Buzz Fly plays his tee shot on the fourth hole during the round of 64 of the 2026 U.S. Senior Amateur at Baltimore Country Club (East Course) in Lutherville, Md. on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Jason E. Miczek/USGA)
EVENT PORTAL: 71st U.S. Senior Amateur Championship
LUTHERVILLE, Md. – A new tournament began on Monday at the 71st U.S. Senior Amateur Championship as the match play bracket got underway on the East Course at Baltimore Country Club. In total, 18 Society members successfully made it into the draw, and at the end of the day, 10 still have a chance to hoist the trophy come Thursday.
Stroke play medalist Trae Cassell (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) was unable to keep his momentum going against last-man in Nick Desai (Zambia). Cassell birdied the par four 15th to tie the match, but then made a costly bogey on 16 to go 1-down. Desai then birdied the par three 17th hole to close out the top seed, 2 & 1.
Miles McConnell (Tampa, FL) also ran into trouble against Don Martone (Canada) in a tight match. Martone played the equivalent of one-over par to win the match 2 & 1.
Tony Wise (Georgetown, KY) got off to a nice start in the match play portion as he went around in one-under against Chris Congdon (Tampa, FL). Wise made five birdies in the match and was as many as 4-up through 14 and eventually closed it out two holes later, winning 3 & 2.
David Vaclav (Flat Rock, MI) had a dream start against Gerard Connelly (Ireland) as he quickly moved 5-up through five holes and put it in cruise control from there. Vaclav advanced to the Round of 32, 4 & 3.
Matt Sughrue (Arlington, VA) ran into a tough out against Jack Larkin, Sr. (Atlanta, GA) in a close match that was either tied, or saw Sughrue 1-up all day until the very end. Larkin made a great sand save on the par 3, No. 17, and then made par on No. 18 to win, 1-up.
Greensburg, PA’s Arnold Cutrell battled back against Jamie Slonis (Sewell, NJ) in a match that went back and forth. Cutrell made three birdies against four from Slonis, but some key pars were the difference as Cutrell pulled away at the end to win, 2 & 1.
Randy Haag (Orinda, CA) found himself in a dogfight with John Wright (Fairhope, AL) in another match that was never more than 1-up for either side, and needed extra holes to decide the winner. Wright came out victorious with a par to win in 19 holes.
Steve Harwell (Mooresville, NC) never trailed in his match against Jason Pridmore (Ventura, CA). After a birdie on the par 3 No. 13, Harwell stood 3-up, and withstood a late rally from Pridmore, eventually winning No. 18 to win the match, 2-up.
Danny Nelson (Savannah, GA) played steady golf against Andy Hydorn (Dallas, TX). Trailing 1-down through six, Nelson strung together 11 straight pars while winning the final four holes to close out the match, 3 & 2.
Brian Quackenbush (Aiken, SC) played even-par golf in his match against Marc Ehudin (Potomac, MD) and proved to be too much for his opponent. Quackenbush was as many as 4-up through 11 and eventually won, 2 & 1 to advance to Tuesday.
Rick Stimmel (Pittsburgh, PA) looks to make a deep run this year and first up was a match against Ron Mangold (Pocohantas, AR). After an early bogey on the par 4 No. 2, Stimmel turned it on to play 4-under par from there to close out Mangold on 15, winning 4 & 3.
Carson Pilcher (Atlanta, GA) had his hands full with Dan Sullivan (Pasadena, CA) in his round of 64 match. Sullivan birdied the first to take the early lead and kept the pressure on throughout the match. Sullivan closed with eight straight pars to eventually win, 2 & 1.
In a battle of Floridians, Brendan Hester (Singer Island, FL) came out on top against Steven Carter (St. Augustine, FL) by a margin of 2 & 1. Hester made three red numbers in his first eight holes to lead 3-up, and held on from there to advance.
Top-ranked Bryan Hoops (Tempe, AZ) is also looking for a deep run and a cherry on top of what has been a stellar season. Against George Kavanagh (Rochester, NY), Hoops jumped out to a 3-up lead through seven holes, then withstood back-to-back birdies by Kavanagh on 8 & 9. Key pars on 11 & 16 turned out to be the difference as Hoops advanced, 2 & 1.
Kevin VandenBerg (Pulaski, NY) faced a tough opponent in Tim Hogarth (Northridge, CA) in his first round match. Hogarth made some timely birdies while making his way around the A.W. Tillinghast design in the equivalent of even-par, winning 3& 2.
Buzz Fly (Memphis, TN) shot his age (71) in the first round of stroke play qualifying on Saturday, and ultimately qualified as the 27 seed. On Monday, he found himself up against Joel Johnson (Ramsey, MN) and stated his intentions early with a birdie-birdie start to go 2-up. Johnson would win the next two to tie the match, and it would go back-and-forth from there with Fly taking a 1-up lead on multiple occasions in a match he never trailed. Tied with three holes to play, Fly made a key birdie on the par 4 No. 16 to take the lead and made two pars coming in to win, 1-up.
John Brellenthin (Edina, MN) faced off against Andy Bernatovicz (Grand Island, NY) in a match that Bernatovicz never led until the very end. Brellenthin stood 2-up through 13, but two costly bogeys on 14 and 15 tied the match. After the two traded pars on the final three holes, it was back to No. 1 where Bernatovicz would take his first lead of the match, winning in 19 holes.
Howard Clendenin (Fairlawn, OH) found himself in an early hole against Rick Kuhn (Bismarck, ND) after three straight bogeys to open the match. Clendenin made a few birdies to hang in, Kuhn played steady to close out the match, 2 & 1.
Round of 32 Preview:
7:40 a.m. – Tony Wise vs David Vaclav
7:50 – Jack Larkin Sr. vs Arnold Cutrell
8:20 – Corby Segal vs Steve Harwell
8:30 – Danny Nelson vs Jon Brown
8:50 – Brian Quackenbush vs Jeff Wilson
9:00 – Rick Stimmel vs Todd White
9:20 – Todd Burgan vs Brendan Hester
9:40 – Bryan Hoops vs Bob Royak
9:50 – Tim Hogarth vs Buzz Fly
Of the six playoff hopefuls looking to grab one of the three remaining spots in match play, none were able to advance. Todd Doss (Mandeville, LA), Greg Sanders (Anthem, AZ), and Michael Anderson (Novi, MI), each made bogey on the first playoff hole (par 3, No. 9) and were eliminated.
Ed Kerr (Windsor, CO) and Rick Cloninger (Rock Hill, SC) both made bogey on the second playoff hole (par 4, No. 10) to seal their fate.
Finally, defending champion Mike McCoy (Norwalk, IA), needed a par on the third playoff hole (par 4, No. 11), but his 8-foot putt slid just past the hole.
The Round of 32 begins Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., and the Round of 16 will be contested on Tuesday afternoon.
USGA RECAP: Round of 64 Serves Up USA-GB&I Preview at Baltimore C.C. (by Angela Ding & Julia Pine)
RESULTS: 71st U.S. Senior Amateur Championship
TEE TIMES: 71st U.S. Senior Amateur Championship
Best of luck to all as we follow the championship. We’ll be rooting you on!
