Rehoboth Beach Country Club hosted the 75th Delaware Amateur June 22-24, featuring 120 competitors in the three-day, 72-hole contest. The Del Am is considered one of the flagship tournaments on the state’s golf calendar.

Hunter Stetson, a member of the North Carolina State golf team and of Aronimink Golf Club in Philadelphia, defeated Evan Barbin of Chesapeake Bay GC June 24 in sudden death. Both scored six-under total in regulation and tied each other six more times, with Stetson beating Barbin on the seventh playoff hole by a single stroke. 

Winning the Del Am earned Stetson a trophy and a qualifying spot in the upcoming U.S. Amateur, scheduled for Aug. 10-16, at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. 

Golfers contended with significant winds during the Monday first round, with southerly winds running at 17 mph and gusts of 27 mph. The second round Tuesday featured occasional showers and a threat of lightning, but much less wind. 

The golfers played in morning and afternoon 18-hole flights the first two days, with a cut after 36 holes. The final day was a 36-hole marathon, with Stetson and Barbin adding seven more holes in the playoff.

Jay Whitby and Sam Metz of Rehoboth Beach CC made the cut, finishing T-28 and 37th, respectively. 

Cape Region golfers who played but missed the 36-hole cut included Tim Golden, Ed Brown and Steven Harvey of Rehoboth Beach CC; Charlie Blok, Ian Whitehead-Scanlon and Kingston Davis of Kings Creek CC; Sean Kilgore of the Rookery; Nick Shevland and William Gaughan of Cripple Creek CC; Mason Mendoza of Peninsula; Phoenix Banks of Plantation Lakes; and John Walsh and Kellen Rellihan of Bear Trap Dunes. 

Filling in a GAP

I enjoyed helping the Golf Association of Philadelphia/Delaware State Golf Association run the 75th Delaware Amateur. 

Maintaining pace of play is a tournament requirement. A pre-round calculation predicts the time it should take to complete 18 holes for each group.

During the June 22 afternoon wave, I used tournament software in a tablet to note when each group finished the 14th hole. The tracking data automatically updated the tournament officials. Other volunteers did the same thing elsewhere. 

The checkpoint run times gave rules officials opportunities to warn groups to speed up or to face consequences up to disqualification.

The assignment also gave me the opportunity to watch skilled golfers make approach shots, deal with mistakes and react to their putts, both good and bad. It was the golf version of people-watching while sitting on a boardwalk bench.

Options for helping at GAP tournaments include course setup and staffing the starter’s tent. For more information about volunteering, go to gapgolf.org/gap-volunteers. 

Southern Delaware Golf Club

The past winter’s storms are the cause of the continuing roar of chainsaws still heard in the Cape Region, thanks to heavy snow damaging several thousand Cape Region trees.

Apparently, the storms also butchered a lot of grass – just not quite so dramatically.

Cody White is the course superintendent at Southern Delaware Golf Club in Milford. We met recently to discuss the fact that Collins Wharf Sod of Eden, Md., sprigged 4.5 acres of Iron Cutter Bermudagrass on four SDGC fairways June 18, as a major part of restoration work to deal with winter damage.

“The ice layer that we had that lasted almost three weeks really choked out the oxygen from getting to the grass. We lost a lot of it to winter kill,” White said. “The fairways that took it the worst were our first and 18th. They were an older, different type of Bermuda than the rest. Parts of the seventh and eighth also lagged behind the other fairways. A lot of our problems are the shaded areas that just don’t get the sun the Bermuda wants.”

Sprigs of Bermudagrass inserted into prepared soil can take hold and prosper far faster than starting from seed. “Six days out and we’re already seeing some greening in, ahead of schedule,” White said.

SDGC Director of Golf Stewart Fisher said the first and 18th holes are closed for play for now. When the time is right, however, players will be able to play those holes from the rough, but not the fairways, as the new grass continues to grow. 

In the meantime, golfers can play two holes a second time to finish a full 18, if desired. Those who begin play on the second hole can replay the second and third after finishing on 17. Fisher said walkers have also been able to begin on the 10th hole during non-busy periods, repeating the 10th and 11th holes if desired.

If all goes well, the ownership also expects to overseed the course with rye this fall to maintain that aesthetic look, White said.

Hollerback goes south

Congratulations to Jake Hollerback of the Sussex Central High School golf team for qualifying to play the prestigious North and South Junior Amateur Championship, held at Pinehurst, N.C., June 21-24. 

The 2025 DIAA boys’ champion posted a low-round 69 in a qualifying round to earn his spot in the boys’ championship. Beginning June 22, they played two rounds on Pinehurst No. 6 and one round on Pinehurst No. 2, where Hollerback shot a 75. He finished T-72 overall.