NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Qualifying medalist Alan Fadel beat Stephen Fox 1 up on Monday in the first round of the U.S. Senior Amateur.
The 59-year-old Fadel, a financial adviser from Toledo, Ohio, won on the par-5 18th at Big Canyon after Fox, from Huntington, West Virginia, tied it on the par-4 17th.
“I got ‘steery,'” Fadel said. “You start guiding it. I finally got control and it took me quite a long time, but I think it will help me going forward. … I am going to go to the range and work on some things. I got real defensive and I got real cautious. At the end, I finally started to commit to my shot and hit good shots when I needed to.”
Second-seeded Tim Jackson advanced with a 3-and-2 victory over Sports Illustrated golf writer Gary Van Sickle. The 55-year-old Jackson, from Germantown, Tennessee, is a two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. The 60-year-old Van Sickle is from Wexford, Pennsylvania.
“He was tenacious. He got up and down quite a bit on me,” Jackson said. “I got a little frustrated. I hit a couple of really good shots that didn’t pan out. I had to work on my patience today and make a bunch of pars. That is what it boiled down to.”
The event is for players 55 and older.
Defending champion Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Georgia, advanced with a 4-and-3 victory over Steven Poulson of North Salt Lake, Utah.
“I hit it solidly and was in the fairway all day,” Hanzel said. “It’s tough when you get a couple of holes down to try and play catch-up. I was hitting greens and making pars. I played really good.”
In the second round, Fadel will face Rick Cloninger of Fort Mill, South Carolina; Jackson will meet Randal Lewis of Alma, Michigan; and Hanzel will face Emile Vaughan of Pike Road, Alabama. Lewis, the 2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, beat 75-year-old Mice Rice, the 2005 Senior Amateur winner, 2 and 1.
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