TWO EAGLES MEAN DIFFERENT THINGS AT STATE AM

The winner of the NYSGA Men's State Amateur gets his name on the Ganson Depew Cup.

SPITZ LEADS AFTER ROUND TWO AT 88TH NYSGA STATE AMATEUR

By John Craig

VOORHEESVILLE – If you go out to watch the golf Thursday, you’ll be able to spot the second-round leader at the 88th New York State Men’s Amateur Championship at Albany Country Club. He’ll be the one in the purple plaid shorts and purple customized golf shoes. Purple is the color of his alma mater, the Furman Paladins.

Tim Spitz, 34, a municipal bond specialist from Rochester, followed up his first-round 69 with a 70 to take a two-stroke lead in to the final day, which will be 36-holes of stroke play.

“This was definitely more of a roller-coaster ride today,” Spitz said.

Day-two had two significant eagles but they came on either side of the cutline. 141 golfers started Tuesday and now it’s down to 48, taking the top-40 plus ties. Spitz leads with -5 and 10 golfers are +7.

“I’m trying to get as far away from the kids as I can because it’s going to be a tiring day,” Spitz said. “You just drink plenty of water and grind it out and sit down when you get a chance. It’ll be fun.”

Click here for the complete list of tee times for the 88th NYSGA State Am.

SPITZ STYLING

Wearing black, gray and white golf shoes with his initials on them, Spitz’s afternoon round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-4 4th hole. With the tees moved up, it played just 308-yards. Spitz hit his drive 260-yards into the right rough and actually went first among his trio.

Using his 56-degree sand wedge, Spitz flopped the shot high into the air to the back of the green. It landed right on the apron and tracked toward the hole as he yelled, “grab, grab, grab.” It grabbed the flagstick and fell in for a two. Spitz grabbed some air with a fist pump.

“It was only going to be a couple feet by but it saved a stroke so we’ll take it,” Spitz said. “It was unexpected.”

Spitz came out to Albany Sunday and actually worked in the Albany office of Oppenheimer Funds and then got in a practice round at ACC. He’s a Municipal Bond Specialist who typically plays Thursday evenings and on Saturday if there’s no tournament that week. His office is ten minutes from his home course of Monroe GC.

“I’ll sneak over there during lunch and just practice,” he said.

Now he will tee it up for 36-holes on Thursday. He’s no stranger to that grind. Last fall in the U.S. Mid-Am in Kiawah Island, SC, Spitz was the runner-up playing 36 each of the three days. The mid-am division is a tournament for golfers 25 and older.

“The greens, they’re tricky but you see the breaks,” Spitz said. “They’re right there in front of you. I’m just hitting it well and going from one shot to the next.”

He’ll be back in his office Friday morning.

“It seemed today I didn’t make any putts for birdie but I made everything I needed to for par,” he said.

“He’s relaxed. He’s tournament tough,” said CC of Troy’s Matt Clarke. “He’s a nice guy, he’s a good player, he’s got total control of the golf ball right now.”

OH-KAYE

Kevin Kaye of Webster GC is the first name below the cutline, shooting 77-75, but he will leave the Capital Area remembering one shot in particular – his first hole-in-one.

It came at the par-3 16th, set at 180-yards. And it’s not often you get a practice shot before the hole-in-one but Kaye, 26, said his second shot on #15 sure felt like it.

“Pured it,” Kaye said of a “perfect punch 5-iron into the wind” 180-yards on #15. When he got to the tee on #16, with the hole downhill and downwind, he instinctively reached for another club.

“My first thought would be a full 7,” Kaye said. “But I had the perfect punch that I had just hit the hole before so I pulled the 6 and took dead aim. As soon as it came off it felt good, never left the pin, one-hopped, disappeared, high-fives all the way around.”

It was his first ace ever.

“At the flag the whole time,” said playing partner John Vaccaro of Wolferts Roost, who said it dropped two-feet from the hole. “It just popped on, rolled in, boom, disappeared, everybody yelled.”

This was Kaye’s fifth time playing the State Am. He made match play at Pinehaven in 2008 and finished ninth at Ravenwood last year. Kaye owns his own web development company, Clutch Media, LLC., in Rochester.

“It was fun, I have a good memory,” Kaye said.

LEADERS AT 8:40AM

Spitz (69-70, -5) will tee off with Drew Creighton (71-70, -3) of Crag Burn GC and Jake Katz of Westwood CC (-2, 72-70) at 8:40AM off the 10th tee.
Creighton, 22, is from Kenmore and finished his morning round tied for the lead.

“I thought the pins were a little bit tougher, the greens were a little bit faster,” Creighton said, who is here with his younger brother Peter. “My game plan really didn’t change: just hit a lot of greens in regulation.”

Recently, Drew switched back to his old set of irons, the Callaway X-Forged to find more consistency.

“I’ve been really coming into the tournament trying to focus on getting comfortable on the putting green,” he said. “Really trying to just find a stroke that I’m comfortable with.”

On his first nine, the front side Wednesday, he only hit four greens-in-regulation but on the back nine, “I think I hit 8 out of nine on the back. I just was trying to hang around. That’s pretty much it,” he said, thinking there might be high winds and storms, as forecast.

The graduate of Canisius College was on the team there. He took some coaching from the new British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen from watching on TV.

“The guy that won kept saying I’m just having fun so that’s all I’m really trying to do,” Creighton said. He starts medical school next week at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, PA.
 Creighton finished 8th in the State-Am last year after never qualifying for the match play round in previous years.

“I just could never crack the match play wall,” he said.

DEFENDING CHAMP AND TROY BOY AT 8:30AM

Defending State Am champ, the youngest to ever win the tournament, Yaroslav Merkulov (-2, 73-69) will be paired with Stephen Quillinan, Jr of the CC of Troy at 8:30AM off the 10th tee.
Quillinan, a fan of “Batman,” may have gotten a signal from the sky, much like the caped-crusader does when the “bat signal” is flashed. Lightning in the area suspended play at 3:07PM. He had just bogeyed the fifth hole. That after starting with a lost ball on the first hole, which he doubled.

When the delay ended and play resumed at 3:32PM, he birdied three of the next six holes. Back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13 were followed with birdies at 15, 17 & 18.

All along, he was wearing the new fashion trend, the silly band, on his right wrist. They are rubber bands in the shape of different things like animals or sports logos. His yellow one is shaped like the bat signal. He got it a week ago.

“I’ve been a huge Batman fan since I was about two-years old,” said Quillinan, 20, who graduated from Albany Academy and now attends college in Florida. “It’s supposed to bring me luck and it’s been doing all right.”

After shooting 70 on Wednesday, Quillinan is tied with Merkulov and Katz, three strokes behind Spitz.

“I like this course a lot even when the greens get really fast,” Quillinan said. “I’ve always really played well here. It suits my game. It’s kind of long but it’s still short enough where if you hit it kind of far you can have a wedge in your hand.”

Quillinan won last year’s Tri-County Amateur Match Play.

On playing 36: “If you’re playing well you want to play as much as you can in one day.”

OTHER NOTES

Dan Russo, age 52, shot 68 Wednesday: “I don’t have the stamina like these young kids do.” He went onto say that he will draw on his experience if he hits a bad shot.
“I guess I’ve got things in perspective…You just have to accept it and move on…You just get in a bad spot, you take your medicine and move on. Just try not to make it worse.” Russo of Rolling Hills at Antlers near Amsterdam is in a three-way tie for sixth at one-under.

Robby Bigley on what to do Thursday: “Shoot 72-72 and see where that puts you. I think six-over is a good round at this place. It may not win it for you but it’s got a shot, I think. Because this course is so hard and 36-holes on this course is going to be a grind.”

Jeb Buchanan finished with three bogeys on his round. He set a NYSGA State Am record for a round last year, shooting 65: “Pins were a little bit tougher today. I felt like the course was still very scoreable. The greens are pretty soft, receptive. I feel like I’m just so close to having that 65 like I did last year. Hopefully tomorrow will be the day.”

John Vaccaro: “The only thing I’ve got to worry about is my feet, keep the blisters down. I went on the internet last night to look up how to keep the blisters down…My wife’s been sabotaging my game. She’s been giving me a foot rub at night when she wants me to stay up and watch one of her girlie shows. She gives me a foot rub so I won’t fall asleep and it says right on the internet no hand lotion, it softens up your feet and then you get more blisters. So a lot of powder in my shoes, I should be fine tomorrow.”

Don DeNyse III started on the back nine and had a string of birdies at 17, 18 and 1. He’s relying on his short game with wedge and putter: “There’s not much out there where you have 60-70 yards in and those are three holes I do so I’d like to take advantage of them.”
He said he also likes 3 & 11. DeNyse and Vaccaro are part of a four-way tie for 19th (+4).

Also making the cut, some famous surnames: Trevor Sluman, nephew of Champions Tour member Jeff Sluman, and Jamison Sindelar, son of Champions Tour member Joey Sindelar, who is here this week caddying for his son, who will be a junior at dad’s alma mater, The Ohio State University. Hear an interview with the Sluman’s on Friday’s “Capitalareagolf” Radio show on Fox Sports 980 at 5:00PM. In the field, but not making the cut, Brian Levi, son of PGA Tour player Wayne Levi.

Other locals in the mix: Steve Owens of Normanside, Jeb Buchanan of Wolferts Roost and Jimmy Welch of Winding Brook are among those T23 at +5; Dave Mooradian of CC of Troy is +6; Todd Czepiel of Shaker Ridge CC, Brandon Haase of Mohawk Golf Club, Andrew Marler of Colonie G & CC and Paul Pratico of Schenectady Municipal GC are among a group tied at +7, just making the cut.

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