Allan Small Claims Third Senior Amateur

By Fred Behringer

Allan Small of Fairmount Country Club added another significant achievement to one of New Jersey’s most impressive amateur golf records when he took home his third NJSGA Senior Amateur Championship August 2-3 at Bedens Brook Country Club. Small pulled away from the field with a sparkling four-under par 68 in the second round of the 36-hole stroke-play competition after he and Tom Hyland of Little Mill Country Club tied for the lead with 73s in the opening round.

When he moved out to three-under par while Hyland struggled on the second day, Small could play conservatively, hitting crisp irons to the center of greens and putting quite precisely to finish 73-68—141 for a seven-stroke margin of victory. Meanwhile, Jerry Horton of Forsgate Country Club posted the second low round of the day, 70, to slip into a tie for second with Ron Vannelli of Metuchen, who matched his first-day 74. Hyland wound up fourth with 73-77—150, one stroke better than Andrew Abramson of Mountain Ridge.

A competitor’s caddie said of Small, “He put on a clinic out there.” And he did. Small had become the first player to win the NJSGA Amateur, Mid-Amateur and Senior Amateur championships when he claimed the Senior Amateur in 2008 at Crestmont to complete the “Amateur Slam.” He also won the Senior Amateur in 2009 at Rumson and finished third last year at Trump National–Colts Neck. He became Amateur champion in 2004, and collected Mid-Amateur titles in 1986 and 2006.

“Any time you win a state championship, it’s great,” said Small, 59, after accepting the Chuck Smith Championship Trophy. Small had just returned from competing in the U.S. Senior Open Championship at Inverness in Ohio, where he played a practice round with Tom Lehman. Noting that numerous players headed to the British Amateur from Inverness, Small said, “I don’t need to travel over there. I’ve got great competition right here.”

Mike Hyland, Tom’s son and the current Philadelphia Amateur champion and 1998 New Jersey Amateur winner, caddied for Small in Ohio, so the final pairing at Bedens Brook was quite cordial as Small and Hyland chatted amiably even though their games were going in different directions.

Small hit most fairways and reached the green or the fringe on every hole except the eighth, when he saved par from a bunker with a 10-foot putt. “That was a key putt,” he said. “And birdieing number nine (440 yards, No. 1 handicap), that’s gravy because a four on that hole is a great score. I felt real comfortable then. I knew all I had to do was just fairway-and-green-it all the way in. You didn’t see me knock many pins over because they had them a little bit more in the corners [than in the first round.] I tried to make as little stress as possible.”

After driving into deep rough right of the fairway on the par-5 17th hole, Small’s 240-yard second shot signaled that this was his day. It hit in front of a gaping bunker and bounced to the back of the green, leading to a birdie. “I figured my 5-wood would get me comfortably into the front bunker and then you’d have a nice little explosion out and give yourself a chance at birdie,” he recalled. “I guess when it’s your time, you get a break or two.”

Vannelli, playing just ahead of Small and only a shot behind starting the second round, felt he had been playing well and expected to challenge for the title but alternated birdies and bogeys through the first 12 holes. “Then I rolled putts over the edge of the hole on every hole coming in,” he lamented. “I played pretty good, but a couple bad holes and that was that. Allan was right behind us, so I could tell that he wasn’t doing anything bad. After I got a couple over par, I figured I was playing for second, and as it turned out, I was.”

Horton, who finished fourth in his first Senior Amateur appearance last year, improved upon his opening 78 by eight strokes the second day. “I couldn’t make a putt yesterday,” he said, “and today I hit it close enough that I couldn’t miss.” He failed to make a putt shorter than four feet in his first round while accurate approaches left him four short birdie putts in the second.

The players praised the wonderfully conditioned Bedens Brook course, noted architect Dick Wilson’s only design in New Jersey that features wide fairways, rolling hills, large bunkers and lots of mature trees. “The golf course was really good,” said Vannelli. The greens were great. It was very fair.” Horton also emphasized the fairness: “It was a lot of fun to play,” he said. The seniors (age 55-64) played it at 6,590 yards.

The NJSGA’s inaugural Super Senior Championship (age 65 and above), played at 6,332 yards, went to Jim Byer of Springdale Golf Club, a five-stroke winner who followed a formidable three-under-par 69 with 75 to total 144.

Byer, retired headmaster at the Hun School, felt his familiarity with the greens at Bedens Brook worked to his advantage. “They can be very tricky,” he said. Byer built his first-round advantage with seven birdies against four bogeys, then recorded five bogeys and just two birdies the second day.

Kenneth Luthy of Flanders Valley shot 74-75—149 for second place with Bill Dittman of Fairway Mews third at 78-76—154 and Alton Jones of Mendham fourth at 74-81—155. Jones earned low-net honors with 145, a stroke lower than Boyd Bryson of Royce Brook.

Christopher Cull of Mercer Oaks finished with low net in the Senior Championship with 143. John O’Malley of Forsgate took second with 145 on a match of cards.