Nomad Titsworth tops field with a 67
Former Shannopin member among four to finish under par at Butler CC
Beau Titsworth went to high school in Cleveland, played college golf at Oklahoma and was a member at Shannopin Country Club when he lived in Wexford. At the moment, he lives in St. Petersburg, Fla., and is hoping to eventually end up in Brookline, Mass.
Not to live, that is. To play in the 122nd U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline.
Titsworth took the first step on that road by shooting 3-under 67 Wednesday to be low qualifier at the 18-hole U.S. Open local qualifier at Butler Country Club. And he did with six birdies and three bogeys to take one of the five spots available for the next stage of qualifying.
“A stroll in the park,” Titsworth said, somewhat facetiously.
It was anything but for the field of 75 players after just four players finished under par and the final qualifier, former CMU player Jason Li of Sewickley, shot par-71. Then again, it’s never an easy day at Butler, not when the greens are firm and fast and the rough is more than just a little testy. Even on a cloudless 80-degree day.
“People don’t realize how hard this course can play,” said South Hills Country Club amateur Darin Kowalski, who shot 70 with the help of a kick-in birdie at the final hole.
“It’s a hidden gem, one of the five best courses in
Western Pennsylvania,” said former U. S. Senior Amateur champion Sean Knapp, the oldest player in the field who recently turned 60. “I’d also venture to say it might be one of the five hardest.”
Knapp shot 72 and missed one of the qualifying spots by a stroke after a bogey at the 467-yard 17th hole. And he was eliminated in a sixway playoff for two alternate spots that went to Austin Lemieux, son of the former Penguins great who followed him around the course; and Joseph Juszczyk, a former part-time player on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Canada.
Other players weren’t as fortunate. Oakmont professional Devin Gee made double-bogey at the 450-yard 18th to miss the alternate playoff by a shot. Former two- time Pennsylvania Open champ Mike Van Sickle, who played in the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, hit his tee shot out of bounds at the 443-yard ninth and also missed the playoff by a shot.
It looked as if the same fate might befall Kowalski when he tugged his tee shot at the final hole over the left fairway bunkers and into the first fairway. But he hit a gap wedge from 126 yards to a foot for an easy birdie and one of the qualifying spots. That atoned for a missed par putt from 3 feet at No. 17.
“I played much better than my score would indicate,” said Kowalski, who made four birdies and three bogeys.
This will be the second time Titsworth has made it to a 36-hole sectional qualifier. And he was able to do so with a hot stretch in which he made three birdies in a four-hole stretrch, beginning at the 369-yard 11th when he approach from 110 yards hopped in and out of the cup.
He followed that with another birdie at the 527-yard 12th when he knocked his second shot from 250 yards on to the front edge of the putting surface. Two holes later he drained a 15-footer for birdie at the 434-yard uphill 14th after driving into the right rough.
The only hiccup came when he chunked a wedge from 90 yards and made bogey at the par-4 13th, one of only three greens he missed on the day.
“I hit it steady, got it around, kept it playable,” said Titsworth, who has played on PGA Tour Latin America.
Enough to get him just one step away from the U.S. Open and, well, who knows what can happen. That’s the mindset Li is taking for his third trip to a sectional qualifier.
He shot 5 over for 36 holes the first time and shot 2 under last year at Springfield, Ohio, which is where he is slated to compete next month.
“Seven strokes better,” said Li, who played highschool golf at Sewickely Academy. “Maybe I can go seven strokes better this time.”