20th Super-Senior Amateur: Round One

Trio shares Super-Senior lead at Bala

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Doug Fedoryshyn, Oscar Mestre and John Robinson share the 18-hole lead in the 20^th Super-Senior Amateur Championship at Bala Golf Club (par 68, 5,254 yards).

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The three carded respective 1-over-par 69s Tuesday. They each hold a one-stroke advantage over five-time Super-Senior Amateur Champion (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022) Don Donatoni of Hershey’s Mill Golf Club, Brian Corbett of USGA/GAP GC and Mike Owsik of The 1912 Club.

Fedoryshyn, Mestre and Robinson will tee off for the title tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. The Super-Senior Amateur Championship, a 36-hole event, is the final Major of the Super-Senior season.

Mestre, given his 2025 returns, occupies the first space on the marquee. He is the reigning Delaware Super-Senior Amateur Champion and current leader in the GAP Super-Senior Player of the Year race.

“It’s been a good season, so you think you have something,” Mestre, an Overbrook Golf Club member, said. “I had a blip at the U.S. Senior Amateur [at Oak Hills Country Club last month], which kind of shook me to the core. We were put on the clock [for pace of play] after the second hole [of stroke-play qualifying]. My fault. I blew up because I did not handle it well. To have played the summer I did … that was devastating. I played well in the practice rounds. I was excited. The golf course suited me.”

The sting of a missed cut at a national championship may evaporate entirely, if Bala beckons. Tuesday told a tale of two nines for Mestre: 4 over on the front, 3 under on the back. He bogeyed Nos. 3 (par 4, 313 yards), 5 (par 4, 384 yards), 6 (par 3, 131 yards) and 9 (par 3, 159 yards).

“I feel like it was mostly [struggles with] green speed,” Mestre, 65, of Wilmington, Del., said. “I hit it a little squirrely at first. The tee shot on No. 5 was bad. The tee shot on No. 6 was bad. I started hitting the ball well, and I started putting better.”

Sure did.

Mestre birdied No. 11 (par 4, 375 yards) by lifting a 52-degree wedge 12- yards to 15 feet. He then enacted revenge on Bala’s par 3s: a 6-iron to 15 feet for birdie on No. 13 (par 3, 174 yards), a 56-degree wedge to six feet on No. 16 (par 3, 97 yards).

Eighteen holes separate Mestre from the proverbial icing on his 2025 Super-Senior cake. A familiar metaphor for Philadelphia Eagles fans, by the way. Broadcaster Joe Davis did use it during his call of the game-winning field goal block against the Los Angeles Rams two days ago.  

“When you see an opportunity, and I say this every step of the way, you never know when you get another one. So, you don’t want to waste an opportunity,” Mestre said. “I want to give it good effort, be present where I am and hopefully it works out.”

Fedoryshyn, a longtime GAP competitor, is waiting for a title to work out. He sees glimpses of glory. Always in the mix, but never on the GAP podium. A year ago, he sat in second, two strokes off the Round One lead in the Delaware Senior Amateur. Fedoryshyn finished eighth. He stood in fourth place following Round One of the GAP Senior Amateur Championship earlier this month at Berkshire Country Club. Fedoryshyn finished in a tie for 32^nd place.

Bala may bring deliverance Wednesday.

“I had never been here before. I played one practice round,” Fedoryshyn, 66, of Downingtown, Pa., said. “It’s a fun golf course. Every hole is a birdie opportunity. Every hole is an easy bogey, double bogey if you’re not hitting it straight.”

Fedoryshyn, an Applecross Country Club member, started on the back nine and immediately inked red. He nearly reached No. 10 (par 5, 487 yards) in two strokes with a hybrid. A chip to six feet translated into a birdie. Fedoryshyn played hockey — his words — on No. 11 (par 4, 375 yards) and paid the price with a double bogey. He rebounded with a birdie on No. 12 (par 4, 304 yards), where Fedoryshyn knocked a gap wedge 81 yards to three feet. Save for a three-putt bogey on No. 17 (par 4, 293 yards), he played like a cyborg programmed to green and two putt.

“If I could’ve putted, I would’ve shot 4 under. The putter let me down. I two putted everything and missed a couple of short birdies,” Fedoryshyn said. “I have a putting matt down in my basement. I’ll work on that tonight. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Like Fedoryshyn, Robinson, a LuLu Country Club member, lamented lost birdie opportunities at Bala. The 2002 Philadelphia Amateur runner-up let three straight — Nos. 15 (par 4, 318 yards), 16 and 17 specifically — slip through his fingertips. He closed with a bogey to fall into a tie with Fedoryshyn and Mestre. Robinson’s 40-footer peeled left after cresting the green’s upper level (par 4, 362 yards). He missed a 10-footer to save par.

“I wish I could’ve scored lower, but I’m happy with the way I played,” Robinson, 67, of North Wales, Pa., said. “The course is really good. As long as I keep it in play, keep hitting greens, I’ll have a chance. I played real solid today.”

Robinson opened with back-to-back birdies courtesy of crisp 54-degree wedge shots: a 10-footer on No. 1 (par 4, 336 yards), a four-footer on No. 2 (par 4, 300 yards). Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 5 and 6 brought Robinson back to the field.

By day’s end, the field came back to Robinson with a scoring average of 77.

Super-Senior Silver Cross Award
Mestre trails Donatoni by three strokes entering the final round of the Super-Senior Silver Cross Award race. The Super-Senior Silver Cross Award is comprised of the Francis B. Warner Cup, Frank H. Chapman Memorial Cup and Super-Senior Amateur Championship.

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 130,000 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.