PINE VALLEY, N.J. (Sept. 14, 2018) – After two rounds of stroke play at Pine Valley Golf Club,
Stewart Hagestad landed on top of a Crump Cup leaderboard loaded with the top mid-amateurs from around the country. For Hagestad, the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, medalist honors cap a memorable summer. Last month at Pebble Beach, the 27-year-old made it to match play at the U.S. Amateur for the first time in nine tries.
Advancing to the championship match play bracket at Pine Valley assured Hagestad a head-to-head against 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
Scott Harvey.
For Harvey, it will be a shot at redemption against Hagestad. The last time the two squared off it was in the final match of the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur. Harvey was attempting to win his second U.S. Mid-Am title in three years, and was tantalizingly close, four up with five holes to go, before Hagestad launched a
furious comeback to take the match on the 37th hole.
Hagestad won the title, received a Masters invitation, and went on to earn
low amateur honors at Augusta National the following year.
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Stewart Hagestad with Pete Wlodkowski
of AmateurGolf.com at Pebble Beach
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Hagestad, of Newport Beach, Calif., leapfrogged first-round leader
Brad Nurski of St. Joseph, Mo., in Friday’s second round of stroke play. Nurski followed his opening 68 with a 74 while Hagestad went 69-72. Nurski will draw two-time Crump Cup champion
Michael Muehr, who won the Coleman Invitational at Seminole Golf club last spring, in the first round of match play.
Related: Crump Cup: Berkmeyer, Nurski Lead After Round One
Scores were generally higher across the board on Friday, even though weather was still ideal for playing golf. Among the few players to drastically lower his score from Thursday to Friday was 2017 Mid-Amateur champion
Matt Parziale. The firefighter from Brockton, Mass., had a final-round 70 to gain considerable ground on the leaderboard, and qualify for the championship bracket.
Parziale ended up as part of a six-way tie for sixth with
Nathan Smith,
Andrew Price,
Dennis Bull,
Jeronimo Esteve and first-round co-leader
Skip Berkmeyer. Parziale and Berkmeyer, who won the Crump Cup in 2009 and also made it to match play at the U.S. Amateur earlier this summer, will face off Saturday in the first round of match play.
In all, four past U.S. Mid-Amateur champions advanced to the championship flight (Parziale, Hagestad, Harvey and Smith).
Kevin Marsh and
Mike McCoy, also past Mid-Am champions, advanced to match play in the second and third flight, respectively.
The match play draw also includes three past Crump Cup champions in
Carlton Forrester, Berkmeyer and Muehr.
In the Senior Division,
Jeff Burda of Modesta, Calif was the stroke play medalist by four shots with rounds of 73-71. Burda will take on Steve Harwell in the first round of match play.
There are two senior match-play brackets which feature eight players each, and they have their own share of legends.
Gene Elliott, the 2013 Crump Cup champion, took the No. 3 seed in the senior championship bracket. The defending senior champion
John McClure also made the championship flight, keeping his title defense alive. He will face 2016 U.S. Senior champion
Dave Ryan in the first round of match play.
The second flight includes recent Porter Cup Senior winner
Keith Decker, 2002 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
George Zahringer and 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur champion
Buddy Marucci.
Championship flight
Stewart Hagestad (141) vs. Scott Harvey (147)
Andrew Price (146) vs. Dennis Bull (146)
Danny Simmerman (144) vs. John Brennan (147)
Patrick Duffy (145) vs. Seth Sargent (147)
Brad Nurski (142) vs. Michael Muehr (147)
Nathan Smith (146) vs. Jeronimo Esteve (146)
Carlton M. Forrester (143) vs. Derek Busby (147)
Matt Parziale (146) vs. Skip Berkmeyer (146)
Second flight
Matthew Mattare (148) vs. Kevin Marsh (152)
Michael Brown (149) vs. Peter Barron III (149)
Michael Castleforte (148) vs. Aaron Hickman (151)
Todd R. Mitchell (149) vs. Bill Williamson (150)
Roger W. Hoit (148) vs. Stephen Summers (152)
Joseph Sanders (152) vs. Andrew Biggadike (150)
Jonathan Marsico (148) vs. Scott M. Rowe (151)
Patrick D. Carter (149) vs. Jeff Osberg (150)
Third flight
Arnold Cutrell (152) vs. Jeffrey W. Scohy (156)
Matthew Swan (154) vs. Michael Christensen (154)
Michael McCoy (153) vs. Steve White (155)
Gregor Orlando (153) vs. James T. Bunch (155)
Andy Latowski (152) vs. Michael Kelley (155)
Rober F. Gerwin II (153) vs. Brad Wilder (154)
T.J. Shuart (153) vs. Michael Barbosa (155)
Brian Komline (153) vs. Scott Strickland (155)
Senior Division
Championship flight
Jeff Burda (144) vs. Steve Harwell (152)
Oscar Mestre (148) vs. Allan Small (150)
Dave Ryan (148) vs. John McClure (151)
Gene Elliott (148) vs. Matthew Sughrue (150)
Second flight
Alan Fadel (152) vs. Keith Decker (155)
Martin R. West III (153) vs. Stuart W. Smith (154)
Buddy Marucci (152) vs. James J. Bryan (154)
Bob Kain (153) vs. George Zahringer III (154)