- Indiana Golf Office photo
Earlier this summer, we at AmateurGolf.com posed the question "who is the oldest player to win a state mid-amateur title?" after learning that
Michael Hughett, 63, had won the Oklahoma Mid-Amateur. We could find no record of someone older than Hughett achieving the feat.
Two days later,
Tom Brandes of Washington set the new standard when, just a month shy of his 66th birthday, he captured the Washington Men's Mid-Amateur in a playoff.
Related:
Today,
Michael Bell has pushed the record further out -- WAY further out. The 75-year-old won the Indiana Mid-Amateur, defeating
Matt Vogt and past champion
Kenny Cook in a three-man playoff.
Bell has long been a proven tournament winner, earning AmateurGolf.com Senior Player-of-the-Year honors way back in 2006 when he
won the U.S. Senior Amateur and six other national ranking events.
Bell went into the final round at Prairie View Golf Club alongside a congested leaderboard, and two strokes behind Vogt. Bell did not let this hinder his play today, advancing forward early on with an even front nine and finishing the back side 1-under par. Bell's finish was enough to put him into the three-way playoff with Vogt and Cook.
Bell and Vogt advanced alone into the third hole of the playoff, where Bell missed his short putt for birdie. The two players moved onto the fourth hole, where Bell was able to secure his par putt and defeat Vogt for the title.
"The beauty of being 75 and winning is that you didn't expect it, you weren't worried about it, and you didn't lose any sleep last night thinking about it. I tell people kiddingly that I have two goals every day, with waking up in the morning being one, and to try to shoot my age or better," said Bell.
Bell added "I felt very disadvantaged going into the playoff today because we were starting on a par 5, where I am hitting the ball 250/260 and they are hitting 350. Golf is a funny sport though. Sometimes just because you hit it a long way, doesn't mean you're going to win. I hit all of my shots solid and I didn't make any mistakes. I just only made one birdie out of the four (playoff) holes, where if I would have made two birdies, I could have had this over with a little earlier" said Bell.
Bell previously won the IGA Mid Am Championship back in 2005 and now once again claims the title seventeen years later.
We think this record is going to last a while, unless Bell finds a way to repeat next year.
Thanks to the Indiana Golf Association for contributing to this report.View results for Indiana Mid-Amateur
ABOUT THE
Indiana Mid-Amateur
36-hole stroke play event for male Indiana amateurs
ages 30 and over and who have a handicap index of
9.0
or less.
View Complete Tournament Information