Sunday. Because Sunday is Father's Day, the STLDGA opted to start the stroke play on Wednesday allowing the championship to conclude on Saturday.
Among the sixteen players to qualify for Match Play are the normal suspects of Ted Maloney, Adam Long, Darren Lundgren, Ben Wood, Buddy Allen and David Lucks. Each of these players has qualified for the Metropolitan Match Play Championship in the past, marking them among the area's top amateur players. But there are several new faces in the crowd, evidence of a possible youth movement taking place. Andy Hogenmiller of Washington, MO earned the 4th seed after rounds of 73-69. Patrick Harrell and Ben Crancer are joined by Ryan Weinhaus and John Stika as qualifiers into the sixteen player match play field. Robert Lietz, Van Pierce, Luke Orf, Chad Niezing and Kevin McLaughlin round out the top sixteen.
It's always interesting to see the elder statesmen, like David Lucks, teeing it up against the youngsters. Lucks, having had a storied amateur career, and like most players of his caliber had aspirations of playing professional golf. Similar in that regard are many of the younger players still in contention for the 2009 STLDGA Championship. Ben Wood and Adam Long have enjoyed successful college careers and both have the skills to play at the next level. Andy Hogenmiller had a standout debut at Missouri Southern and appears poised to lead the MIAA Conference for the next three years. Ryan Weinhaus has aspirations to play professionally upon graduation from Missouri State University. And then you have a player like Patrick Harrell who will be entering his Freshmen year at college this fall. Harrell has won on the junior level, but this weekend would elevate Harrell to a completely different level should he surprise the field and advance to Saturday.
