Senior amateur golf is alive, well and wealthy

September 26, 11:55 AMGolf ExaminerDave Seanor

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Golf Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Congrats to Buddy Marucci, winner of the 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur. He beat George Zahringer 2-up Thursday in the 18-hole final at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Marucci-Zahringer showdown kind of makes you wonder if it’s possible for a player of modest means to win a senior national championship.

Marucci used to own a string of Mercedes-Benz dealerships in Philadelphia, which he sold last year.  Zahringer probably isn’t as wealthy as he used to be – he was a financial analyst with the collapsed Bear-Stearns investment bank before catching on with Deutsche Bank – but I’m guessing he’s still in a pretty high tax bracket.

Senior golf begins at 55 in U.S. Golf Association competitions and those run by many state golf associations. Entries for national and state tournaments have swelled in recent years as more Baby Boomers reach the age threshold. This year’s Senior Am drew 2,393 entries. To be eligible, a golfer must have a handicap index of 7.4 or better.

The overall quality of senior golf nationwide is impressive; these guys typically are empty-nesters or retired, with lots of time to work on their games. Generally they’re financially secure enough to travel extensively, as well. High-level players like Marucci and Zahringer probably compete in 8-to-12 tournaments a year, each over five or six days, or longer if they’re traveling cross-country or overseas.

Of course, wealthy sportsmen are nothing new to amateur golf. Bobby Jones was a lawyer from a prominent Atlanta family. Bill Campbell and Jay Sigel, dominant players in their respective eras, both made small fortunes in insurance.

Marucci, 56, is a comparatively short hitter with a deft short game. His home club is venerable Merion in Philadelphia; he’s also a member at two other historic clubs, Seminole and Pine Valley.

By his own reckoning, Marucci has played in 51 USGA events. Before winning on Ben Hogan’s old stomping grounds, Shady Oaks, Marucci’s claim to fame was losing to Tiger Woods in the final of the 1995 U.S. Amateur. Zahringer won the 2002 U.S. Mid-Amateur and was a member of America’s 2003 Walker Cup team.

Marucci won’t defend his Senior Am title next year because it conflicts with his duties as U.S. Walker Cup captain. He captained the American side that beat Great Britain & Ireland in last year’s Walker Cup at Royal County Down and returns for the ’09 rematch at Merion.

In the gallery pulling for Marucci during the final at Shady Oaks was Trip Kuehne, who played for Marucci in Northern Ireland before winning the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur. Spectating likely served as a welcome break for Kuehne, another well-to-do “professional amateur” who lost to Woods in the 1994 U.S. Amateur final. Kuehne, 35, runs a Dallas-based hedge fund called Double Eagle Capital.