Lehman and Whittaker Miss Cut at U.S. Senior Amateur

  EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.Y. – Jim Lehman’s 4-over par 75 Sunday at Hidden Creek Golf Club put him into a tie for 76th place after two rounds of stroke play at the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.

Unfortunately for Lehman, he would come up one stroke short of qualifying for the match play portion of the tournament for the third consecutive year, finishing at 10-over par 152.

Lehman, Minnetonka, Minn., carded a 6-over par 77 during the opening round Saturday and would get off to a slow start during the second round Sunday, making bogey on the opening hole to slip to 7-over for the championship.

Rolling in a birdie putt at the par-4 13th, Lehman would draw even for the day before taking three consecutive bogeys beginning at the 15th to fall to 9-over.

Lehman, who won back-to-back Minnesota Golf Association Senior Amateur Championships in 2013 and 2014, found some consistency on his back nine Sunday, rolling four consecutive pars before dropping his birdie chance at the fifth to get back to 8-under.

But a pair of late bogeys Sunday would keep Lehman from advancing to match play as he finished tied for 76th at 152, one shot outside the cut line.

Steve Whittaker, also playing in his third U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, began the championship with a 10-over par 81 Saturday before starting Sunday’s second round with back-to-back bogeys to drop to 12-over for the championship.

Whittaker got back on track with a birdie at the par-3 fourth hole, but gave back a shot with a bogey at the sixth.

He responded with another birdie at the eighth hole, but would turn at 2-over for the day with his fifth bogey on the front side at the ninth.

A bogey to open the back nine put Whittaker at 13-over par before taking a double-bogey at the 13th to fall to 15-over before finishing his round with five straight pars to shoot 76, missing the cut for match play by six shots.

Whittaker, Becker, Minn., first qualified for the tournament in 2010 and played in the championship again in 2011.


For complete tournament results go to: www.usga.org/championships/2015/u-s--senior-amateur-/scoring.html