Moraine Country Club to host U.S. Amateur qualifier
The U.S. Amateur Championship will be held in California at Pebble Beach this year, and almost a dozen Dayton area golfers will make their bid for a place in the tournament Monday and Tuesday.
Eighteen players from the Miami Valley will be among 78 participating in a sectional qualifying event Monday morning at Moraine Country Club. The field includes 2017 Ohio Amateur champion Austin Sipe and reigning Miami Valley Metropolitan champion Josh Gilkison.
Golfers from 10 states and two provinces are in the local field that also includes two of last year’s three Moraine qualifiers – David Gies of Charlotte, N.C., and Tom Miles of Dublin.
Cameron Luczka, recent winner of the Dayton City Match Play Championship, will tee it up Monday at Coldstream Country Club in Cincinnati in a field of 77. On Tuesday, Pete Samborsky II of Dayton will compete with 77 others at Camargo Country Club in Cincinnati.
Participants in each sectional will be playing for three spots in the U.S. Am, which begins with 36 holes of stroke play qualifying Aug. 13 and 14. The low 64 scorers from stroke play will engage in match play at the Pebble Beach course Aug. 14, and the 36-hole championship match will be held Aug. 19.
Dayton product in U.S. Senior Women’s Open field: Jamie Fischer reached her 50th birthday May 13. The timing was perfect because it made her eligible to play in the first U.S. Senior Women’s Open this week at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Ill.
Fischer, who has been a teaching professional in Lake Forest, Ill., for many years, recently entered a qualifier at the course where she teaches, Conway Farms. She shot 77 and was one of five qualifiers. Fischer opened with rounds of 74 and 77 and was tied for 19th heading into the final two rounds.
It’s not the first time she has been in a major event. In 1986, shortly after she graduated from Centerville High School, Fischer qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open Championship at NCR Country Club.
Since then, while playing professional golf, she qualified for another U.S. Women’s Open and four LPGA Championships.
Skapik turns pro, plays in LPGA event: Molly Skapik of Miamisburg turned pro in June and wasted no time in grabbing an opportunity to test her skills against the stars of the LPGA Tour.
Skapik, a recent University of Louisville grad, shot 69 and was medalist in the open qualifier for the LPGA’s Marathon Classic in Toledo this week at Highland Meadows Country Club.
Last month she tied for third place in the Ohio Women’s Open in Defiance and tied for seventh in the Michigan PGA Women’s Open at Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville, Mich.
Skapik was 3 over par after two rounds in Toledo and failed to make the cut.
Dayton District Women’s Match Play canceled: For the second straight year, the Dayton District Women’s Match Play Championship has been canceled. It was scheduled for Tuesday-Friday at Beavercreek Golf Club.
Steve Jurick, executive director of the Miami Valley Golf Association, said the event was scratched because there were not enough entrants.
From 1933 until 2016, the match play championship was the most prestigious for women in Dayton, but that honor has been passed to the Metropolitan Women’s Stroke Play Championship. It will be played July 26-28 at Sugar Valley Golf Club.
Chip Shot: The deadline to file an entry for Dayton’s Senior Amateur Stroke Play Championship is Friday. The event will be held July 26-27 at Kittyhawk Golf Center.