SCORING | ROUND 2 STARTING TIMES
BEALLSVILLE — Rick Stimmel’s hope is that his performance Monday will remove any doubts come Tuesday.
Stimmel, one of the region’s most accomplished senior amateur players, shot an 8-under score of 64 Monday in the opening round of the 95th Senior Amateur Championship at Nemacolin Country Club.
“I didn’t miss any greens,” said Stimmel, who managed to play his round without a bogey and came up short of the Nemacolin course record by two strokes. “I hit all 18 greens and they were a little slower today. So you could kind of just two-putt your way around. I started on the back nine but got it going a little on the front.”
That’s a bit of an understatement. Stimmel was 2-under when he made the turn with a pair of birdies. He then proceeded to birdie six of the next seven holes, creating a large gap between himself and the rest of the field.
“Yeah, that was pretty good,” Stimmel said with a laugh. “The one I didn’t birdie was because I left the putt short. It was good. Any time you can go bogey-free in a round, you feel pretty good about yourself.”
The 58-year-old has seen his game surging throughout the course of the season. He pushed through the first stage of U.S. Open qualifying in the spring and reached the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship in early September. His performance there resulted in an appearance in the match play portion of the competition and a win in the round of 64.
“I’ve been playing pretty decent all summer,” he said. “Some days you roll in a couple of putts and some days you don’t. I think that’s what it all comes down to.
“Competitive golf is fun no matter where you play. The state events, the West Penn events, they’re good preparation for stuff that’s bigger and better. I haven’t played in a lot of West Penn events this year, because they’ve overlapped with other senior stuff I’ve played in. So I’m happy to play in one this year.”
Entering Tuesday’s second and final round — set to begin at 9 a.m. — Stimmel leads by eight strokes over Artie Fink and William Smith, who each shot even par scores of 64 Monday. Seven players sit tied for fourth at 2-over.
Fink claimed the 2025 WPGA Senior Amateur and Smith won the title the year before.
Stimmel will be in a group with the major championship’s last two winners and will enter with a large lead. That said, he won’t be lacking motivation when he steps onto the tee in the final group.
“I’ve played in this five times and I’ve been runner-up four times,” he said. “Maybe an eight-shot lead will give me a little bit more cushion than I’ve had the last couple of years.
“I haven’t been able to win this, for some reason. Maybe tomorrow’s my day.”
In the Super-Senior Division, John Henk and Ron Hinish each shot even par scores of 72 and enter the final round Tuesday atop the division’s leaderboard, while four players sit two strokes back.
The Super-Senior Division, for players ages 65 and over, will also begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Senior Division players will tee off from the first tee, with Super-Senior players starting on the 10th hole.
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