Schmitz Seals U.S. Mid-Amateur Title with Ace on 33rd Hole

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  VERO BEACH, Fla. – An eagle on the 17th hole of his semifinal match Wednesday sent Minnesotan Sammy Schmitz to the finals of the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at John’s Island Club.

With a 2-up lead on the 33rd hole during his final match against Marc Dull Thursday, Schmitz created even more theatrics as he made a miraculous hole-in-one at the 260-yard, par-4 15th hole and would clinch the championship on the following hole to punch a ticket to the 2016 Masters Tournament next April.

“It means a lot. Normally I'm just trying to get into these tournaments, and I've been in a couple. I've lost in my first round and lost in my second round in the previous Mid-Ams, and I mean, it means the world,” Schmitz said following his victory Thursday.

“It's hard to put into words right now how I'm feeling because it just doesn't quite feel real yet. I’m feeling pretty good right now,” he said.

Beginning the final match much the same way he did in earlier rounds, Schmitz fell behind early with back-to-back bogeys on the first and second holes to give Dull a quick 2-up lead.

Schmitz, Farmington, Minn., wouldn’t stay quiet for long as he put his approach inside three feet at the par-5 fourth hole, rolling in his birdie chance to trim the deficit to one. He would card a second straight birdie at the fifth to even the match and wouldn’t trail again over the next 29 holes.

A two-putt for par at the par-3 seventh would give Schmitz the only lead he would need during the final match, but he increased his lead to 2-up with a five-foot par putt at the 10th following a bogey at Dull.

Dull, Lakeland, Fla., put his approach to 15 feet at the 11th, sinking is birdie look to cut into Schmitz’s lead, but Schmitz regained a 2-up lead at the 13th as Dull had trouble getting out of the hazard.

Schmitz would get up-and-down for par at the par-5 14th, but Dull reached the green in two, two-putting for birdie to pull within one. Using the slope on the 15th green perfectly, Schmitz hit his approach inside of five feet, rolling in his birdie chance to again go 2-up.

Schmitz opened the final 18 holes with a five-foot birdie putt at the first hole to take a 3-up lead and increased it to 4-up after Dull conceded his birdie putt at the par-3 fifth.

But trouble would find Schmitz later in the round Thursday as he couldn’t find the fairway on four consecutive holes leading to two bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey during a five-hole span in which Dull would cut the deficit to one after the 27th hole.

Dull ran into troubles of his own at the par-4 tenth hole, making double-bogey and giving Schmitz a 2-up lead with eight holes to play.

Unable to find the fairway at the 12th hole, led to another bogey for Dull as Schmitz took a 3-up lead before giving back a hole at the 32nd with a bogey.

With three holes to play and the crowd swelling, Schmitz easily hit the shot of his career at the short par-4 15th hole as his tee shot sailed down the left side of the fairway and Schmitz watched as it rolled up the slope, onto the green and in the cup for an improbable ace to take a 3-up lead.

“It was fantastic. It's one shot, and you automatically win the hole. You get to walk to the next hole. I think it played about 270, and we knew the slope was there. I've hit that green four times this week, so I had a real good feeling stepping into the tee box, hitting that shot. I executed the shot I wanted to. You really never expect it to go in. I've had one hole-in-one in my life, and it was in a nine-hole scramble. This is the second. It's an amazing feeling,” Schmitz said.

“I wanted to be left of the pin. We wanted to make sure not to get it over the green, not to get it up on top because once you get it up on top, it's just way too hard to stop the ball. I felt good with the number. I handed the club to my caddie [Jonathan Hanner] and I think I had taken my glove off at that point, and just a couple steps forward, and we heard everybody screaming. You can kind of tell a scream for when it's close and when it goes in. We knew it went in. Everybody erupted, and it was an unbelievable feeling. Tough to process right now,” he said.

Schmitz rolled in his par putt at the 34th hole and would clinch the final match to defeat Dull, 3 and 2. “I think it definitely built [confidence],” Schmitz said of his victory Thursday.

“The first match I didn't play that well. I think I was even or a couple over or maybe 1-over, but after that, I felt like I was really close in I think three of the matches I was under par.

“I really felt like even though there's going to be some bogeys on this golf course, you're not going to hit every fairway, and when you hit it into the rough it's penalizing enough where you're not just going to flop one up there on the green. I knew there was bogeys, and just had to make enough birdies to get through it,” he said. 

Playing nine rounds of golf in a grueling span of six days is exhausting for even the best conditioned golfers. Schmitz said the amount of golf was taking its toll late Thursday.

“I did feel a lot more confident. A little less confident coming down the stretch, just because I was looking up, the ball wasn't quite going where I thought it was going to be going direction-wise, distance-wise, but I think that's how it goes when there's a little bit more pressure on you and you're trying to close a match. Fatigue and pressure can do crazy things to a golf plan," he claimed. 

With his victory Thursday, Schmitz becomes the first Minnesotan to win a national event since Alissa Herron won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship in 1999 at Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta.

Schmitz’s appearance at the Masters next April will be the first by a Minnesotan since Tom Lehman missed the cut in 2006, finishing tied for 13th the previous year.

The last time an amateur from Minnesota was invited to Augusta was in 1994, when Edina, Minn., native John Harris earned an exemption by winning the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1993 on the Cypress Creek Course at Champions Golf Club in Houston.

Carding an even par 143 during the first two rounds of match play, Schmitz was seeded No. 8 to open the Round of 64 where he edged Clint Provost, of Birmingham, Ala., 1-up. Schmitz rallied from behind late to defeat Joe Alfieri, Lutz, Fla., 1-up to advance to the Round of 16.

Down midway through his match against Philip Lee, White Bluff, Tenn., Schmitz won five consecutive holes to clinch the match, 4 and 3.

Jumping out front early during his quarterfinal match against Joshua Irving, Dallas, Texas, Schmitz carded a pair of late birdies to clinch the match on the 15th hole, 4 and 3.

Schmitz sank his eagle chance from 20 feet at the par-5 17th Wednesday during his semifinal match against Brad Wilder, of Fort Wright, Ky., to earn a spot in the 36-hole final match against Dull Thursday.

With three Minnesota Golf Association Player of the Year honors already to his credit, Schmitz earned his fourth award over the past five seasons by posting seven top-5 finishes in 2015.

Schmitz’s 10 career Minnesota amateur victories include the MGA Four-Ball crown in 2014 and two MGA Mid-Amateur titles in 2011 and 2012.

He won the MGA Mid-Players’ Championship in 2012 as well as the Minnesota Public Golf Association Public Links title in 2012 and 2013. He won back-to-back MPGA Mid-Public Links titles in 2012 and 2013 and a pair of Twin Cities Championships in 2009 and 2013.

Schmitz has reached match play in each of his three appearances at the U.S. Mid-Am, losing during the opening round in 2011 before advancing to the Round of 32 in 2012. He qualified for the 2014 U.S. Amateur at Atlanta Athletic Club where he missed the cut for match play.


For complete tournament results go to: www.usga.org/championships/2015/u-s--mid-amateur/scoring.html