RDGA Member Clubs Work Together When Weather Forces Shift for USGA Qualifiers
When more than 2 inches of rain fell on Mendon Golf Club within an hour on Monday morning, July 24, above - making the course unplayable - tournament officials and management at the nearby Golf Club at Blue Heron Hills stepped up to offer their club to host the 75-player field for the U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifier.With torrential downpours becoming "par for the course" this year when it comes to hosting golf events throughout the Rochester area, one such downpour didn't let golfers, tournament organizers - and two local golf courses - from going "on with the show" on Monday, July 24, when faced with yet another weather-related postponement.
In an example of teamwork between two local golf facilities, two USGA Sectional Qualifiers that had been scheduled for two different area courses since the beginning of the season - the U.S. Senior Amateur Qualifier at the Golf Club at Blue Heron Hills and the U.S. Amateur Qualifier at Mendon Golf Club - came together and were hosted by the one venue that had the space and conditions to do so.
Already operating under a tight schedule for the U.S. Amateur Qualifier - which featured a full field of 75 golfers from around the world playing 36 holes in one day - Mendon Golf Club was faced with a small crisis when the course was hit with nearly two inches of rain in just over an hour before players even teed off. Along with tournament officials, Mendon superintendent Mike Armstrong soon made the decision that the course was unplayable and would take several hours before water subsided enough to allow play.
With several of the registered players from out of town and facing travel and scheduling conflicts, officials scrambled for a solution. Stepping up to offer a solution was Blue Heron Hills' principle owner Tom Mayberry. With his club already hosting the U.S. Senior Amateur Qualifier - which featured a field of only 15 players and without the same rainfall that caused Mendon to become unplayable - he offered to host the first round of the U.S. Amateur Qualifier later that day, as well as the second round early on Tuesday.
 At one point, on Monday, July 24, the scoreboard at Blue Heron Hills displayed
scoresheets from two separate USGA qualifiers taking place simultaneously.
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Shifting schedules on the fly, the change in venues was quickly implemented and both Qualifiers were completed without any other issue. As a thank-you for hosting the U.S. Amateur Qualifier on short notice, Mendon's principle owner, Andrew Pricipe, offered to host a number of players from Blue Heron Hills who had been displaced by the rescheduled event.
As for the events themselves, the field of 15 golfers in the 18-hole U.S. Senior Amateur Sectional Qualifiercompeted for one qualifying position and two alternate spots at Blue Heron Hills on Monday.
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Winning medalist honors was James Smith of Orchard Park, NY, posting a round of 4-over-par 75. Smith earned a position in the starting field for the 63rd U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, scheduled for August 26-31 at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In the 36-hole U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifier, after the format changed from 36 holes over one day to 18 on Monday and 18 on Tuesday, 34 golfers from the original 76-player field withdrew due to scheduling conflicts or travel commitments. The original field included golfers from all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Canada and Argentina.
| The remaining 42 players who teed off in Tuesday's second round were competing for two qualifying positions in the 2017 U.S. Amateur Championship, with the next two finishers being designated as alternates.
Gaston Bertinotti of Argentina added a 3-under-par 68 on Tuesday to his first-round score of 1-under-par 70 for a 36-hole total of 4-under-par 138 to capture medalist honors and the first qualifying spot for the U.S. Amateur.
Earning the second qualifying position was first round leader Ben Reichert of Tampa, Florida. Reichert posted scores of 68-73 for a 1-under-par 141 total. Finishing third overall - and earning the first alternate spot - was Blake Windred of Australia, posting scores of 71-71 for an even-par 142.
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 Some of the people who "made it work" when weather
forced a shift in venues included, left to right: Blue Heron Hills'
co-owner Tom Mayberry, PGA Head Pro Jim Edmister and club
superintendent Mark Montebella, right, as they posed with U.S.
Amateur Qualifying medalist Gaston Bertinotti, second from right.
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Four players finished tied for fourth place at 1-over-par 143 for the Qualifier - forcing a playoff to determine the second alternate position. In that playoff, Michael Mattiace of Ponte Vedra, Florida won the second alternate spot with a birdie on the third extra hole. Also in the playoff were Jamie Miller, Luke Moser and Daniel Gianniny of Pittsford.
 In the U.S. Senior Amateur Qualifier on Monday, James Smith of Orchard Park, left, in left photo, above, earned medalist honors from USGA Committee
member Jerry Stahl, right. On Tuesday, in the U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifier, Argentina's Gaston Bertinotti, right, in right photo, is presented with the
award for qualifying medalist from USGA Committee member Ed Thaney, left.
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Along with Gianniny, other local golfers among the top-25 finishers included Chris Blyth (T11, 74-73--147); Patrick Dipasquale (19, 76-75--151); Will Thomson (20, 75-77--152); Evan Gaesser (T21, 77-76--153) and Colin Dubnik (T21, 76-77--153).
The top two finishers from the Sectional Qualifier now advance to the 117th U.S. Amateur Championship, tobe hosted by Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles on August 14 to 20, 2017.
And all the qualifiers - as well as USGA officials - can thank two local golf facilities for working together to resolve yet another headache caused by Rochester's seemingly never-ending rainfall this year.