Added bonus for Sindelars
Father, son share time on the course
CONCORD - After playing four days of tournament golf, Jamison Sindelar didn't mind pitching some relief on a fifth day. It was only for a few holes, after all - and what the heck, it was for his father.
"I didn't mind. I've caddied for him 10 to 15 times," said the oldest of Joey Sindelar's two sons after filling in on his father's bag at yesterday's final round of the Bank of America Championship at Nashawtuc Country Club.
A senior-to-be at Ohio State, his father's alma mater, Jamison was in the area, having concluded his four-round assignment Saturday in the Northeast Amateur at Wannamoisett CC in Rumford, R.I., shooting 77 - 293 to finish tied for 67th.
When play was halted yesterday at 1:20 because of dangerous weather and officials alerted players to a 90-minute delay, Joey Sindelar knew his longtime caddie, Johnny Buchna, might have problems catching a flight out of Boston, so the call was made to the bullpen.
Jamison was more than happy to answer it. He pulled on the bib, tossed the bag over his shoulder, and walked the final seven holes with his father. Though it wasn't the greatest of days - Joey Sindelar made just one birdie in a round of 73 - 211 that left him tied for 20th - father and son enjoyed the time together and there were smiles to the very end. Since joining the PGA Tour 25 years ago, that's been a staple of Sindelar's - not getting upset by any bit of turbulence. It explains why, after hitting his second shot well left of the 18th green, Joey Sindelar needed a ruling, but first things first - he introduced his son to the rules official and the two shook hands.
Vintage Sindelar. And while he didn't convert the birdie try at the 18th, it had not been a bad weekend. Jamison got some quality time with his dad, not to mention a chance to play in one of the country's premier amateur tournaments.
"I didn't play that great, but I'm still a little young," he said. "But it's good to know that I can play with those good players."
Jamison also played the role of reporter, because as he crossed paths with John Cook during the final round, the two stopped and talked. Not that he liked doing it, but Jamison let Cook know that the winner of the Northeast Amateur, Brendan Gielow, had finished at 267 to establish a record.
Cook winced, and for good reason. He had shot 268 in winning the Northeast Amateur for a second straight time in 1979 and while it had been matched twice since, no one had gone lower - until Saturday.
"He just shook his head," said Jamison. "He said, 'Do you know how long I held that record?' "
Local ties
Go figure. Then again, Dana Quigley will tell you not to. It's golf. But in all those years when he was racking up wins and top-10 finishes, Quigley had never finished better than tied for fifth in 10 trips to the Bank of America Championship. Yet in a year in which he hadn't recorded a top-10 finish in any of his 12 starts, the Rhode Island native closed with a 68 -205 and winds up joint third. "It's the best I've played [in a while] and the best I've putted," said Quigley, 61, after shaking off a bogey at the par-4 second with five birdies and a string of pars the rest of the way. "It's really remarkable how mental putting is." . . . Allen Doyle showed you can shoot 70 in different manners. He made two birdies and 16 pars Saturday, but followed that with six birdies and four bogeys in Round 3. Crunch it anyway you want, but the 70-70 weekend coming on the heels of a sloppy 76 start left him at par 216, tied for 52d . . . Quigley isn't quite ready to head to Long Island and next week's Commerce Bank Championship. That's because he's got the
Cracking the code
With a rock-solid round of 1-under 71, John Morse finished at 8-under 208. While it was nine shots off the lead, for Morse it was a victory of sorts, because the tie for seventh got him exempt into the Commerce Bank. He has gotten into just two events this year, but both have produced top-10 finishes, so Morse was smiling, because he isn't going to complain about missing a Tuesday qualifier. "The first day it wasn't on my mind," he said. But after that 67, he concedes it crept into his mind, which "is why I struggled [Saturday]" and shot 70 . . . Unlike Morse, Kirk Hanefeld will be headed to the qualifier, because he finished tied for 20th after shooting 71 - 211. Having started the day tied for 23d at 4 under, the longtime New England PGA standout, who was in this field on a sponsor's exemption, just couldn't generate enough offense. Committed to a pro-am run by Jim Albus today, Hanefeld will play the White Course at Eisenhower Park tomorrow to try and get into the Commerce Bank. The good news is, Hanefeld shot 64 a year ago to qualify. The bad news is, "it barely got in," he said, "so I know what I'm facing." Hanefeld was 2 under in his third round and 6 under for the tournament when he drove it into a fairway bunker on the par-4 16th, then hit his second shot into a hazard. He got it up and down from 40 yards to save bogey and assumed (correctly, too) that a birdie-birdie finish would get him a top 10. But after the weather delay he missed an 8-foot birdie try at the par-3 17th, then two-putted for par from 30 feet at the par-5 18th.
Distant memories
It was a far cry from a year ago when they battled for the championship here, but Jay Haas and Tom Purtzer were paired together, albeit in an early group reflective of their distant standing. While Purtzer made two birdies and an eagle in his first five holes, he settled for a 69 -210 that left him with his worst finish in five starts here, T-16. Haas, the defending champ at Nashawtuc who came in having won back-to-back events, played the par-3s in 5 over, shot 75 -215 and had his poorest finish of the season, joint 45th . . . On the flip side, Haas did finish just before the horn signaled a weather delay, which is always a plus when you're heading out of town . . . Something tells me Old Tom Morris didn't have this sort of technology to keep track of Young Tom, but after signing his card, Haas reached into his pocket for his phone, glanced at a message, and nodded in approval. Son Billy had just sent over his final-round score at the Travelers Championship, a 66 -270 that had him tied for 19th.
Mistake-free play
The eventual champion, Jeff Sluman, wasn't the only one to play bogey-free over the weekend. It's just that Tim Simpson's effort was easily lost as he shot just 71-68 and finished T-26. But Simpson played the last 45 holes of the tournament without a bogey, while Sluman went bogey-free for the last 43. The other half of the story is this - Sluman made 14 birdies, Simpson seven . . . Also going bogey-free in the final round were Loren Roberts, Leonard Thompson, Bruce Fleisher, and Denis Watson . . . John Harris was the only player to not make a birdie . . . The field went under par (71.896) for a third straight day . . . Mark Johnson holed out at the par-4 12th to highlight the list of six eagles. Purtzer, Chip Beck, and Fred Gibson made eagles at the par-5 fifth, Mark McNulty and Jim Colbert at the par-5 10th . . . Gary Player again flirted with a bid to shoot better than his age, but he made a double bogey on his 12th hole, the par-4 third, then bogeyed the par-4 sixth. The 72-year-old icon wound up shooting 73-72-73 -218 to finish T-57 . . . Bank of America officials announced a $50,000 donation to the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center, which offers comprehensive medical, nutritional, social services, and dietary assistance to children from the Greater Boston area.
