Warner Cup (Gross): Lu Lu’s Smeraglio snags first Senior title

 EXTON, Pa. — A Senior Division rookie in 2015, Glenn Smeraglio made his presence felt immediately. He finished second in the Player of the Year standings and qualified for a pair of national championships (U.S. Senior Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur) along the way. The laundry list of accomplishments, however, didn’t include a victory. | History | Scorecards | Photo gallery | Senior POY standings |
| Saucon Valley’s McCool claims Super-Senior crown |

  Smeraglio changed that streak Thursday. The Lu Lu Country Club member carded an even-par 72 to win the Senior title in the 82nd Francis B. Warner Cup (Gross) at Whitford Country Club (par 72, 6,568 yards). Home-club hopeful Mark Ellinger posted a 1-over-par 73 in the morning to earn runner-up honors.

  “This is the first win of many, hopefully,” Smeraglio, 56, of Newtown, Pa., said. “It’s good to get a W. I kind of wanted to win a couple of things last year. I’m focused on winning this year. Hopefully I can keep it up.”

  Chilly temperatures, thick rough and challenging greens dictated strategy for most Thursday. Smeraglio adjusted to the conditions accordingly with a score 11 strokes above the field average.

  “Pars were your friend today,” he said. “Chipping out here is really hard. Large blades of grass really slowed your club down around the green. You needed to make an aggressive stroke for your chip shots. I’ve been playing well. I thought if I could shoot par or better, which isn’t a stretch right now.”

  Smeraglio indeed embraced pars. He points to a pair of saves that ultimately sustained his round. On No. 2 (par 3, 189 yards), he launched a 5-iron into a delicate lie a foot off the green. He nudged a wedge to 12 feet and converted a right-to-left breaker. The par 4, 397-yard 15th hole put Smeraglio in a similar predicament. Standing 145 yards from the flagstick, he thought “pull” because of habit and instead pushed his golf ball right. Short-sided and short on error with Ellinger in the house, he flopped a wedge to 12 feet for a critical par. The conversion allowed Smeraglio to maintain a one-stroke edge over playing partner Oscar Mestre of Overbrook Golf Club at the time.

  “I was trying to punch a little 7-iron because the wind was right in our face,” Smeraglio said of the approach. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t come up short because it looked like one of those big humps was short. I wanted to get in between a little bit. The lie got me. The fairways are very thin. You could easily blade it. Fortunately, I didn’t do much of that.”

  Thought-provoking lies served as a theme throughout Smeraglio’s round, which included two birdies against two bogeys. On the downhill, dogleg right No. 9 (par 5, 540 yards), he took the water hazard out of play by drilling a 5-iron 190 yards to the back of the green. A chip out of a “decent” lie stopped three feet from the cup. Smeraglio knocked a 9-iron 135 yards to five feet for a birdie on the next hole (par 4, 364 yards).

  “You really had to control your iron shots today. The air was so heavy that you had to be smart about shots into the green,” Smeraglio, a two-time Patterson Cup champion (1998, 2008), said.

  Difficult greenside lies on Nos. 8 (par 4, 386 yards) and 14 (par 4, 362 yards) thwarted Smeraglio’s par progress. On the first, he slung a 7-iron left of the green and bumped the ensuing chip to 12 feet. Smeraglio missed the par putt. After missing the No. 14 fairway by six inches, Smeraglio hit a presumably safe 54-degree wedge from 115 yards and watched it crash onto the green sans spin. He chipped to six feet and misread the par putt, deeming right rather than left.

  Smeraglio joined Lu Lu over the winter. The new surroundings prepared the 2011 Middle-Amateur Champion for Whitford.

  “You need to stay below the hole on a Donald Ross golf course all of the time. If it’s pin high or above, you can’t two-putt,” Smeraglio said. “A lot of that was like here today. Not that the greens were super-fast, but it did help to stay below the hole.”

  Ellinger, who works for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, also qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2015. He failed to make the match play cut.

  “That was exciting. I had my son caddie for me. It was just a thrill,” Ellinger, 58, of Chester Springs, Pa., said. “When I got to Hidden Creek, I laid an egg and played pretty bad. I honestly didn’t feel that nervous the first round out there but I had to have been. Today I just wanted to candidly come out and not have one of those bad rounds again. It was rewarding to be able to get a decent round in.”

  Ellinger is nearly two years removed from back surgery. He took seven Advil during his U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying attempt at White Manor Country Club. He only needed two Thursday.

  “This year it’s starting to feel where it’s manageable. That helps me get out a little more,” Ellinger said. “I’m having fun. My back’s still not perfect, but it’s a heck of a lot better. I have nothing to complain about now. This spring is the best I’ve felt.”

  Francis B. Warner of Philadelphia Cricket Club served as secretary-treasurer for the Golf Association of Philadelphia for 18 years. After his death in 1933, the Association started the Francis B. Warner Cup as an ongoing tribute in his memory. It is the first Senior Major of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s tournament season.

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 Full Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. 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.