Schneider Medals; 3 Others Advance to U.S. Mid-Amateur

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By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  HASTINGS, Minn. – Despite missing a good portion of the summer due to injury, Matt Schneider shot a 1-under par 70 Tuesday at Hastings Country Club, earning medalist honors as he qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship along with three others.

Schneider, Cohasset, Minn., will be joined by Troy Johnson, Maple Grove, Minn., Topher Baron, Minnetonka, Minn., and Tony Daffer of Eden Prairie, Minn.

The qualifier was held to determine the field for the 33rd U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at the Country Club of Birmingham in Birmingham, Ala., October 5-10.

Schneider, 25, Grand Rapids, Minn., qualified for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in June but was forced to miss after taking a bat to the face, requiring surgery.

“I haven’t played in anything—I’ve barely played any golf. I’ve played maybe once a week with some buddies,” Schneider said.

“I was 1-over without making a par through five holes and I started putting really well on my back nine,” Schneider said. “I had a lot of long putts that I two-putted and made a few short ones for birdie.”

His game showed very little signs of rust as he birdied the opening hole to quickly jump to 1-under but struggled a bit on the next couple of holes. Schneider (who started on the 10th hole) missed the green with a wedge on the 11th hole, making bogey, then three-putted on the 12th for bogey.

Schneider got back to even par with another birdie at the 13th, but gave back a stroke with a bogey on the 14th. He would birdie two of the last four holes on his front nine as he made the turn at 1-under.

He was a bit more consistent on the final nine holes as he would make one birdie and one bogey to finish his round at 1-under.

“I hit my drives well today; I didn’t get myself in much trouble, other than hole seven I played really solid on the front nine,” Schneider said.

Just turning 25, Schneider played in the qualifier for the first time Tuesday.

“It’s huge. It means a lot since I missed a lot of golf this summer,” he said. “This will be my fourth USGA event so I think I’m getting more comfortable every time. I’m shooting for match play—I haven’t made it yet, so that’s my goal.”

Johnson got off to a terrible start Tuesday but quickly got things turned around on the final nine holes to finish in second, shooting a 1-over par 72 to earn a spot in the championship.

“It was a tale of two sides for me. My swing felt good but I played horrible on the front nine,” Johnson said.

Johnson opened his round with four bogeys on the first nine holes to make the turn at 4-over par. He got things going in the right direction with a birdie on the 10th hole, but fell back to 4-over with another bogey on the 12th.

With a birdie on the 14th hole Johnson moved back to 3-over and then made a huge 10-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th hole and would finish his round at 1-over par 72.

“More than anything my patience was there today. I felt like I was giving it my all on every shot and wasn’t giving up but I think my mental game is what kept me in there,” Johnson said.

“This will be my seventh USGA event so it’s fun because I haven’t played in one in the last three years. I’ve qualified for the U.S. Public Links and it’s so much tougher because of the level of competition,” he said. “The mid-ams are nice, the USGA treats you really well and courses are really nice. They aren’t set up as hard as the amateur, but it’s a lot of fun and I’m really excited about it.”

Baron carded a 2-over par 73 to finish alone in third place while qualifying for the championship. Baron got off to a rocky start as well as he made three bogeys through the opening seven holes before a birdie at the ninth dropped him back to 2-over heading to the final nine holes.

He made birdie on the tenth, but it was erased with a bogey on the 11th as Baron would make par on the final seven holes to finish at 73.

Daffer and Jesse Bull, Minneapolis, finished tied for fourth at 3-over par 74, but Daffer won on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to earn the final qualifying position.

The opening nine wasn’t kind to Daffer either as he would make for bogeys on the first nine to make the turn at 4-over, but he turned things around quickly on the back. Daffer made eagle on the 520-yard par-5 10th hole to drop to 2-over and with a birdie on the following hole, went to 1-over.

But Daffer would have two more hiccups, making bogey on the 13th and 16th to finish at 3-over 74.

“The scores were a little higher than I expected,” Daffer said. “The pins were in tough spots. I had a poor start but I parred seven, eight and nine, which are the tough holes on the front side. I played okay—I played hard, but I was surprised 74 was good enough to get into a playoff.”

“I putted really well; I didn’t have any three-putts and had some one-putts for some good up and downs. Ten years ago I qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont, so this is pretty cool to qualify again, I’m really excited,” Daffer said.

Bull and Jesse Polk, Farmington, Minn., finished as first and second alternates, respectively.

For complete tournament results go to: http://www.ghintpp.com/mngolf/TPPOnlineScoring/ResultsStroke.aspx?id=510