- Kittansett Club photo
First settled in 1679 on the shores of Buzzards Bay, Marion, Mass. is a typical old New England harbor town that has a small quaint village with many traditional Cape Cod-style homes. The town was mostly known for its many local sea captains and sailors who made their residences in town and it’s still home to one of the largest sailing fleets in Massachusetts showing a forest of colorful masts in the inner harbor.
Presidents Grover Cleveland and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were summer residents of Marion.
Marion is also home to
The Kittansett Club, a William Flynn and Fredric Hood design located on a point extending into Buzzards Bay, across from Cape Cod that will serve as the host for the 67th U.S. Senior Amateur beginning on Saturday.
Located nearly 60 miles south of Boston and 40 miles east of Providence, The Kittansett Club is not easy to get to, but 156 golfers will make the journey to compete for the championship, won last year by
Gene Elliott at The Country Club of Detroit.
Related: His at last: Gene Elliott wins U.S. Senior Amateur title
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U.S. Senior Amateur Notables
The U.S. Senior Amateur is open to any golfer who is 55 years of age as of August 27 and whose Handicap Index does not exceed 7.4. There was a record 2,865 accepted by the USGA this year.
The Kittansett Club will play to 6,632 yards and a par of 71 for the championship. It will be the club's second USGA championship and first since hosting the 1953 Walker Cup Match. The Kittansett Club has also hosted six Massachusetts State Amateur championships (1958, 1978, 1990, 1999, 2008, 2020)
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What the Champion Receives
• A gold medal
• Custody of the Frederick L. Dold Trophy for one year
• Exemption from local qualifying for the 2023 U.S. Open Championship
• Exemption from qualifying for the 2023 U.S. Senior Open Championship
• Exemption from qualifying for the 2023 and 2024 U.S. Amateur Championships
• Exemption from qualifying for the 2022 and 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships
• Exemption from qualifying for the next 10 U.S. Senior Amateur Championships
• • • • •
A Look Back at Last Year
Last year,
Gene Elliott finally claimed that elusive USGA title by rallying to defeat
Jerry Gunthorpe, Ovid, Mich., 1 up, in the championship match at the Country Club of Detroit. The 59-year-old from West Des Moines, Iowa never led in the match until he converted an 8-foot par putt on the 18th green for a 1-up win over Gunthorpe, who saw the title slip from his grasp after making bogeys on the last two holes. Elliott, one of the world's top senior golfers, captured the U.S. Senior Amateur in his 36th USGA event.
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Schedule of Play
Saturday, Aug. 27 (Stroke Play, Round 1, 18 holes)
Sunday, Aug. 28 (Stroke Play, Round 1, 18 holes)
Monday, Aug. 29 (Round of 64, match play)
Tuesday, Aug. 30 (Round of 32/Round of 16, match play)
Wednesday, Aug. 31 (Quarterfinals/Semifinals, match play)
Thursday, Sept. 1 (Championship Match, 18 holes)
• • • • •
Inside the Field
WHO’S HERE – Among the 156 golfers in the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur field, there are:
Oldest Competitors: Matthew Haefele (72, born 10-6-1949), Jim Hamburger (71, born 10-6-1950), William Everett (71, born 12-9-1950),
Youngest Competitors: Jon Brown (55, born 8-26-1967), Buddy Allen (55, born 8-23-1967), Rob Nelson (55, born 7-21-1967)
Average Age of Field: 60.6
Field breakdown by age:
Age 55-59: 71
Age 60-64: 58
Age 65-69: 21
Age 70-72: 6
U.S. States Represented – There are 40 states represented in the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur: Florida (19), California (17), Georgia (9), Texas (9), North Carolina (8), Pennsylvania (8), Michigan (6), Illinois (5), Iowa (5), New York (5), Massachusetts (4), Ohio (4), Virginia (4), Alabama (3), Arizona (3), Connecticut (3), Washington (3), Wisconsin (3), Kansas (2), Missouri (2), Nevada (2), Oregon (2), South Carolina (2), Tennessee (2), Utah (2), Alaska (1), Arkansas (1), Colorado (1), Idaho (1), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (1), Maryland (1), Minnesota (1), Mississippi (1), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (1), New Mexico (1), North Dakota (1), Wyoming (1).
International – There are three countries represented in the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur: United States (147), Canada (7) and England (2).
USGA Champions (16): Stewart “Buddy” Alexander (1986 U.S. Amateur), Kenneth Bakst (1997 U.S. Mid-Amateur), Nathaniel Crosby (1981 U.S. Amateur), Gene Elliott (2021 U.S. Senior Amateur), Doug Hanzel (2013 U.S. Senior Amateur), Sean Knapp (2017 U.S. Senior Amateur), Jack Larkin Sr. (1979 U.S. Junior Amateur), Randal Lewis (2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur), Chip Lutz (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur), Michael McCoy (2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur), Fred Ridley (1975 U.S. Amateur), Bob Royak (2019 U.S. Senior Amateur), Dave Ryan (2016 U.S. Senior Amateur), Paul Simson (2010, 2012 U.S. Senior Amateur), Patrick Tallent (2014 U.S. Senior Amateur) and Jeff Wilson (2018 U.S. Senior Amateur)
USGA Runners-up (9): Tom Brandes (2015 U.S. Senior Amateur), Jerry Gunthorpe (2021 U.S. Senior Amateur), Sean Knapp (2018 U.S. Senior Amateur), Randal Lewis (1996 U.S. Mid-Amateur), Roger Newsom (2019 U.S. Senior Amateur), Paul Simson (2017 U.S. Senior Amateur), Curtis Skinner (2012 U.S. Senior Amateur), Matthew Sughrue (2016 U.S. Senior Amateur) and Patrick Tallent (2010 U.S. Senior Amateur)
Walker Cup USA Team Members (4): Stewart “Buddy” Alexander (1987), Nathaniel Crosby (1983), Michael McCoy (2015), Fred Ridley (1977)
Walker Cup USA Captains (3): Nathaniel Crosby (2019, 2021), Michael McCoy (2023), Fred Ridley (1987, 1989)
Most U.S. Senior Amateur Appearances (2022 included): Paul Simson (15), Chip Lutz (12), Stewart “Buddy” Alexander (11), Doug Hanzel (10) and Dave Ryan (10)
Players from Massachusetts (4): Thomas Bagley (Concord), Michael Boden (Sandwich), Donald Foberg (Pembroke), Frank Vana (Boxford)
Played in 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur (45): Stewart “Buddy” Alexander, Kenneth Bakst, Neal Barfield, Dave Bunker, Rick Cloninger, Craig Davis, Keith Decker, Jim Doing, Gene Elliott, John Fisher, Walter Gieselman, Bart Goodwin, Jerry Gunthorpe, Randy Haag, Doug Hanzel, Steve Harwell, Glenn Hogle, Richard Kerper, Sean Knapp, Chip Lutz, Miles McConnell, Michael McCoy, William Mitchell, Mark Morgan, Jim Muething, Rob Nelson, Roger Newsom, David Ortego, Joe Palmer, Fred Ridley, Bob Royak, Dave Ryan, Anton Salome, Paul Simson, Glenn Smeraglio, Craig Steinberg, Lewis Stephenson, Rusty Strawn, Matt Sughrue, James Sweeney, Frank Vana, Kevin VandenBerg, James Volpenhein, Terry Werner, Jeff Wilson
Played in 2022 U.S. Senior Open (7): Gene Elliott, Robert Funk, Jerry Gunthorpe, Jack Larkin Sr., Miles McConnell, William Mitchell, Matt Sughrue
Played in 2022 U.S. Amateur (1): Jerry Gunthorpe
Played in 2022 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball (2): Jon Brown, Kevin VandenBerg
Played in 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur (8): Gene Elliott, Jerry Gunthorpe, Doug Hanzel, Randal Lewis, Michael McCoy, William Mitchell, Bob Royak, Rusty Strawn
The USGA contributed to this report.
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