7:30 p.m. CDT: Mike Bell’s 10-year exemption from winning the 2006 U.S. Senior Amateur at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind., came to a close at Old Warson Country Club after he shot 11-over-par 153 and failed to advance to match play. But he has loved every minute of the past decade.
“It’s been a great run for me,” said Bell, 69, of Indianapolis, who also reached the U.S. Senior Amateur quarterfinals in 2008. “To meet all the people I have all over the country and the world has been spectacular. My biggest goal was to make sure that I represented the USGA as a good person, as someone who played according to the Rules and who was friendly toward his fellow competitors. When I won, I said if I never win anything else the rest of my life, I’ve done more than I ever thought I would.”
Bell, who celebrated his 49th wedding anniversary with his wife Trish last week, doesn’t feel like he’s done playing. “I will try to qualify for this championship again next year when I’m 70,” he said. “Until I get to a point where I can’t hit it far enough to play with these guys, I’ll keep going. Right now, I can still do that. But I’ll go on a little stronger workout regimen, because I have to get stronger. You just have to work harder when you get older, and the sad thing is, we get older every day. We can’t stop that part.”
3:52 p.m. CDT: Defending champion Chip Lutz, of Reading, Pa., struggled to a 6-over-par 77 on Saturday, and he stood at 9 over through 27 holes on Sunday morning, in danger of missing the cut for match play. However, Lutz rallied to make a pair of birdies against no bogeys on his final nine holes – the outgoing nine at Old Warson – to finish at 7-over 149 and appeared to be comfortably inside the cut to 64 players. “I was a little embarrassed by yesterday, coming in as the defending champion and having all my buddies lap me. I didn't sleep so well last night,” said Lutz, 61, a three-time semifinalist in the championship before breaking through last year at Hidden Creek Golf Club in New Jersey.
2:20 p.m. CDT: Ron Perrine (pictured below), of Holt, Mich., had little trouble shaking off a bogey-bogey finish in the first round of stroke play at the U.S. Senior Amateur on Saturday at Old Warson Country Club. When you are competing in your first USGA championship after a 48-year hiatus, bogeys have a way of rolling off your back. Perrine, 65, is joined in his return to USGA play after a long absence by James Starnes, 59, of Fort Myers, Fla., who competed in the 1974 U.S. Junior Amateur and is playing in his first USGA event in 42 years. They have each made about 15 attempts to qualify in the intervening years.Read the full story here.
2 p.m. CDT: Steven Liebler (pictured below), of Irmo, S.C., was one of the first players off in Round 2 of stroke play on Sunday at Old Warson, and he recorded the low round of the championship thus far, a 4-under-par 67. Liebler made five birdies, along with an eagle on the 435-yard par-4 15th, when his 3-hybrid shot from 200 yards landed 25 feet short of the hole and rolled in for the first eagle of the championship on a par 4. Liebler’s only major miscue was a shanked shot that led to a double bogey on No. 6, his 15th hole. He improved by 11 strokes (78-67) over his first round on Saturday. “I feel good about the score. The tradeoff between the eagle on 15 and the double bogey on 6 is about even. The score was probably representative of the way I played,” said Liebler, who lost in the semifinal round in 2015 to eventual runner-up Tom Brandes.
10:05 a.m. CDT: Stan Lee (pictured below), the 2007 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, knew exactly what his younger brother Louis would say to him after seeing the round of 7-over 78 that Stan shot on Saturday in the first round of stroke play at Old Warson. “When he sees that, he’ll go, ‘What the heck? We sent the wrong brother.’” Louis Lee defeated Stan in the semifinal round en route to the 2011 Senior Amateur title, but was forced to withdraw from this week’s championship early last week. Despite a rocky start on Saturday, Stan Lee is still hopeful of making the 64-player draw for match play. “I love this level of competition. I even love it when I shoot 78.” Read the full story here
9:50 a.m. CDT: As the first and 10th tees cleared for the morning wave, several players were off to good starts in Round 2 of stroke play at Old Warson, which is set up to play at 6,799 yards on Sunday. The course is playing more than a half-stroke easier in the early going after playing to a 76.5 average in Round 1. Steven Liebler, of Irmo, S.C., a semifinalist in last year’s championship at Hidden Creek Golf Club near Atlantic City, N.J., is 3 under through 9 holes, having started on the incoming nine. Wayne Wright, of Aledo, Texas, started on No. 1 and birdied his first three holes before making bogey on No. 5. Doug Hanzel, the 2013 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, is 2 under through five holes and is 1 under for the championship.
