The run of the former SMU teammates ended in Tuesday’s quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, where Otto Black and Colin Joseph scored a 2-up victory at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y.
The match was all square through 15 holes, but Black and Joseph posted hole-winning birdies at the 16th and 18th holes — sandwiched around both teams making a bogey on No. 17 — to advance to the semifinals.
Earlier, in the round of 16, Buecking and Enloe needed a late rally to advance. They were 2 down after 16 to Frankie Capan and Shuai Ming Wong, but won the next three holes to win in 19. Buecking and Enloe went par-birdie-birdie on those last three to prevail. Their only lead was after the 19th hole.
Meanwhile, Braden Baer of Westminster and Cole Nygren of Longmont were ousted in a close round-of-16 match on Tuesday morning.
Brandon Cigna and Ben Warnquist parred the 18th hole to beat Baer and Nygren 1 up. Baer and Nygren, who were 2 up through 12, bogeyed the 18th.
For results from the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, CLICK HERE.
Here are the weekend stroke-play scores for all the teams with major Colorado ties who were in the field:
Advanced to Match Play
7. Alex Buecking (Columbine Valley)/Jason Enloe (Dallas) 64-68–132 (lost in quarters)
22. Braden Baer (Westminster)/Cole Nygren (Longmont) 64-72–136 (lost in R16)
22. Tom Hart (Denver)/Jonathan Marsico (Denver) 70-66–136 (lost in R32)
Failed to Qualify for Match Play
65. Former CSU golfer Jeff Fujimoto/Patrick Moore (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 72-69–141
89. Kyle Danford (Fort Collins) /David Johnson (Fort Collins) 73-70–143
118. Benjamin Sherlund (Denver)/Zach Fowlds (Lone Tree) 72-76–148
Alex Buecking of Columbine Valley and his former SMU teammate Jason Enloe of Dallas scored a 3-and-2 victory in the match play round of 32 over Brent Roof and Paul Tucker.
Buecking and Enloe, seeded seventh, were all square with their opponents through 11, but hole-winning birdies on 12 and 16 and a hole-winning par on 14 turned the match quickly.
Also winning their opening match were Braden Baer of Westminster and Cole Nygren of Longmont, who posted a 2-and-1 win over Andrew Orischak and Doc Redman. After making a birdie on the sixth hole Monday, Baer and Nygren led the rest of the way.
Buecking and Enloe, and Baer and Nygren will play their round-of-16 matches on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, falling on Monday in the round of 32 was the team of Tom Hart and Jonathan Marsico of Denver, who were ousted 5 and 4 by Drew Allenspach and Matthew Van Zandt.
For all of the round-of-32 results, CLICK HERE.
Here are the weekend stroke-play scores for all the teams with major Colorado ties who were in the field:
Advanced to Match Play
7. Alex Buecking (Columbine Valley)/Jason Enloe (Dallas) 64-68–132
22. Braden Baer (Westminster)/Cole Nygren (Longmont) 64-72–136
22. Tom Hart (Denver)/Jonathan Marsico (Denver) 70-66–136 (lost in R32)
Failed to Qualify for Match Play
65. Former CSU golfer Jeff Fujimoto/Patrick Moore (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 72-69–141
89. Kyle Danford (Fort Collins) /David Johnson (Fort Collins) 73-70–143
118. Benjamin Sherlund (Denver)/Zach Fowlds (Lone Tree) 72-76–148
Alex Buecking of Columbine Valley and Jason Enloe of Dallas — former SMU teammates — placed seventh out of 128 teams. Their 8-under-par 132 total (64-68) was six strokes behind medalists Brandon Matthews and Patrick Ross of Pennsylvania.
Others Coloradans making match play were Tom Hart of Jonathan Marsico of Denver (70-66-136, 22nd place) and Braden Baer of Westminster and Cole Nygren of Longmont (64-72–136, 22nd place).
The round-of-32 matches will take place on Monday.
Here are the stroke-play scores for all the teams with major Colorado ties who were in the field:
Advance to Match Play
7. Alex Buecking (Columbine Valley)/Jason Enloe (Dallas) 64-68–132
22. Braden Baer (Westminster)/Cole Nygren (Longmont) 64-72–136
22. Tom Hart (Denver)/Jonathan Marsico (Denver) 70-66–136
Failed to Qualify for Match Play
65. Former CSU golfer Jeff Fujimoto/Patrick Moore (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 72-69–141
89. Kyle Danford (Fort Collins) /David Johnson (Fort Collins) 73-70–143
118. Benjamin Sherlund (Denver)/Zach Fowlds (Lone Tree) 72-76–148
Meanwhile, at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in Streamsong, Fla., the only Coloradan in the field, Tiffany Maurycy of Denver, who teamed up with Amy Ellertson of Charlottesville, Va., failed to advance to match play on Sunday.
With stroke-play scores of 74-80 for a 10-over-par 154 total, the two tied for 57th place. The top 32 teams made it to match play.
Braden Baer of Westminster and Cole Nygren of Longmont fired a 6-under-par 64, as did Alex Buecking of Columbine Valley and Jason Enloe of Dallas, the SMU men’s golf coach (the two were teammates at SMU). That leaves both teams in a tie for fifth place, two out of the lead.
After Sunday’s second round, the top 32 teams will advance to match play.
Buecking made three birdies in four holes on the back nine Saturday, holing a 40-yard shot and a 50-foot putt in the process.
“Every time I went over and hugged him and said, ‘thanks,'” Enloe told USGA.org. “We had three big group hugs over the last five holes.”
Nygren and Baer likewise totaled seven birdies on the day.
Here are the scores for all the teams with major Colorado ties who are in the field:
5. Alex Buecking (Columbine Valley)/Jason Enloe (Dallas) 64
5. Braden Baer (Westminster)/Cole Nygren (Longmont) 64
57. Tom Hart (Denver)/Jonathan Marsico (Denver) 70
84. Benjamin Sherlund (Denver)/Zach Fowlds (Lone Tree) 72
84. Former CSU golfer Jeff Fujimoto/Patrick Moore (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 72
97. Kyle Danford (Fort Collins) /David Johnson (Fort Collins) 73
Meanwhile, the only team in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in Streamsong, Fla., that features a Coloradan is in 46th place after Saturday’s opening round.
Tiffany Maurycy of Denver teamed up with Amy Ellertson of Charlottesville, Va., to fire a 2-over-par 74. After making two birdies on Saturday, they’ll need to climb into the top 32 after Sunday’s second round to advance to match play.
There aren’t too many people living today who can say they’ve personally played golf with Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.
Jim English can truthfully make that claim, even though the first four out of that illustrious fivesome were born more than 100 years ago.
The longtime Denver-area resident, who will turn 88 this month, played a couple of holes with Sarazen in Omaha when English was 12 or 13. Then he played three holes with 1930 Grand Slam winner Jones during a practice round for the 1947 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, where English competed that year but Jones did not.
“When you’re around this number of years, you’re going to have a few stories,” English noted in an interview this week.
Yes, English has lived a memorable life in golf. And with U.S. Open qualifying beginning this month, it’s worth noting that 55 years ago he enjoyed one of his biggest moments in the game, earning low-amateur honors in the 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y.
English, who had moved from Kansas to Colorado two years earlier, remembers seeing Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady” — along with a couple of other Broadway shows — that week, making for a “pretty wonderful vacation too.” But it was English’s performance at Winged Foot that’s particularly memorable.
In the U.S. Open, he bettered the likes of then-reigning U.S. Amateur champion Charlie Coe and Jack Nicklaus, who three months later would beat Coe in the final match at the Broadmoor to win the first of his two U.S. Amateurs. Also finishing behind English at Winged Foot were defending U.S. Open champion Tommy Bolt, Bob Goalby and Ken Venturi. Billy Casper won the tournament with a 282 total.
“I played fairly steadily” that week at the U.S. Open, noted English, who shot 74-75-77-73 for a 299 total. “Nicklaus missed the cut and I beat Charlie Coe by two. I chipped in for birdie on 16 in the last round, and I guess that made the difference. That U.S. Open had a pretty good amateur field.”
Though English accomplished plenty in his amateur golf career, that U.S. Open stands out as perhaps the biggest highlight.
“That’s because it was on a national scale,” he said. “Most of the other things I did were on a regional or local basis, though they were good tournaments to win.”
Qualifying for the U.S. Open back then wasn’t quite the task it is now. For instance, there were no “Local” qualifying tournaments, just 36-hole “Sectionals”. But still, 2,385 people entered the 1959 U.S. Open, so making it in the final field of about 150 players was anything but a cakewalk.
Despite that, English said he successfully qualified for nine U.S. Opens over the years. But the odd thing is, he competed in that national championship just five times (1951, ’53, ’58, ’59 and ’60).
There were different reasons different years why he didn’t go to the U.S. Open after qualifying several times in the latter 1940s and in 1950 — he was going to summer school at Creighton a couple of years, his wife was having a difficult pregnancy another, etc. Whatever the case, the USGA apparently took notice and sent English a letter basically asking, why do you bother qualifying if you don’t intend to compete in the U.S. Open?
“After that, they made it a point to ask qualifiers if they would actually go (to the Open),” English recalls. “But one of the reasons I went to the Sectional qualifying was that it was 36 holes at good golf courses and the entry fee was only $10. I liked the competition and I liked to play good golf courses.”
But English finally did compete at the U.S. Open in 1951 at Oakland Hills in Michigan. He missed the cut there, but on a course that allowed only two sub-par scores in four rounds, he was able to follow Ben Hogan during the champion’s final-round 67. That just whet English’s appetite for more.
The 20 years after the end of World War II were a very impressive time for English and his amateur golf career. He won three tournaments with big-time national amateur reputations: the 1950 Trans-Mississippi and the Broadmoor Invitation in 1955 and ’64. In the Trans-Miss, English put together one of the most dominating performances in the history of the championship match, winning 11 and 10.
English also competed in five U.S. Amateurs between 1947 and ’61, with the first and last being at Pebble Beach.
And English really made hay in state and regional tournaments in Colorado and the surrounding states.
He’s won six CGA championships, including three Stroke Plays, two Match Plays and a Senior Stroke Play. (He’s pictured at left with fellow Colorado Match Play champion Joan Birkland in 1960.) He’s claimed two Kansas amateur titles, one in Nebraska, the Iowa Open and Iowa Masters. He even won a championship in a previous incarnation of the Colorado Open.
“For a long time, I just couldn’t get enough golf,” he said.
It’s no surprise, then, that English has been inducted into three state golf halls of fame — for Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.
In fact, English was so good, he gave some serious consideration to becoming a playing professional. Besides the U.S. Open, he finished low amateur in a PGA Tour event in Kansas City in the 1950s.
“I was sorely tempted to turn pro,” he said. “I competed with the pros successfully. I played four exhibitions with Byron Nelson in the ’40s. He told me I could make money (on the PGA Tour), but I needed to be a better putter to win. But back then, the total purse for tournaments was about $10,000-$12,000. (After learning English had a degree, Nelson) recommended I just stay amateur and enjoy it.
“Later, when Orville Moody was an amateur out at Fitzsimons, he was making a decision whether to re-app (for another Army stint) or turn pro. I told him my experience. I said I’ve got a lot of regrets that I didn’t give it a go. I think I could have made it on the pro tour, but I don’t really regret it now. If I would have (played on the tour), I wouldn’t have the large family I have now.”
English has 11 kids, 25 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
English probably could have added to his list of golf accomplishments, but an injury in the mid-1960s slowed him down. He badly hurt his right hand while hitting a shot on the sixth hole at Denver Country Club. “After that, I was never quite the same,” he said.
While English had a successful career in the insurance business, he still relishes his days as a competitive golfer. Just two years ago (pictured at top), he was among the local U.S. Amateur veterans who participated in a U.S. Amateur Alumni Day leading up to the 2012 championship coming to Colorado.