Headline: Eight Bay State Golfers Take Part in the 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Kiawah Island (SC)
For Immediate Release: October 4, 2009
Norton, MA — The Bay State was well represented at the 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship which was held this week at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
Unfortunately all eight competitors will be returning home after failing to qualify for the match play portion of the tournament.
Earning a spot at Championship Proper was an impressive feat for the eight competitors as they were part of a qualifying pool of 4,188 golfers from across the country. Those amateur golfers – who are all 25 years and older – vyed for the 234 qualifying spots (there were 18 exemptions granted this year) that were available at localy qualifying.
Representing Massachusetts this year were: Herbie Aikens (Pinehills GC), Doug Clapp (Old Sandich GC), Andrew Diramio (Indian Pond CC), Andy Drohen (Crestview CC), Brian Higgins (Franklin CC), David Holmes (Blackstone National GC), Jack Kearney (Elmcrest CC) and Kevin Quinn (Charles River CC).
Diramio and Aikens (shown above right) came the closest to advancing to the first round of match play as they both finished with a two-day stroke play total of 7-over par 150. Following a nine-for-three playoff, the two Bay Staters were eliminated.
Here is a summary of the individual scores.
The 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship was played at the 6,964-yard, par-72 Cassique and the 6,908-yard, par-71 The River Course at The Kiawah Island Club. (casq=Cassique; trc=The River Course)
Here are some interesting notes from this year's U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
Herbie Aikens, 27, of Plympton, Mass., is the owner of Lighthouse Electrical Contracting, which he founded in 2002 and his first job was for $267.
Jack Kearney, 54, of Peachtree City, Ga., is an airline pilot and his son, Patrick will serve as caddie. They normally work together in a different fashion – Patrick is an air traffic controller at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport which is Jack’s home port. The elder Kearney is playing in his ninth Mid-Amateur.
Two players celebrated birthdays on the eve of the championship on Oct. 2 – Andrew Diramio , 27, of Duxbury, Mass., and Bill Zylstra, 58, of Plymouth, Mich. Robert Gerwin, of Cincinnati, Ohio, turns 43 on Oct. 8.
A total of 43 states are represented in the field. California (32), Texas (20), Illinois (16), Pennsylvania (12), Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and New York (11) and Ohio (10) have the most players.
John Lindholm, 64, of Grand Blanc, Mich., is the oldest player in the field. He is making his fourth appearance at the Mid-Amateur. He has played in five different USGA championships – Senior Open, Amateur, Senior Amateur, Mid-Amateur and State Team. The youngest is Andrew Rice, of Baltimore, Md., who turned 25 on July 6.
Frank Babusik, 44, of Pompano Beach, Fla., served nearly 13 years in the Air Force and was deployed in the Desert Storm and Desert Shield operations. He was a flight engineer and logged more than 3,200 hours of flight time in more than 32 countries. He is playing his fourth Mid-Amateur.
A.J. Balulis, 25, of Chicago, is playing in his first Mid-Amateur but as a fledging stand-up comedian, he says: “If you think competing in a USGA event will cause you to get nervous or the jitters, you haven’t stood up in front of 200 rowdy spectators!”
John Bearrie III, 40, of Arlington, Texas, was a caddie from late 1991 through 1992 for Joel Edwards on the PGA Tour. Bearrie is playing in his fourth Mid-Amateur.
Nick Biesecker, 33, of Staunton, Va., is a player manager for professional golfers including Stuart Appleby. He took lessons from two-time U.S. Amateur champion E. Harvie Ward and is playing in his first USGA championship since the 1993 U.S. Junior Amateur.
T.J. Brudzinski, 48, of Columbus, Ohio, is playing in his fourth Mid-Amateur and is the brother of Bob Brudzinski, who played on the Miami Dolphins ‘Killer Bees’ defense in the 1980s.
John Capra, 45, of Martinsville, N.J., is playing his second Mid-Amateur as a left-hander. In 1995, he qualified as a right-handed player and again in 2000 as a lefty. He has two holes-in-one right-handed and one left-handed.
Robert Cotten, 43, of Brewton, Ala., shattered his elbow in 2003 in a scooter accident. He had two major surgeries but his left arm remains at a 45 degree angle. He was a two-time Division II All-American in golf at Troy State.
Robert Crockett, 31, of Louisville, Ky., is a seventh generation direct descendent of Davy Crockett. He shot 60 on July 4 this year in Evansville, Ind., and missed a 10-foot putt for 59. This is his first Mid-Amateur.
Brett Egge, 26, of Sioux Falls, S.D., is a full-time caddie on the Champions Tour. He caddied for past U.S. Senior Open champion Graham Marsh and is now on the bag of Gene Jones. He is playing in his first Mid-Amateur.
Erik Hanson, 44, of Kirkland, Wash., played 14 seasons of major league baseball (Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox) and was an All-Star Game selection in 1995 for Boston. He lived in the Arnold Palmer dormitory at Wake Forest University with Billy Andrade, Jerry Haas and Len Mattiace but did not play golf until he played for the Reds. He is playing in his first Mid-Amateur.
Jeff Wilson, 46, of Fairfield, Calif., has been the medalist at the Mid-Amateur three times (2000, 2001, 2004), a semifinalist twice (2001, 2002) and a quarterfinalist three times (2000, 2001, 2002). Wilson is playing in his seventh Mid-Amateur and has been the low amateur at the U.S. Open (2000) and the medalist at the U.S. Amateur (2001).
Tim Mickelson, 32, of San Diego., Calif., is the younger brother of 1990 U.S. Amateur champion Phil Mickelson. A right-hander, Tim is the head men’s golf coach at the University of San Diego. He is playing in his third Mid-Amateur and advanced to the quarterfinals in 2007.
For complete coverage of the 2009 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, please visit www.usmidam.org.