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Glens Falls, N.Y. – Another day, another Bellevue C.C. member in the running for the 26th Mid-Amateur Championship crown. Kevin VandenBerg, of Bellevue C.C., fired only the second round under-par at Glens Falls this week to lead all competitors with a two-day total of 145.
Jim Roy, who has collected an NYSGA record four State Mid-Amateur victories, represented Bellevue C.C. on Friday with a 1-over-par 72 performance. In the second round, fellow Syracuse resident and Bellevue member, VandenBerg, found his name atop the leaderboard after leaping four spots from his Friday finish.
With a 36-hole score of 145, VandenBerg holds a one-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round. He credits his lower second round total to more accurate shots from the iron department of his game. “Yesterday my iron game was horrible,” says VandenBerg. “I think I only hit eight greens and today I hit 14. I played really solid today. There were a couple bad shots though. It could have been a 68 or 69 but I’m very pleased with a 70 so we’ll see what I can do tomorrow.”
The 43-year-old VandenBerg, who won the SDGA Gerry Ashe Memorial Tournament in June, began his second round with a par on the opening par-5. He then knocked down a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-4 second, which played as the most difficult hole on the course with only nine birdies recorded the entire day.
VandenBerg, who didn’t pull driver on any hole yesterday, featured a slightly more aggressive style to his game on Saturday. “I opened it up a little bit more today,” says VandenBerg. “I felt a little more comfortable out there.” As a result, he was able to card birdies on shorter par-4’such as the fifth hole after landing his tee shots close enough to hit wedge to within a few feet. At the par-4 fifth, Vandenberg pulled driver and found the right rough with 50 yards in to the green. He flipped a wedge shot onto the middle of the green and it slowly rolled down the slope and came to rest three-feet away from the flagstick which was situated close to the left edge. He drained the putt and moved to 2-under through five holes. For the second straight day, VandenBerg struggled at the par-4 sixth hole and carded bogey. He almost made amends on the short par-4 that followed but missed a four-foot birdie opportunity. He made his third birdie on the front nine at the par-4 eighth and made the turn at 2-under-par.
As the day progressed, and the wind picked up, players struggled to find the same success on the back side as they did on Friday. Vandenberg’s experience there was no different as he made three bogeys in comparison to only two on Friday. He committed consecutive bogeys on the par-4 11th and the par-3 12th which brought his score back to even.
However, VandenBerg remained confident that he could find birdies in the last few holes for a strong finish. “You just have to stay with it,” says Vandenberg. “The good thing about this course is that you can make a mistake and there are still some birdies out there where you can get that mistake back.” He bogeyed the 394-yard 15th hole before tallying birdies on Nos. 16 and 18. VandenBerg used a 9-iron for his final tee shot of the day at the 18th and landed it five feet from the pin which set up his fifth birdie in round two.
Meanwhile, players like Kenneth Riter and Michael Wheeler didn’t improve upon their Friday total but still remain only one shot behind the leader, VandenBerg, following 36 holes of play. Riter and Wheeler each fired consistent 73’s on Friday and Saturday and will compete in the final pairing on Sunday with VandenBerg.
Wheeler’s second round score of 73 may appear to be an even-keel performance at 2-over-par. However, his round was highly unorthodox considering his style of play as he only carded eight pars with the remainder ranging anywhere between birdie – to - double-bogey on the spectrum. “Usually I’m a 13 or 14 par kind of guy with a couple birdies and a couple bogeys,” says Wheeler. The 32-year-old Schenectady resident started birdie-double-birdie-par-birdie for a 1-under-par start through five holes.
At the par-4 seventh, Wheeler was unable to maintain his 1-under start after he plugged his tee-shot into the front bunker and made bogey. He then ran into a stretch of bogeys that started at the par-3 ninth. Wheeler’s shot missed long on the 146-yard par-3 and he was forced to chip back to the hole but ran his shot over the green setting up a difficult uphill putt which took him three tries for a double-bogey.
He bogeyed back-to-back par-4’s at the 10th and 11th holes and risked raising his total to 5-over-par for the day but was able to sink a clutch putt on the subsequent par-3. “I had about a 15-foot par putt on 12 to avoid going 5-over and then I just really finished strong,” says Wheeler.
On the par-5 16th hole, Wheeler ran his tee-shot down to the bottom of the steep hill. With 200 yards left, he wrapped his second shot around the corner with a 4-iron and almost knocked it in for eagle. He made the four-foot putt coming back for birdie. He stuck his 9-iron tee-shot on the 18th green and rolled in the 20-footer with five feet of break to finish the back nine in even-par fashion.
The Park Club’s Kenneth Riter also remains one-shot shy of the lead following his two-day total of 146. Riter was three holes away from putting the finishing touches on a round of 1-under-par like VandenBerg, but bogeyed the final three holes and carded 73 for the second straight day.
“I had a bad start and a bad finish, but everything in-between was fine,” says Riter. He credits his success throughout the two rounds to solid ball striking and decent putting. “It’s been staying out of trouble, hitting greens, and not three-putting.”
Riter, who has worked at an architect firm in downtown Buffalo for the past twenty-five years, started with bogeys on the first two holes but birdied the fifth and sixth to make the turn at even-par. “I drove it well and hit a couple close irons shots in there for some short birdie putts,” says Riter. He hit his drive on the par-4 fifth to within 70 yards and knocked his wedge shot to four feet for a birdie putt.
Starting with the par-4 seventh, he notched seven straight pars before moving to 1-under after a birdie on the 368-yard par-4 14th. Riter’s round was compounded by bogeys on the last three holes, including a three-putt on the 18th green from a tee-shot that landed above the hole.
“I’m looking forward to a better start, better finish, and trying to keep the ball in front of me and not get into any driving wars out here,” says Riter, on his strategy for Sunday’s final round.
Thirty players survived the final cut on Saturday which means that ten groups of three will begin the final 18 holes left in the Mid-Amateur Championship starting at 8:00 a.m. The lead group will tee it up at 9:30 a.m.
By Kevin Solan
NYSGA Media Intern
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