Overbrook GC’s Lange opens Mid-Am title defense atop first-round leaderboard

HORSHAM, Pa.-Chris Lange of Overbrook GC opened the 23^rd Middle-Amateur Championship at Commonwealth National GC (par 71, 6,858 yards) on Tuesday in the same position he finished last year’s tournament, atop the leaderboard . Lange, 51, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., carded an even-par 71, the only first-round score at par or better.

 In all, 78 players made the cut.

The 132-player field was cut to the low 70 players and ties for the second and final round set for tomorrow. Tee times begin at 7:30 a.m.

  “It was hard,” said Lange of the challenging Commonwealth National GC layout. “There’s no hiding out there. You’ve got to hit the ball. The greens were firm, fast and the wind was blowing so it was as tough as it gets.”

  Lange came into the clubhouse with three birdies and four bogeys on a day when the wind pushed scores way above par. He began his round with a birdie on No. 2 (par 4, 390 yards) when he chipped it in from above the hole.

  “No. 2 got me off to a good start.” Lange said.

  He would also card back-to-back birdies on the treacherous No. 13 (par 4, 440 yards), where he hit a 7-iron downwind from about 160 yards to within a few feet, and the difficult No. 14 (par 4, 427 yards), to put him at 2-under-par with four holes to play. However, Lange bogeyed No. 16 (par 3, 190 yards) and No. 17 (par 4, 382 yards) before a par on No. 18 (par 4, 445 yards) accounted for an even-par finish.

  The defending Middle Amateur Champion doesn’t necessarily look back to last year’s championship as an aid toward this season’s contest.

  “I’ve been doing this a long time,” Lange commented. “I don’t really think about [defending the tittle]. You’ve just got to go out, play good and see what happens.”

  Lange is a three-time Amateur Champion, three-time Patterson Cup Champion and captured the Philadelphia Open in 2004 at Philadelphia CC.

  If Lange repeats, he’ll be the first player to successfully defend his Middle-Amateur title.

  The GAP Middle-Amateur started in 1984, three years after the USGA created the U.S. Mid-Am 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 Mid-Am was for players 30 years of age and older. That 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. Players must have a GAP/USGA Handicap Index of 7.0 or lower.

  This is the first full scoring event toward the William Hyndman, III Player of the Year standings.