US Mid Am Championship - 2019

[Club Rat]

Coming up next week will be the US Mid Am Championship in Colorado.

I was recently visiting a friend who is a member at CGC and played the course last Thursday.
It was incredible and difficult. The course has no OB and only a few penalty areas on a few holes.
It is a very tight course, any missed fairways or greens will result in difficult choices for players.
There are several interesting configurations which Crenshaw designed in this course.
Even when players reach these greens, it will be no picnic.
Players must negotiated the speed and slope which make these greens play amazingly difficult.

Local Qualifier at Winghaven in August.

The USGA has the schedule for the event along with a very good course pictorial of each hole. Photos are good except they do not reveal the slope very well - Course photos

Looking forward to watching coverage on the GC, hopefully.
Which I could be there to observe how the best US Amateur's play this course. 

[DeadMan]

I will be out volunteering for this event Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I'm hoping to catch the playoff Monday morning before volunteering starts. I'm not supposed to take photos while out volunteering, but I might try to sneak a few when I have a chance.

I'm really looking forward to the event. The companion course (Common Ground) is one I play at frequently, and I'm really interested to see how these guys play it. And I've never been at Colorado Golf Club, but I've heard some great things about it. 

I'll post some updates on this thread throughout the weekend. 

[Groucho Valentine]

A guy I played against in the crump cup played out of that course in St Louis, if i remember right. Ive played in two USGA Mid-Ams and they're the most fun ive ever had at a tournament. The atmosphere is much more laid back than it is at other elite am events ive played in. We didn't have any TV cameras back then though. So maybe these guys take it a little more seriously. 

[DeadMan]

3 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

So maybe these guys take it a little more seriously. 

Man, I hope it's not too serious. In the volunteer training, they were very serious about us only talking to the players when they talk to us.

[Groucho Valentine]

25 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

Man, I hope it's not too serious. In the volunteer training, they were very serious about us only talking to the players when they talk to us.

I think there was a masters or us open spot on the line. But I don't remember it being anywhere near that kinda serious. There were junk games and skins pots going on at one i played in...

Edited September 9, 2019 by Groucho Valentine

[DeadMan]

Yeah, I figured the stroke play rounds should be fairly laid back. I will be working match play on Monday, and I imagine that will be a very different feeling.

Also, I was surprised at how many people are in the Mid-Am. I think they said it was 264 people that qualified and will play 2 stroke play rounds. That gets cut to 64 for match play, so you have a lot of people that will go home Sunday night. There will probably also be a massive playoff Monday morning, which will be very entertaining to watch.

[Groucho Valentine]

7 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

Yeah, I figured the stroke play rounds should be fairly laid back. I will be working match play on Monday, and I imagine that will be a very different feeling.

Also, I was surprised at how many people are in the Mid-Am. I think they said it was 264 people that qualified and will play 2 stroke play rounds. That gets cut to 64 for match play, so you have a lot of people that will go home Sunday night. There will probably also be a massive playoff Monday morning, which will be very entertaining to watch.

Well i wouldnt know cuz i never made it to match play 😂

[bkuehn1952]

3 hours ago, DeadMan said:

Man, I hope it's not too serious. In the volunteer training, they were very serious about us only talking to the players when they talk to us.

Talk to their caddies.  I have found the people hauling the bag for their friend/son/husband/relative to be pretty open to talking, based on other USGA Amateur events I have attended. 

[DeadMan]

Day 1 in the books. Some observations:

• The biggest difference between these guys and me is their distance. They're outdriving me by 50 yards, easily. The guys I had today didn't seem unusually long or anything, either. 
• Their misses are really small. They're missing their lines by a few yards, not that much more. 
• They're also extremely straight. Especially with their drivers. Not really much of a draw or fade on their shots. A little more with their irons actually, which I wasn't expecting.
• One guy in my group shot a 68 (-2) like it was nothing. He never looked like he was going to make worse than bogey, and was never really any trouble. It was kind of boring, actually, haha.
• I've played this course with a more difficult set up before, interestingly. I played it 500 yards shorter than they did, but still.
• I could have saved each of them at least a shot on poor decisions. I was surprised that they made some of the decision-making errors that they did. This was mostly going for flags that they had no chance of getting close to, but also a few decisions around the green, too. 

Looking forward to the next two days. It was pretty fun today.

[TRUCKER]

The club champion at the club I'm a member at is playing. He shot a 66 at the qualifier.

[Club Rat]

Here is a quick link to the leaderboard / scoring - 2019 US Mid Am Championship

Scorecard of distance played at CGC

Scorecard of distance played at CG

Rather impressive to see two players score -5 at each course on Day 1

[DeadMan]

Day 2 thoughts:

• Bit of a slog today. 2 of my group missed the cut and it was obvious at about hole 12. They were pretty down, and it wasn't as fun as a group of guys who were playing pretty well.
• They complained about the course a decent amount. Somewhere, Doak is clacking and rolling a blunt. The main complaint was that you couldn't fly the ball to a hole and get it to stop. I think they had some reasonable points (the par 3 greens out here are a little too severe for a 220+ yard holes), but damn. Just because you can't stop the ball right at the hole doesn't make it a good hole. Sometimes, par is a good score.
• I think the guys today weren't as good as the ones yesterday. They played worse overall, but they were also shorter that the guys yesterday and didn't make many birdies. Hard to tell when you just have 18 holes with them, but it was interesting. Mind you, it was pretty small margins, but it was there.
• 1 of my guys is through to match play. 2 other guys are in the playoff tomorrow (18 for 6 spots).

A couple of photos. Not great quality, since I'm technically not supposed take pictures and I was trying to be somewhat surreptitious.

[DeadMan]

Saw most of the first hole of the 18 for 6 playoff. Saw a guy made a 4 out of a bush, taking an unplayable. Saw a guy who was 80 yards out 3 putt for a 5. 5 guys are out. 

A few pictures from this morning. 

[Club Rat]

Wow, what a shoot out in the play off.
Final spot was won by Joey Savoie shooting even par through 9 holes starting on Hole #10.

Looking forward to the Match Play elimination round today.

@DeadMan have you noticed any TV coverage by TGC on site?
Any possible local coverage on Denver stations?

Thanks for the pics, hope you can take a few more of players during the event.

[phan52]

A member from my club made match play but he is playing a past champion and is up against it. Three down thru seven. I still think he will give him a fight. He is the best player I have ever played with, by far. 

Another qualifier was one of my regular caddies a decade ago but he didn't make match play. A really good kid and a very good local player, but I think he is out of his element there.

[Club Rat]

Great photo gallery on USGA site of morning rounds. Round of 64
Results and Matches in progress today after playoffs.

 

 

[iacas]

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/2019/u-s--mid-amateur.html#!scoring

[Club Rat]

Some of these battles are unreal !!!