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Stafford, N.Y. – The overall leader from round one and local Stafford C.C. member, Matthew Haefele, shot a 3-over-par 75 at his home course on Wednesday to extend his lead to three shots heading into tomorrow’s final round at the 53rd State Senior Championship.
Haefele, who played through windy conditions in the afternoon wave, carded the third best score of the day. He overcame a barrage of bogeys on the first three holes only to play the rest of his round at even-par and maintain his position atop the leaderboard. Haefele mentioned that he is pleased with his performance in this tournament, especially given the conditions and the fact that he shot 70 yesterday. “I’m just psyched to be in this position,” says Haefele in review of his tournament standing. “This is the first time I’ve ever played the state seniors and all the guys I’ve met out here have just been great. It’s really been a blast.”
Two days ago, Haefele received putting advice from fellow competitor Alan Foster, who happens to sit in second place, as he played his way to a 2-under-par 70. On Wednesday, Haefele continued to exhibit confidence in his putting stroke as he used his 75th stroke to drain a 20-foot birdie putt in front of the crowd gathered at the clubhouse as they cheered for the local resident. “When a player of that caliber tells you something, I’m taking it to heart,” says Haefele.
The overall leader wasn’t overwhelmed with his 3-over-par start after the first three holes. “I usually don’t start that good because I have to get my focus going,” says Haefele, whose brother and stepmother were in attendance. He made amends for his 3-over start on the par-5’s where he posted birdies at the fifth and seventh. At the par-5 fifth hole, Haefele smoked his drive down to the 250-yard marker and then hit a 3-wood for his second shot into the bunker. He chipped up from there to about 12-feet and made the birdie putt. Following another bogey at the sixth, Haefele carried a drive over 300-yards at the seventh to allow him to hit a 4-iron into the green which landed 20 feet below the hole. He left his uphill eagle putt a little short but was able to tap in for birdie.
Beginning with the par-3 eighth hole, Haefele played consistently on par through the next par-3 he faced at No. 12. He wasn’t able to continue his streak of pars and carded consecutive bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14. The par-5 15th played downwind and allowed Haefele to bomb another drive inside the 200-yard marker. He pulled his second shot with a 4-iron a little left to give himself a 20-foot downhill putt for eagle, but it just grazed the cup for another tap-in birdie. Haefele turned in a score of 1-over-par on the back nine to complement his 2-over total on the front for a 75.
Alan “Doc” Foster, who plays out of Bellevue C.C., posted Wednesday’s low round with an even-par 72 effort at Stafford C.C. He started off the back nine with consecutive pars at the 10th and 11th holes before making a bogey on the following par-3. Foster, who remains three shots behind the leader Haefele, made birdies on three of his next five holes as he fired a 1-under 35 on the back nine. For the second straight day, Foster birdied Nos. 17 and 18, two par-4 holes that have been played nearly under-par throughout the day. He buried a 25-foot putt at the 17th green and hit a solid approach on No. 18 that ran six feet past the flagstick, which sat towards the back left section of the green, and made the putt for back-to-back birdies. “If you have a good chip shot, you should have a reasonably good birdie putt,” says Foster in review of the 18th hole.
Yesterday, Foster advised the overall leader Matthew Haefele (2-under 70) on his mental approach to putting. This morning, however, Foster proved his wisdom in putting is rooted in more than just words as he consistently relied on a strong short-game to offset errant tee shots. “I got sloppy and hit a lot of poor shots but I chipped and putted great so I saved par most of the time,” says Foster, referring to the front nine at Stafford. “I was in the rough all day long, but I was in a position where I could play out of it because the rough isn’t that bad.” Despite finding the rough off his tee shots, Foster carded only one bogey and eight pars on the front nine. The “Doc” plans to hit the practice range before Thursday’s final round in the hopes of finding a cure for his ball striking troubles on the front nine. “I’m just going to go out to the range and figure out what’s happened to my swing,” says Foster. “Hopefully I keep putting well because I need to hit it better.”
Stephen Hinman, who led the super-senior field heading into today’s action, began his round with a triple bogey but did not falter from his shaky start and went on to play a round of 1-over-par for the remaining 17 holes at Stafford C.C. His 36-hole total adds up to 151 as he trails Foster by a three stroke margin in the super senior field and remains six shots behind the leader Haefele in the overall championship.
“When you’re a golfer, it helps to have amnesia,” says Hinman. “That way you can forget what happened like on the first hole I tried to forget what happened and it worked.” Hinman is referring to the birdie he posted on the very next hole, a par-4 dogleg left, which followed his triple on the opening par-4. He hit a rescue club to about six feet on the second hole and sank the putt for birdie.
The Ravenwood G.C. member made the turn at 4-over-par and registered another bogey at the par-4 11th to raise his second round total to 5-over-par. However, he carded six straight pars and a birdie at the par-4 18th for a strong finish. On the 18th, he stuck his 30-yard approach from the middle of the fairway to about six feet from the hole and made his birdie putt for an even 36 on the back nine.
Hinman, who competed in Tuesday’s afternoon wave, has played consistent first and second rounds of 75-76 in very different weather conditions after a patch of light rain greeted players this morning. Hinman attributed two main factors to playing well in this year’s event; ball striking accuracy and consistent putting. “Driving the ball,” says Hinman, on his key to success. “I keep the ball in play all the time and I avoided three-putting. I didn’t have a three-putt either day. Those two things make life a lot easier for a golfer.”
Besides the aforementioned scores, the rest of the field struggled to play well in the wet and windy conditions. Joe Quillinan, who notched an even-par total on Tuesday, began his first four holes (Nos. 10-13) at 5-over par but played an even front nine for a second round score of 6-over-par 78. Quillinan, who plays out of the Country Club of Troy, will round out the final pairing on Thursday with Haefele and Foster at 9:30 a.m.
Players will start off both tees in Thursday’s final round between 8:00 and 9:30 a.m.
By Kevin Solan
NSYGA Media Intern
GO UNCLE MATT!!!