32 Advance at Mid-Amateur

The seedings for the Round of 32 matches have been determined for the 34th Mid-Amateur Championship held at Sara Bay Country Club in Sarasota. After 36 holes of stroke play qualifying, 32 players have advanced to match play and matches are currently underway.

Round one concluded with a tight race at the top of the stroke-play leader board. Jon Veneziano, of Mount Dora stood alone with the early lead after carding seven birdies en route to a round one 69, three-under par. Veneziano is no stranger to the Mid-Amateur Championship with two victories under his belt in 2005 and 2013. In second place, one-stroke from the lead, Robert Bechtol, of Tallahassee started the day with two bogeys but finished strong with four birdies and eleven pars for a 70. The only other under-par round came from Edward Kenny, who would start the second round of stroke play in third place after a one-under par, 71. Kenny, of Lake Worth was crowned Mid-Amateur Champion in 2007. The 2015 Mid-Am Stroke Play Champion, Joe Alfieri finished the day in the top ten with a steady two-over par, 74 while Gordon Marshall, 2015 Senior Amateur Champion, tied for 14th after a 77. Day one finished with 35 players at 78 or better vying to finish in the top 32 and advance to match play.

The second round began with an early shotgun start to finalize the top 32 players proceeding to match play in the afternoon. Jon Veneziano held onto first place after a second consecutive round with seven birdies! He finished his morning round at one-under par, 71, for a two-day total of four-under par 140, and the only player under-par after stroke play. He would be the number one seed entering the Round of 32 matches. The lowest round of the day was carded by TJ Shuart, of Fort Lauderdale, who climbed up the leaderboard after a flawless five-under par 67. Shuart, 2015 Match Play Champion, tied Matthew Giovannelli and Robert Bechtol for second place with a stroke-play total 145. Joe Alfieri advanced to tied for fifth after an even par round leading to a two-day total of 146.

Surprisingly, the top 32 players were hit on the number dodging a playoff for the final seeds. A two-day total of 154 or better advanced to match play with the round of 32 matches beginning at 2:00 on Friday, October 9th.  The Mid-Amateur Champion will be awarded 5,000 points to finalize the Player of the Year points list. Click here to look at the player of the year rankings and here to view the point system for the Mid-Amateur.

Click here to view Stroke Play Results

Click here for the Match Play Bracket