Green Valley’s Feld medals in Mid.-Am. Qualifier at cold Concord

WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Ben Feld started the year a graduate assistant. By spring he respired fire atop the Drexel University golfing kingdom.

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  On Thursday, Feld found Concord Country Club (par 71, 6,649 yards) toasty despite an unrelenting chill. The Green Valley Country Club member carded a 1-under-par 70 to earn medalist honors in a Middle-Amateur Championship Qualifier presented by Callaway Golf.

  Feld led a field of 147 players hoping to earn one of 33 qualifying spots and ties for the Championship proper, set for May 25-26 at Waynesborough Country Club. The cut line stopped at 78 by day’s end.

  “We have a group text with me and all of the guys on the team for golf purposes. They were giving me a hard time today,” Feld, Drexel’s interim head golf coach, said. “The guys have been unbelievable in making it an easy transition for me. I told them I didn’t know what to expect, so don’t judge me too much from today. I overachieved a little bit to both of our expectations.”

  Feld, 25, of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., overcame trying conditions — plummeting temperatures (as low as 48 degrees in the afternoon), a brief rain spell and minimal playing time as of late — to post the day’s lone subpar score.

  “I kind of managed my golf ball around the course,” Feld, a grad school student at Drexel majoring in Communication, said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be overly sharp coming in, so I just tried to take big numbers out of play. I figured if I came in today and bogey was my worst score I’d be fine. I just made a couple more putts than usual. The greens were pure.”

  Pure greens gelled with a new putter: a Cameron Red X that Feld used for the first time in competition.

  “I bought it on eBay a few weeks ago and threw it in the bag,” he said. “Over our spring break trip to Pinehurst, I was having a really hard time putting, which is usually one of the strengths of my game. I did something drastic. It paid off today.”

  Sure did. Feld fired three frontside birdies to shoot atop the leaderboard. He stopped a gap wedge from 105 yards at a foot on No. 2 (par 4, 349 yards). He dropped a 20-footer thru the left edge on No. 5 (par 4, 371 yards) after hitting a 9-iron 140 yards. Bogeys sandwiched a birdie on No. 8 (par 3, 180 yards), where Feld landed a 6-iron 25 feet above the flagstick.

  “The putt was moving fast. It’s a good thing it hit the hole,” he said. “I was lucky that it went in.”

  Bogeys on Nos. 11 (par 3, 185 yards) and 12 (par 4, 442 yards) served as temporary setbacks on this day. Feld executed a wild chip-in birdie on No. 15 (par 3, 181 yards) after sending a 5-iron greenside right. He closed with consecutive birdies. On No. 17 (par 4, 329 yards), Feld knocked a sand wedge 84 yards to 12 feet. After smashing a 3-wood 245 yards into the front right bunker on the par 5, 535-yard 18th hole, he splashed out to 10 feet and sunk the ensuing putt.

  Although he will make his Middle-Amateur debut, Feld is accustomed to the heat of Major battle. He is a two-time BMW Philadelphia Amateur semifinalist (2012, 2014) and frequent Joseph H. Patterson Cup contender.

  “[The level of competition in the Middle-Amateur] will be similar; you just don’t have the college kids there,” Feld said. “There are so many great mid-am players in this area. You have to show up with your ‘A’ game if you want to have a chance. Hopefully I’ll get a little more practice in before Waynesborough.”

  The final Middle-Amateur Championship Qualifier presented by Callaway Golf will take place Monday, May 2 at Makefield Highlands Golf Club.

  The Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Middle-Amateur Championship started in 1984, three years after the USGA created the U.S. Mid-Amateur as a formal championship for post-college amateurs. The Association followed suit with the USGA in creating a Mid-Am, but initially differed in its administration of the tournament in a couple of respects.

  The most obvious difference was the age requirement. Prior to 2001, the GAP Middle-Amateur was for players 30 years of age and older.

  The Association’s Executive Committee reviewed and revised that age requirement in 2001 to match the USGA’s guidelines of 25 years of age or older for eligible players. Also at that point, the Committee changed the format of the event to a two-day stroke play tournament (instead of a one-day medal play event) with a cut to the low 70 players and ties after the first round. The field begins with 132 players.

Callaway Golf
  Callaway Golf was founded in 1982 by the late Ely Callaway, a visionary entrepreneur who operated under a simple but profound business promise: Deliver Demonstrably Superior, Pleasingly Different products and services. That philosophy turned what was originally a boutique manufacturer of high-quality wedges and putters into the world’s largest maker of premium, performance golf products. The Callaway mission and vision has remained the same; we passionately pursue advanced, innovative technologies that help golfers of all abilities find more enjoyment from the game. Under the Callaway and Odyssey brands, Callaway manufactures and sells golf clubs and golf balls, and sells golf apparel, footwear and accessories in more than 110 countries worldwide.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
  Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 153 Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.