White wins USGA Senior Am

By golfclubsc on August 31, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

Spartanburg’s Todd White was the medalist and then went on to win the USGA Senior Amateur Championship at Martis Camp in Truckee California. White became the ninth golfer to be the medalist and the tournament champion. (USGA Photo)

When you think of all the range balls he has hit, all the miles he has walked, all the wedges, drivers, long putts, short putts, long irons and sand shots he has practiced, it is easy to understand why Todd White got emotional as he was being recognized for winning the 2023 US Senior Amateur Championship.

“At this point in time … words fail me,” said White, the 2023 South Carolina Amateur champion. “I sit here and I look at all the hard work that’s gone into it over the course of my life, and it’s just incredible validation of that work,” he said.

Playing in his first USGA Senior Amateur championship, the 55 year old White completed a grinding week of golf with a comfortable win over Jody Fanagan of Ireland 4&3.

While not every match went down to the last shot or an extra hole, having more than a one-hole lead was the exception for the Spartanburg High School golf coach and teacher, rather than the rule.

There might have been a “gimme” or two in a match, but to get the national championship White had to work hard against every opponent.

“Hopefully it’s something that I can take back with me into my career in the classroom and show the students that hard work does pay off, and nothing is given to you. You have to earn it. I feel like that’s what I’ve done here this week is I’ve earned it,” he said.

While a pair of wins would only be considered a little easier by comparison to the three matches that tested his game, and his determination.

Starting the week off as the medalist and only golfer who was able to shoot even par in the qualifying rounds, White took the top seed to the first tee on Monday.

“It’s nice to have won the medal in the stroke play. But everyone knows, this is two tournaments in one. Everyone starts with a clean slate tomorrow,” White said. “

White was the medalist from the two rounds of qualifying for the Senior Championship. He was the only golfer to shoot even par and became the ninth golfer to be the medalist and the tournament champion. (USGA Photo)

The former Furman All-American has won his state’s amateur championship to start the month of August with a narrow one-shot victory over USC golfer Rafe Reynolds.

The win was White’s second in the championship coming 33 years after his first state amateur title in 1990.

“I feel good. I’ve been playing well. The confidence is there. It’s just a matter of keeping everything in front of me and not getting too far ahead of myself, and playing golf the way that I have, really, for the last four weeks.” he said before beginning the Round of 64.

The top seed taking on the last seed would lead you to believe it should have been a walk in the park for White, it wasn’t. White took his number one seed into the Round of 64 match with the golfer who finished as the runner-up in the 2021 Senior Amateur, Jerry Gunthorpe.

White struggled off the tee in the match only hitting five fairways making it difficult for him to take advantage of his usually strong iron game.

Neither golfer ever had more than a one-hole lead and after White lost the lead on number 7 he never led again until he won the match with a par to Gunthorpe’s bogey on the final hole.

The usually very accurate off the tee White survived a difficult driving day in the Round of 64 to advance in the championship. (USGA Photo)

His reward for surviving a tough opening round match was to play 2023 R&A Senior Amateur champion Brent Paterson, of New Zealand.

For the second day in a row, White or his opponent never led by more than 1-hole.

The 2013 Walker Cup team member trailed by a hole until his par on 16 evened the match. It would stay that way through the end of regulation and the first two playoff holes.

White was able to claim his second win with a par on the 21st hole.

The extra holes and the pressure of two straight tight matches didn’t seem to bother White in the afternoon round of 16 match against Ken Wade from Washington.

Wade, the 48th seed, in the tournament had won his morning match 4 & 3 to advance.

After a back and forth start White took the lead for good on the 5th hole and never looked back.

At the turn he held a 3 up advantage and closed out the match with a birdie on the 14th hole for a 5&4 victory.

White, who was inducted into the SCGA Hall of Fame last January, had two close matches of the three to advance to the final eight,

Mike Henry watches in diabelief as his birdie putt to win the quarterfinal match with Todd White roles by the hole. White goes on to birdie the playoff hole to stay alive in the USGA Championship. (USGA Photo)

White came within 7-feet of having his run toward the championship end in the quarterfinals.

Mike Henry from Bloomington, Indiana, had a seven foot birdie putt on the final hole to close out White, but his putt drifted away above the hole,

Given new life, White birdied the 19th hole to advance to the semi-final with a 1 up victory in19 holes.

The birdie finish might have been an omen of the birdie fest that was to come in White’s second match of the day,

Facing Roger Newsome , the fifth seed from Virginia Beach, Virginia, the match featured 13 combined birdies with White knocking in seven of them.

“The birdies were flying everywhere,” said White, the 2023 South Carolina Amateur champion. “I’m sure it was fun to watch, but it was fun to play in. You knew that ebb and flow of the match, topping birdies here and there, it was a great match,” he said.

It turned out that White’s seventh birdie would win the match and give the high school teacher a 2 &`1 victory and an opportunity to play for the championship.

” I’m tickled pink to be in the finals. I really am.” said White.

As the temperatures warmed up so did White’s game and after a slow start the 2-time SCGA Amateur champion won his second USGA championship with a 4&3 victory. (USGA Photo)

The championship match pitted two former Walker Cup golfers against each other for the first time in the history of the Senior championship.

White played on the team in 2013 while his opponent Jody Fanagan had been on the 1995 GB&I team and with his partner Padrig Harrington defeated the team of a young Tiger Woods and John Harris.

After surviving three matches decided by a shot and a fourth that ended just before the 18th hole, White started slow, but warmed up late in the front nine.

Early morning temperatures in the low 40s eventually warmed into the 70s just as White’s game did by the seventh hole.

White won the hole and then another to make the turn at 2 up. He won the 12th hole to go three up.

On the fifteenth hole Fanagan found trouble while White found that his 264 yard 5-wood shot put him within 10 feet of an eagle.

Fanagan had to have a 30 foot prayer answered to stay in the match and when it wasn’t he conceded the eagle and the match to White.

In the first meeting of former Walker Cup golfers in the Senior Amateur final, White won the championship 4 & 3 over Ireland’s Jody Fanagan. (USGA Photo)

The USGA Senior Amateur title is the second USGA championship for White. The first, he shared with partner Nathan Smith when the two won the first ever USGA Four-Ball championship.

The win assures White of the opportunity to play in the biggest senior events for as much as 10 years.

In addition to the gold medal and Frederick L. Dold Trophy to keep for a year, White is exempt into the next 10 US Senior Amateurs, next year’s US Senior Open, (as an amateur) and the next two US Amateurs and next two US Mid-Ams, the next one he already qualified for before leaving for the Senior Am.

Final scorecard from the 2023 US Senior Amateur championship https://championships.usga.org/ussenioramateur/2023/scoring.html

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA and contributed to this report.