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By Arthur Utley
WILLIAMSBURG – Playing in the last group of the day, Rand Mendez turned the Virginia qualifier for the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship on its ear.
Three consecutive birdies midway through the back nine propelled Mendez to a 2-under-par 70 on the Blue Heron course at Ford’s Colony on Friday. He claimed the lone spot up for grabs by one stroke over David Pulk (Two Rivers Country Club), who teed off in the third grouping and posted a 1-under 71.
Pulk, the 2015 Senior Open of Virginia champion and medalist at the 2017 VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur, is the first alternate for the national tournament that is scheduled Aug. 25-30 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
Jeff Flax (Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club) defeated Mike McDonald (Two Rivers CC) in a playoff to become the second alternate after each posted par 72 in the qualifier.
This is the second year in a row, Mendez, 58, from Wilmington, Del., has qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur.
Mendez, who plays out of Fieldstone CC in Wilmington, competed in the Virginia qualifier because “I like to play a lot of Middle Atlantic events. I played the Middle Atlantic Senior Amateur (Montgomery CC, Laytonsville, Md.) Monday and Tuesday this week and that basically X-d me out of my local [Philadelphia] qualifier. I knew I could come here. I have friends in Richmond,” Mendez said.
Pulk also played in the Middle Atlantic Senior (he was champion in 2015) and was one of three players involved in a playoff for the title that was won by two-time VSGA Senior Amateur champion David Partridge of Manakin-Sabot.
Rain stayed away for the qualifying round, but the players had to deal with saturated fairways and no preferred lies. Mendez said he had no mud balls and took casual water relief once.
He opened the round with a birdie on the first hole and added a second birdie at No. 6 but had three bogeys to turn in 1 over. Three pars led up to the consecutive birdies on holes 13 through 15 (3-2-3) to reach 2 under and he parred in.
“I was putting really good and I figured…I was hitting the ball fairly close to the pin, so I said just keep hitting it and you know you’ll make the putts and I was,” Mendez said. “Those three in a row obviously were key.”
Mendez found out at the 18th tee that 71 had been posted.
“I knew I needed to make par on the last hole, which I kind of wanted to know because then you know whether you have to get aggressive or not with a putt or something,” he said.
He hit a good tee shot and second shot and lagged his first putt to tap-in distance to finish.
Pulk was 2 under and bogey free through 17 holes, but he made what turned out to be a costly bogey at No. 18.
Mendez has a long way to travel later this month for the Senior Amateur, and though the drive home on Friday was much shorter, he had to deal with traffic on I-95 but …
“It’s a pleasant drive having qualified,” he said.
Retired Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer Arthur Utley is a frequent contributor to VSGA.org and Virginia Golfer magazine.