U.S. SENIOR AMATEUR
By Brian DePasquale, USGA
Two-time champion Paul Simson will compete in this year's U.S. Senior Amateur on a special exemption from the USGA. (USGA/Fred Vuich)
Two-time U.S. Senior Amateur champion Paul Simson, of Raleigh, N.C., and 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Michael McCoy, of Des Moines, Iowa, have received special exemptions from the USGA into the 69th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, which will be contested Aug. 24-29 at The Honors Course, in Ooltewah, Tenn.
Simson, 73, won the 2010 and 2012 U.S. Senior Amateur Championships and is one of 14 players to win the title on multiple occasions. He defeated Patrick Tallent, 2 and 1, in his first victory at Lake Nona Country Club, in Orlando, Fla. Simson added a 4-and-3 triumph over Curtis Skinner at Mountain Ridge Country Club, in West Caldwell, two years later to cap a homecoming in his native northern New Jersey. Simson grew up in Summit.
Simson, who has played in 58 USGA championships and nine USGA Men’s State Teams, is third in career match-play victories with a 36-12 record in 16 U.S. Senior Amateurs played. He was runner-up in the 2017 Senior Amateur to Sean Knapp. Additionally, Simson, Chip Lutz and Gene Elliott are the lone players to have won the U.S. Senior Amateur, the R&A Seniors Amateur and the Canadian Men’s Senior Amateur championships. Simson, a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, has also played in eight U.S. Senior Opens and was the low amateur in 2001.
McCoy, 61, captained the USA to a come-from-behind victory in last year’s Walker Cup Match. The USA won six of 10 singles matches and halved two others on the second day to post a 14½-11½ decision against Great Britain and Ireland on the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. He was a member of the 2015 USA Walker Cup Team.
In 2013, McCoy was the second-oldest winner (age 50) of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship when he defeated Bill Williamson, 8 and 6, in the 36-hole final at the Country Club of Birmingham (Ala.). He built a 5-up lead after the morning 18 holes and claimed the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy on the 30th hole of the match.
McCoy has competed in 60 USGA championships, including 24 U.S. Mid-Amateurs and 20 U.S. Amateurs, and played in eight USGA Men’s State Teams. He is seventh in career Mid-Amateur match-play wins with a 27-14 record. McCoy, who advanced to the semifinals in his first U.S. Senior Amateur in 2018, was the low amateur in the 2014 and 2015 U.S. Senior Opens. The Wichita State University graduate is a member of the Iowa Golf Association Hall of Fame.
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