Best in Medal Play, Best in Match, White Claims U.S. Senior Am Title

USGA

TRUCKEE, Calif. -- Todd White and Jody Fanagan both birdied their first hole in the stroke-play qualifying at the 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship. But White was 1 under three holes later (bogey-par birdie), and Fanagan was 4 over, after following his birdie on the 10th hole at Martis Camp Club with two bogeys and a triple. Nevertheless, even though they seemed to part ways early on, they both ended up in the same place on Thursday -- in the match-play final. And just as he had in medal play, White came out on top. 

Having won the qualifying medal with a pair of 72s and an even-par 144 for 36 holes, White flirted with elimination in three of his matches. But the No. 1 seed survived each time, and he capped off the triumph in his first Senior Am with a conceded eagle on the par-5 15th hole, and a 4&3 victory over Fanagan. 

This was White's 35th USGA event and his second title. He and a teammate from the 2013 Walker Cup Matches, Nathan Smith, won the inaugural U.S. Four-Ball Amateur in 2015.

Fanagan, the No. 19 seed, was attempting to become the first international winner of the Senior Amateur, the only USGA event that has never had a foreign player as its champion. But the 58-year-old Irishman will have at least three more cracks at it, because he's now exempt into the tournament for the next three years. 

White is exempt for 10 years. 

Fanagan, who won the 2022 Irish Senior Amateur, is No.1203 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, which puts him in the top 30 of all senior amateurs, and that was how he got into the Senior Am without having to come to the United States just to qualify. White is No 3722, and he had to qualify, which he did earlier this month. He was the medalist in that qualifying, too, the day after he won the South Carolina Amateur for the fourth time.

As for Fanagan's international credentials, they go back three decades. In the 1995 Walker Cup Matches, he sat out the Day 1 Singles, but went 3-0 for the winning Great Britain & Ireland team, which defeated the US 14-10. Fanagan and Padraig Harrington scored the most noteworthy victory in a Foursomes match on Day 2, when they beat Tiger Woods and John Harris 2&1. Harris, who earned the ninth of his 10 MGA Player of the Year titles that year, won all three of his other matches against GB&I in '95, beating the future three-time professional major champion Harrington 3&2 in Day 2 Singles. Tiger was 2-2. 

Fanagan took the early lead Thursday, with a birdie on the first hole. But White tied the match when his birdie was conceded on the fifth hole. The 55-year-old high school history teacher from Spartanburg, S.C., puilled ahead by nearly holing a bunker shot for an eagle at the 555-yard, par-5 seventh, and Fanagan lipped out his birdie putt. White hit a pitching wedge shot to 4 feet at the ninth (458 yards, par 4) to set up another birdie, and he led 2 up at the turn. Fanagan lost the 12th -- and went 3 down -- when he made a double bogey and conceded White's 4-footer for par.

Ten years ago, the U.S. Junior Am was played at Martis Camp, and a young Scottie Scheffler hit a spectacular 256-yard second shot with a hybrid to within 10 feet of the cup at the 542-yard 15th hole on his way to a 3&2 victory over Davis Riley in the final. On Thursday, White pretty much re-created that shot, hitting a 5-wood uphill from 264 yards to 10 feet, and when Fanagan missed his 30-foot putt for birdie, he gave White the 10-footer for eagle -- and the match was over. 
 
Even though White went wire to wire in winning the championship, it was a kind of long and winding road to get through his six matches. He was 1 down with two holes to go against the No. 64 seed, Jerry Gunthorpe, in his first match, after Gunthorpe won the 16th hole with a par. But Gunthorpe bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes, and White parred them both, thereby escaping with a 1-up victory. In the Round of 32, he faced New Zealander Brent Paterson, the 2023 R&I (British) Amateur champion (and No. 32 seed), and it took White 21 holes to win that one.

Against No. 48 Ken Wade in the Round of 16, White was 3 up after eight holes. Wade narrowed the gap with a conceded eagle at the 587-yard, par-5 10th, but White won the 451-yard, par-4 11th with a par, and closed Wade out 5&3 by taking two of the next three holes with birdies. White had to work overtime once again on Wednesday morning against No. 56 Mike Henry in the quarterfinals, but he won the 19th hole (No. 1, 390 yards, par 4) with a birdie and advanced. In the semifinals, he and No. 5 seed Roger Newsom put on a show, and White needed seven birdies to subdue Newsom 2&1.

Newsom was the runner-up in this tournament four years ago, when he lost to Bob Royak in the final. As it turned out, Royak was the No. 7 seed this week, and he played Fanagan on Wednesday afternoon in the other semifinal. Fanagan was 4 under and 4 up after 10 holes, but he played the next three holes in 4 over and lost them all. He won the par-3 14th with a par, before Royak squared tthings by birdying the 15th and the 16th. Both had chances to win the match with a par on the 18th hole, but both made bogeys, and Fanagan won the 19th with a par.       

"At this point in time," White said after accepting the Frederick L. Dold trophy Thursday afternoon, "words fail me. I sit here and I look at all the hard work that's gone into it over the course of my life, and it's just incredible validation of that work."

Truckee is a mile-high city, actually a little more than that, at 5,800 feet above sea level, and White noted that making adjustments for the extra distance that his ball was going because of the altitude (roughly 10 percent), plus the other variables at Martis Camp, was a challenge..

"I had to do so much math this week, with the altitude, and the uphill/downhill shots," he said, "that I just hope they don't ask me to teach math when I get back to school tomorrow." 

U.S. Senior Amateur

At Martis Camp Club

Par 72, 7,251 yards

Truckee, Calif. 

Stroke play

Final results

1. Todd White, Spartanburg, S.C.              72-72--144

T2. Randy Haag, Orinda, Calif.                 70-75--145

T2. Matt Sughrue, Arlington, Va.               71-74--145

T2. Steve Harwell, Mooresville, N.C.        72-73--145

T2. Roger Newsom, Virginia Beach, Va.   73-72--145

T6. Bob Royak, Alpharetta, Ga.                 71-75--146

T6. Joe Jaspers, Huntersville, N.C.           74-72--146

T6. Jon Brown, Adel, Iowa                         72-74--146

T9. Craig Davis, Chula Vista, Calif.            74-73--147

T9. Jack Larkin, Atlanta                              75-72--147

T38. Tim Peterson, Minneapolis              77-75--152

Missed cut 

John Husband, Ontario, Canada               80-81--161


Match play

Round of 64

No. 1 White def. No. 64 Jerry Gunthorpe 1 up

No. 2 Matt Sughrue def. No. 63 John Barry 3&2

No. 3 Steve Harwell def. No. 62 Paul Royak 1 up

No. 4 Randy Haag def. No. 61 Mark Sanchez 6&5

No. 5 Roger Newsom def. No. 60 Doug Banks 5&3

No. 59 Curtis Holck def. No. 6 Jon Brown 5&4

No. 7 Bob Royak def. No. 58 David Levan 1 up

No. 57 Pete Betzold def. No. 8 Joe Jaspers 4&2

No. 56 Mike Henry def. No. 9 Jack Larkin 1 up

No. 55 Dave Ryan def. No. 10 Craig Davis 1 up

No. 21 Jeff Mallette def. No. 44 Tim Peterson 4&2


Round of 32

No. 1 White def. No. 32 Brent Paterson 21 holes

No. 2 Sughrue def. No.34  Greg Sanders 1 up

No. 3  Steve Harwell def. No. 30 Craig Steinberg 2&1

No. 4 Haag def. No. 29 Doug Hanzel 4&3

No. 5 Roger Newsom def. No. 37 John Hornbeckl 20 holes

No. 59 Curtis Holck def. No. 27 Chris Fieger 2&1

No. 7 Bob Royak def. No. 39 Chip Lutz 19 holes

No. 40 James Sewell def. No. 57 Pete Betzold 3&1

No. 56 Mike Henry def. No. 24 Tim Hogarth 23 holes

No. 23 Tom Lape def. No. 55 Ryan 3&2

No. 21 Mallette def. No. 53 Mike Finster 3&2


Round of 16

No. 1 White def. No. 48 Ken Wade 5&4

No. 2 Sughrue def. No. 18 Ronnie Clark 2&1

No. 19 Jody Fanagan def. No. 3 Harwell 1 up

No. 45 Joe Palmer def. No. 4 Haag 1 up

No. 5 Newsom def. No. 21 Mallette 5&3

No. 59 Curtis Holck def. No. 43 James Volpenheim 2&1

No. 7 Royak def. No. 23 Tom Lape 2&1

No. 56 Mike Henry def. No. 40 James Sewel 6&5l


Quarterfinals

No. 1 White def. No. 56 Henry 19 holes

No.. 7 Royak def. No. 2 Sughrue 1 up

No. 19  Fanagan def. No. 59 Holck 5&3

No. 5 Newsom def. No. 45 Palmer 1 up


Semifinals

No. 1 White def. No. 5 Newsom 2&1

No. 19 Fanagan def. No. 7 Royak 19 holes


Final 

No. 1 White def. No. 19 Fanagan 4&3