ARDMORE, Pa. — There’s Lucky Luciano, the notorious mobster. Then there’s Lucky Lugiano, a victorious U.S. Amateur competitor mobbed by supporters Thursday.
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Michael Lugiano, a Huntsville Golf Club member, posted a pair of thrilling wins to gain the 126th U.S. Amateur Quarterfinals at Merion Golf Club. He outlasted Nevill Ruiter of the Netherlands, 1-up, in the Round of 32 before ousting Drake Harvey of Henderson, Nev. by the same margin in the Round of 16.
Such theatre matches Lugiano’s Round of 64 victory over Chase Hughes of Oklahoma City, Okla. Wednesday. Again, a 1-up margin.
“It’s a grind out there. These guys are good,” Lugiano, 20, of Jackson Township, Pa., said. “Going to No. 18 in all three matches really doesn’t surprise me much because I know you have to play great golf out here to win. These are the best amateurs in the world. It’s been quite stressful thus far. I haven’t made it easy, but I’ve been able to get the job done.”
The ode to Lucky Lugiano reads as follows.
The 16th taketh. The 17th giveth. The 18th wineth.
Lugiano carried a 1-up lead into the 16th hole (par 4, 434 yards) in his match against Ruiter. A loose hybrid put Lugiano in Merion’s crippling cabbage, prompting a plausible extrication to the upper fairway. Lugiano, playing his third stroke, caught a wedge from 112 yards a tad too clean. Ruiter executed a two-putt par from the fringe to tie the match.
Copy and paste against Harvey. Lugiano finds the right rough again. This time, instead of retreating to safety, he races to risk. Lugiano attempts to direct a pitching wedge from 187 yards to the front edge of the green. It doesn’t budge according to plan. He instead finds the quarry and ultimately concedes the hole to Harvey.
Tied through 16 holes against Ruiter, then Harvey. But Merion’s treacherous 17th (par 3, 186 yards) can halt momentum in a hurry. It did so twice in Lugiano’s favor.
Ruiter’s tee shot drew into the left greenside rough — an unforgiving Alcatraz on this day. He failed to get up-and-down for par. Lugiano, meanwhile, managed a conceded 3. Harvey, too, sent his tee shot into a precarious position back of the green. Lugiano played an 8-iron to the middle of the green and totaled two putts for a winning 3.
Onto Merion’s famed closer, the iconic 18th hole (par 4, 407 yards). Both Ruiter and Harvey held honors in the fairway. The former saw his approach speed down the interstate, only to pass a back-left hole location exit. The latter saw his approach scurry toward a microphone staged in the ground at the back of the green.
Lugiano, ever the strategist, walked a good 50 yards to confirm Ruiter’s tedious parking spot in the rough. He then lifted a 50-degree wedge 147 yards out of the left rough. It landed on the green’s downslope and rolled out to 22 feet.
A roaring applause from a sizeable gallery, punctuated by chants of “Mike, Mike, Mike.” Lugiano lagged his birdie try for a conceded 4. Ruiter’s chip flirted for a millisecond. Once it detoured, he detoured for a handshake.
“All of the Philly guys are so good at golf, too. It could be any one of them in this exact spot as well.”
Against Harvey, Lugiano again found the left rough off the tee. His 50-degree wedge from 154 yards didn’t hold the green, leaving Lugiano with a delicate chip. After Harvey’s third shot released to a daunting distance, Lugiano, nerves steady as fans rallied against the ropes, nubbed a wedge to the promised land.
“It was pretty into the grain, so I was just trying to stab at it and trickle it up there. That was good enough for the gimme,” Lugiano said.
A now thunderous roar from a gallery that doubled in size since he started his day at 9:25 a.m. Lugiano received countless hugs and handshakes from family and friends, all howling for the last hometown hero left standing at Merion.
“Having all of the people out here is great. I’s not nerve-wracking at all. It’s really nice to have the support,” Lugiano said. “All of the other Philly guys are so good at golf, too. It could be any one of them in this exact spot as well. I’m pretty lucky to be representing the GAP.”
Lugiano, a frequent GAP competitor, won the Delaware Amateur Championship a year ago. He is a rising junior at Liberty University, where he earned First-Team All-Conference USA honors this year. Lugiano also competed in the U.S. Amateur a year ago at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. He missed the match-play cut by one stroke with scores of 71 and 73.
Now he’s among the Elite Eight. Lugiano will face Logan Reilly of Lovettsville, Va. at 2 p.m. Friday.
“Merion is obviously one of the best golf courses in the world. It’s special to be able to play a really big event here,” Lugiano said. “I’ve been pretty confident in my game lately, so having that to rest on is pretty good.”
Lugiano is staying with U.S. Amateur medalist and friend Josh Ryan of The 1912 Club this week. It is a literal home away from home; Lugiano and Ryan were roommates at Liberty this past academic year.
Ryan was among the Lugiano gallery Thursday. He fell in the Round of 64 to Taishi Moto of Japan in 19 holes. “Fighting a pull,” Ryan’s 4-iron put the reigning Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Champion in a poor lie on No. 1 (par 4, 365 yards) from which he never recovered.
One of the consolatory hands he shook afterward: Lugiano.
“I appreciate Mike, but he stayed [after his Round of 64 match ended] to watch my last nine. It was awesome, but I was like, ‘Dude, go to sleep,’” Ryan, 22, of Norristown, Pa., said. “He just loves golf.”
The Lugiano love from The City of Brotherly Love is apparent at Merion.
GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 140,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
