D’Ambrosio wins 29th Spring Stroke Play Championship
By Mike Dudurich • June 1, 2022
Mike is a freelance writer and host of The Golf Show on 93.7 The Fan Saturday mornings from 7-8 AM. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeDudurich.
There’s nothing like a little excitement to spice up the first big event on the West Penn Golf Association’s 2022 championship schedule.
Tuesday at Hannastown Golf Club in Greensburg, a pair of golfers who would eventually finish at the top of the leaderboard were the great excitement makers on this day.
Scott Jordan, a native of Upper St. Clair, had a prolific ending to his first round, in which he finished with 65. To get there, however, was the exciting part.
It started on the 10th, when he made a bogey. After that, however, it was special. He eagled the 14th with a chip-in from just off the front edge. Then came the fun part. He made a 20-footer on 15, a 35-footer on 16, a 20-footer on 17 and a 5-footer on 18. All of those were for birdies.
“I putted really well in the first round,” Jordan, a sophomore-to-be at Longwood (Va.) College, said. “After putting so well in the first round, I started out OK, but nothing like those last five holes on the front.”
And that leads to the eventual winner, Amani D’Ambrosio. His style of excitement? How about a chip-in in both rounds? In the first round he dunked a chip-in on the second hole and in the second round it was on the 13th. Both were for birdie, but D’Ambrosio saved his best for last.
On the final hole of the day, his approach shot came up just short leaving him a 50-foot putt for birdie. He knew that to keep his one-shot lead over Jordan, he’d have to get down in two. His first putt was a bit enthusiastic and rolled six feet past the hole.
On lookers took notice, knowing unless D’Ambrosio made the six-footer, there would be a playoff.
Even though he said he really hadn’t faced this kind of pressure before, he calmly knocked the putt in and won the championship.
D'Ambrosio knows about going low, having shot a 65 last week at West Penn Open qualifier at Birdsfoot. That tied the scoring record at Birdsfoot that was originally set by Sean Knapp.
"For me, when I get into any kind of pressure, and I start to feel like I’m in the right place,” he said. “I was comfortable here today. This is the kind of course that suits my game. I’m a pretty average length guy and I like to shape the ball and trust my game.”
D’Ambrosio attends Division II Berry University and will be a junior in the fall there.
“The guys all call this the Reunion event, because this is the time of year that we see guys that we’ve played against in high school, and we all look forward to seeing everybody.”
Hannastown showed its’ tough side on Tuesday. There were only seven rounds in the 60s and D’Ambrosio had two of them.
About the WPGA
Founded in 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association is the steward of amateur golf in the region. Started by five Member Clubs, the association now has nearly 200 Member Clubs and 33,000 members. The WPGA conducts 14 individual competitions and 10 team events, and administers the WPGA Scholarship Fund.