The Saratoga County Amateur Championship, held this weekend at Ballston Spa CC and Eagle Crest GC, was a spectacle of the unexpected, the extraordinary, and the downright peculiar.
Despite battling heavy rain during the back nine of the final round at Eagle Crest GC on Saturday, Joe Marro of Mohawk Golf Club (73-147) managed to stage a remarkable comeback. Trailing by five shots, Marro overcame first-round leader and former champion Louis Walsh of Ballston Spa CC (79-148) by a single stroke in the Open Division. This marked Marro’s first significant tournament victory.
Meanwhile, in a rain-soaked eight-hole playoff, Jim Mueller and Bob Cooper, two of the Capital Region’s top senior players, went head-to-head. Mueller (74-148) eventually emerged victorious with a par. However, the drama didn’t end there. Cooper (77-148), a two-time Schenectady Classic champion and multiple Tri-County Match Play senior division winner, now playing out of Canajoharie G&CC, scored a quadruple bogey 9 on the 18th hole of regulation, setting the stage for the playoff.
Cooper’s tee shot on the par-5 finishing hole veered into the right rough, and the ball was lost. After declaring it a lost ball and taking another shot, his first tee shot was found. However, since he had already declared his second tee shot in play, he was obliged to use it. His round took a downward turn from there.
“The whole situation was quite baffling,” admitted Mueller, who added a second Saratoga County Amateur crown to his collection of eight Schenectady Classic, seven Schenectady Senior Classic, and several Tri-County Match Play senior division victories. “When Bob found a ball in the rough, he claimed it wasn’t his, so we all searched for another. It was a chaotic situation. We decided to explain the situation to JP [Eagle Crest Director of Operations John Peterson] and let him handle it. In the end, they determined his score on the hole was a 9.”
For Mueller, who has experienced his fair share of unusual situations on the course, this was a first. “That was certainly strange. I doubt I’ll ever witness something like that again,” he said.
The Super Senior (age 65 and over) title was claimed by Jim Burns from Canandaigua, who scored a 79-154 to edge out Frank Plata of Hiland Park CC (77-155).
Good punctuation and grammar, Agree. This was an impressive win for Marro at the Saratoga County Amateur.
Good punctuation and grammar, Agree. Another solid performance by Marro in challenging weather conditions.