Chip Lutz and Jeff Osberg partnered to shoot a three-day total of 9-under 207 to win the National Senior-Junior Championship on Wednesday at Dye Preserve Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida.
Lutz, of Reading, Pennsylvania, and Osberg, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, carded a final-round 75 in the alternate-shot format to beat a pair of teams by one stroke. Doug Clapp and Jake Shuman (Massachusetts) shared second place with Matt Sughrue and Justin Young (Virginia) at 8-under 208.
Started in 1991, the National Senior-Junior is a 54-hole tournament in which a senior amateur pairs with a mid-amateur. Three formats are played on the Pete Dye layout: Pinehurst alternate shot, better ball and alternate shot.
Three teams opened the event with 7-under 65s in Pinehurst alternate shot, including the Ohio duo of Tony Hejna and Andrew Bailey. Hejna and Bailey went on to shoot 67 in better ball, maintaining a share of the lead heading into the final day. They were tied with Lutz and Osberg, who had opened with 67 before shooting 65 in better ball.
The final round, which traditionally has been a better-ball shootout, became a slog as alternate shot was played in difficult conditions. Only one team (Mike Finster and Derek Busby) broke par for the day, while several contending teams shot in the high 70s or low 80s.
Hejna and Bailey shot 80, plummeting to fifth place. Clapp and Shuman, who started the day three strokes behind the leaders, shot 73 to nearly catch Lutz and Osberg. Sughrue and Young carded 75 to finish the day where they started, one stroke back of the lead.
It’s a particularly meaningful win for Lutz, the decorated senior amateur who happened to turn 68 the day of the final round. The former U.S. Senior Amateur winner and 2015 National Senior Amateur Hall of Fame inductee decided to scale back his competitive play in recent years but has still remained sharp. He made match play in the U.S. Senior Am last year and registered a top-five finish in the Coleman Invitational. Lutz spends his winters in the Jupiter area before returning to Pennsylvania in the summer.
His running mate, Osberg, is a prominent GAP player who has won multiple Pine Valley club championships. He finished runner-up in the 2021 Pennsylvania State Open.
RESULTS
New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori and Japan’s Mizuki Hashimoto won their respective divisions in the Australian Amateur on Friday at New South Wales Golf Club in La Perouse, just outside of Sydney.
Kobori, a 21-year-old who is originally from Japan, closed with a 6-under 66 to win the men’s division by two strokes. His 15-under 273 total edged England’s Arron Edwards-Hill and Japan’s Taishi Moto. Mid-amateur Sam Jones finished fourth at 10-under 278.
After starting the day tied for the lead after rounds of 69-65-73, Kobori took command of the tournament early during the final round. A birdie at the second and an eagle on the par-5 fifth set the tone. By the time he made birdie on No. 16, Kobori had opened a three-stroke lead.
Kobori, who has an older sister on the Ladies European Tour, came into the week ranked No. 86 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He played a summer American amateur schedule with limited success, but his best result of 2022 came when he finished sixth in the Asia Pacific Open.
Hashimoto, 20, had more drama in her victory. The No. 22 amateur in the world and 2021 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific winner had to hold off world No. 3 Saki Baba and Australia’s Justice Bosio to win the women’s title by one stroke.
After starting the final round with a three-stroke lead, Hashimoto made an early double bogey at the fourth. Although she would make four birdies in her ensuing eight holes, Hashimoto found herself in a tough battle.
Baba, the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champ, made birdies at Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 16 to reach 11-under for the tournament. However, an untimely bogey on the par-5 18th left her one shot short.
Bosio made an early eagle at the par-5 seventh and played well enough to have a chance at a playoff coming down the final hole. She left a birdie attempt short of the hole, settling for the runner-up position.
Sean Fairholm