North Carolina sends four to Senior Amateur round of 32
Five times, Dean Channell waited at home in Cary for the call from the USGA, having just missed out in qualifying for the U.S. Amateur or Senior Open or Mid-Amateur or whatever. All dressed up with nowhere to go.
When he was the first alternate at a U.S. Senior Open qualifying site in Lexington, S.C., he expected more of the same. When the call did come, he didn’t have far to go.
Channell has made the most of this unexpected chance at Old Chatham Golf Club this week, co-medalist in match play over the weekend and a winner in the round of 64 on Monday, his first ever match-play win in a USGA tournament.
“I know the golf course well because I’ve played here a lot over the years,” Channell said. “I feel like if I’m playing well, then I’m competitive. I feel like if I play well, I should be competitive. And then you just hope you get a little lucky, like today.”
A financial advisor who played tennis at Virginia Tech, Channell had only made it to match play once before in eight tries at USGA championships. Despite fighting a pull all day, he had a secure three-hole lead with four to play only to hit his drive into the massive bunker that guards the left side of the 15th. Another three-putt bogey put things in doubt before he closed things out with an 8-iron to 2 feet on the par-3 17th. He pulled that one, too. “I played for it,” Channell said.
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The victory capped a successful day for the North Carolina contingent, which sent four players into Tuesday morning’s round of 32. Raleigh’s Paul Simson posted his 13th straight opening-round win at the Senior Amateur to preserve his perfect round-of-64 record. Mooresville’s Steve Harwell won an in-state eliminator over Lionel Sutton of LaGrange, advancing to face ... Simson. And former Pinehurst No. 2 superintendent Paul Jett upset the highest-ranked player in the field in the morning session.
“I’m so pleased to see someone like that win a match and get a little notoriety,” Simson said.
“He’s been kind of waiting for an opportunity to do something like this, whereas some of us have had lots of opportunities.”
Channell’s mere presence in the tournament is testament to the strength of senior golf in the Carolinas: He was picked to fill one of the first available openings because his qualifying site was retroactively judged the toughest field. (Jett and Harwell both came out of that one; Simson, a two-time winner of this event, is exempt. Channell missed claiming one of the four available spots by a stroke.)
“I’m 1-for-6 as first alternate,” Channell said. “I finally got in. All those times I was waiting for a phone call, I never got a phone call before.”
The timing was ideal. He’s playing well. His wife Kathy was able to watch him play over the weekend for the first time in 32 years. And he might have been late getting into the field, but he’s one of the last 32 left.
