U.S. Mid-Amateur displays diverse field
• Hartwiger on top at Women's Mid-Am
ASSOCIATED PRESSMILWAUKEE — Jim Doing of Verona, Wis., shot an 80 Saturday in the first round of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
Not bad for an opera singer, especially one who struggled with his putter.
“I managed to three-putt twice from 2 feet. I just could not make a putt,” said Doing, 46, who teaches music at the University of Wisconsin.
Doing was among 264 golfers who began two days of stroke play, with the top 64 advancing to four days of match play beginning Monday.
“I basically shot myself out of it but it was pretty cool,” Doing said, acknowledging he is unlikely to reach match play.
The field also includes more than a half-dozen Wisconsin golfers, including 62-year-old Mark Bemowski — the oldest player in the tournament. Like Doing, he struggled with a 79.
“Probably not, really, in all honesty,” Bemowski responded when asked if he should be competing against younger players. But the Mukwonago, Wis., golfer could not resist the lure of a national event in his home state.
“That’s the only reason I played in it. I’ve even been exempt a whole bunch of times but I’ve never played in this before. The only reason I did is just because it’s here, in Milwaukee,” he said.
Alli Jarrett, the U.S. Golf Association official directing the tournament, said Doing and Bemowski are examples of why the event, limited to players 25 and older, is so interesting.
“I think the type of players we have is the most unique thing about this championship,” she said. “You have lawyers and businessmen and people from all walks of life participating. And you have older and younger players competing, which is part of the generational appeal of golf.”
In addition to likely participants such as University of San Diego men’s golf coach Tim Mickelson, the brother of pro star Phil, there is emergency room doctor Doug Hoey from Holland, Mich.
The first two rounds are being played on two courses, the private Milwaukee Country Club — also the site for match play — and the public Brown Deer Golf Club, the site of the PGA Tour’s U.S. Bank Championship.
Posted: 9/6/2008
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