By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Brad Wilder of Ft. Wright reached the semifinals of the United States Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship this week at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida.
Wilder, who was seeded No. 52 in the field of 64 golfers after the stroke-play round, won four one-on-one matches to advance to the semifinals before losing to Sammy Schmitz of Minnesota, 1-up, on Wednesday afternoon. Schmitz took the lead with an eagle on the par-5, No. 17 hole and both golfers parred the final hole.
Wilder, 36, had never advanced beyond the round of 64 in any of his six previous USGA appearances. He receives a two-year qualifying exception to compete in the 2016 and 2017 Mid-Amateur Championship for finishing among the final four this year.
On Tuesday, Wilder pulled off a major upset with a 3-and-2 win over Mike McCoy in the round of 16. McCoy was the 2013 Mid-Amateur champion and shot the lowest amateur score in the U.S. Senior Open earlier this summer.
“Whoever can handle the pressure and execute when you have to is the one who gets it done,” Wilder said in a story posted on the usga.com website after the match.
In the Wednesday morning quarterfinals, Wilder defeated Jess Daley, a former PGA Tour member who regained his amateur status earlier this year. That match went 18 holes with Wilder pulling out a 1-up victory.
It looked like Wilder would reach the championship final when he went 1-up on the 12th hole in the semifinal match. But Schmitz won the next hole with a par and took the lead on No. 17 by making a 21-foot putt for an eagle on the par-5 hole.
Wilder played on the Covington Catholic High School and University of Cincinnati golf teams. He earned a degree in wealth management at UC and now works for Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati. He won the Cincinnati Metropolitan amateur golf tournament in 2011. This is the fourth time that he has qualified for the USGA Mid-Amateur Championship for golfers 25 years and older.
Kentucky high school state golf tournament
Notre Dame Academy is considered one of top contenders in the 21-team field for the girls’ state high school golf tournament that begins with Friday’s first-round at Bowling Green Country Club.
Notre Dame qualified for the state tournament as the Region 6 team champion and Ryle earned a berth for being regional runner-up.
After the first round of the girls’ state tournament on Friday, the field will be reduced to the top 11 teams and top 20 individual scorers for the final round on Saturday.
The boys’ state golf tournament wrapped up on Wednesday with Louisville St. Xavier taking the team title. The two local teams in the boys’ state tournament, Ryle and Covington Catholic, did not make the first-round cut and none of the individual golfers from our area advanced to the final round.