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On the Road at the US Senior Amateur ChampionshipBy Ted Antonopoulos, Head Golf Professional, Mayacama Golf ClubEugene, Oregon – After my assignment to officiate in the US Amateur at Pebble Beach, I returned home for another major … The Annual Championships of Mayacama Golf Club! 54 holes of Stroke Play over our golf course is a challenging event and congratulations to our Women’s Champion Mayumi Post, Women’s Mayacama Flight Champion Debra Knick, Men’s Mayacama Flight Champion Stephen Wright and Mayacama Champion Golfer of the year Chris Qvale! From there, I used more of my accrued vacation time (much to Susie’s dismay) to attend a two-day Rules Conference at the USGA’s Golf House in New Jersey on the new Rules of Golf, which go into effect January 1. With such a major rewrite, the PGA/USGA Rules Workshops have doubled in the number of workshops offered, and with that the need for additional instructors also increased and yours truly, as a Member of the PGA of America Rules Committee, has been asked to instruct at the Phoenix Workshop in January. Prior to that, we will be offering several seminars at Mayacama over the winter to highlight and familiarize all of you with the major changes to the Rules of Golf. Stay tuned for that… After the Seminar at Golf House, I used more accrued vacation time to officiate the US Senior Amateur Championship at Eugene Country Club. Six years ago I was honored to receive an appointment to the US Senior Amateur Championship Committee and have really enjoyed working this Championship. The venue is the historic Eugene Country Club. Founded in 1899, Robert Trent Jones redesigned the course to the current layout. Beautiful parkland style golf course with HUGE redwoods and firs among other varieties which beautifully frame each hole. It’s like playing in a cathedral! The Club has hosted a number of USGA Championships, NCAA Championship in 2016 (won by Oregon!), the Pacific Coast Amateur and numerous other championships. This field is a who’s who of Amateur Golf and this year, I’m thrilled to see our Member and seven-time Mayacama Club Champion Ned Zachar in the field! 
Like the Amateur, this Championship starts with two days of stroke play with the low 64 advancing to match play. For two days of stroke play, we use zones for the officials and mine was the 9th green. 
With that responsibility, I was also assigned the 9th hole checkpoint assignments…timing the players and issuing warnings for those groups who were out of position. Not fun under normal circumstances but these guys are experienced players and only a few groups fell out of position. When told, they quickly regained their position and no penalties were issued. Rulings were minimal…mostly obstruction relief (cart path – relief without penalty), a wrong ball played from a bunker (two-stroke penalty…the guy was not happy) and the last guy on the golf course accidentally moved his ball on the putting green. We have the local rule for Accidental Movement of the Ball on the Putting Green in effect (no penalty, replace the ball and play on). After the completion of Stroke Play, we had 65 players tied at +8 or better…the course played tough! That forced a 14 for 13 spots playoff. For the playoff, we play 10 & 18 repeated until the final field is determined. I was assigned the first group…Sean Knapp (last year’s Champion), Buddy Alexander (former Amateur Champion, LSU and Florida Gators Golf Coach), former PGA Tour Player turned Amateur Brian Tennyson, and Claude Cooper of Birmingham, Alabama. Knapp made birdie, Cooper and Alexander both made par and those three were in. Tennyson had to wait for the other two 5-balls to complete the 10th hole. It was getting dark. Luckily for the playoff (but unlucky for him) one player made double bogey and was out. Ned played solid golf in the Stroke Play portion and at +4 (75-73 148) easily qualified for Match Play as the 23rd seed. It’s just great having him here in the field again. In his first match, he plays 42nd seed John Lombardozzi of Herndon, VA at 12:26. I’m assigned the second match out at 8:02…Oregon’s Pat O’Donnell vs. Buzz Fly…that’s not a typo…of Memphis, Tennessee. So the timing works out perfectly to finish my match, pick up Susie and walk with Ned’s match in the afternoon. Other friends of Mayacama from Northern California playing and advancing to match play are Mike Rowley (owner of the Straight Down apparel company), Olympic Club’s Randy Haag, Jeff Burda of Modesto, and Jeff Wilson who tied for Medalist honors at -5! Stay tuned…
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