LedgeRock’s Lutz stands at 3 under; leads 31st Mid.-Am. Champ.

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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.–In an event for players 25 years of age and older, two grandfathers stand atop the 31st Middle-Amateur Championship presented by Callaway Golf at Gulph Mills Golf Club (par 71, 6,524 yards). Chip Lutz of LedgeRock Golf Club, 59, leads at 3-under-par 68 with Gary E. Daniels of Applebrook Golf Club, 60, a shot back. Either would be the oldest Middle-Amateur Champion ever. Both are former winners.

  “I took time off this winter. We have two grandkids and we renovated our house. Maybe I’m more rested,” said Lutz of a strong early-season push. “It feels good to get back at it. I’ve been playing nicely out of the gate. I finished second at Seminole [in the Coleman Invitational Senior] and played nicely at the Concession Cup. I came right back here and [won] the Warner Cup and State Senior Match Play. I’m feeling good about my game right now.”

  Lutz won the Middle-Amateur Championship in 1998 and 2007. He is the oldest winner at age 52 (2007).

  “Thirty years ago, and nine grandchildren later, I won it,” said Daniels. “Some days I can be good, but not like Chip, who is good every day. I just have my moments.”

  Daniels captured the 1985 Mid.-Am.

  Joining those two in the final group is Peter Barron, III, 38, of Stone Harbor Golf Club. Barron, the father of three, including a 5 week old, was runner-up in last year’s Mid.-Am. He lost in a four-hole playoff to Michael McDermott of Merion Golf Club at Fieldstone Golf Club.

  The cut line fell at 78 with 80 players advancing to the second and final day. The low 70 players and ties made the cut from the field of 129. Tee times begin at 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The final group starts at 11:50 a.m.

  Lutz announced his intentions and arrival with four straight birdies to open the back nine. On No. 10 (par 4, 411 yards), he drained a 50-foot, downhill double breaker for 3; No. 11 (par 4, 345 yards), he knocked a sand wedge from 100 yards to 10 feet; No. 12 (par 5, 519 yards), he reached the greenside bunker in two shots before getting up-and-down from eight feet; and No. 13 (par 4, 435 yards) lifted an easy 6-iron up the hill from 150 yards to 18 feet. Lutz was 5 under at that point. He gave two shots back with bogeys on the incoming par 3s, No. 14 (par 3, 185 yards) and No. 17 (par 3, 211 yards), before finishing at 3 under.

  “I didn’t have my best ball striking round today, but the putter was hot,” said Lutz of Reading, Pa., the reigning four-time Senior Player of the Year. “I felt like I was going to make everything I looked at and it was pretty much that way.”

  Lutz noted two-par saving putts, in addition to two birdies, in his first four holes as a key. He made a treacherous four footer on No. 2 (par 4, 406 yards) and then on No. 4 (par 3, 114 yards) sank a 25-foot, right-to-left breaker, down-the-hill putt.

  He recorded only 27 putts on the day.

  Daniels, too, dotted his scorecard with plenty of red circles. He made seven birdies, three bogeys and a double for 69.

  He calls Gulph Mills one of his favorite courses; a place, where just two weeks ago, he captured the Member-Guest.

  “I missed two shots all day,” said Daniels of Berwyn, Pa. “I was fighting to play each hole. I love this place. I think it’s just a wonderful golf course. It’s one you can play every day.”

  Daniels won the Gulph Mills’ invitational, the A.J. Drexel Paul Cup (a better-ball match play event), in 1981.

  Barron didn’t card as many flashy scores as his two closest foes, but concentrated on hitting fairways and greens. He carded four birdies and two bogeys.

  “The rough out of here is so lush you don’t want to play from it because you can’t control your ball,” said Barron, of Mays Landing, N.J. “If you hit it to the center of the greens you have no more than 30 feet. That’s not bad.”

NOTES–Chris Ault of Yardley Country Club aced No. 14 with a 7-iron for a second career hole-in-one.

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