Live From: 97th MGA Senior Amateur Championship

BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. (May 9, 2024) -- A 2-under 70 on Wednesday earned D. Scott Mackesy of Winged Foot the overnight lead in the season-opening 97th MGA Senior Amateur Championship at GlenArbor. On Thursday, he'll aim to hold off a packed leaderboard, as 44 players made the cut with scores of 4-over 76 or better.

Related: Scoring | Rd. 2 Photos | Rd. 1 Recap | Rd. 1 Photos

Mackesy notched five birdies in his round, including four on his opening nine. A bogey on the par-4 11th and a double-bogey on the par-3 17th dropped him to 70 on the day.

“I had relatively low expectations, actually, because I haven’t had the pencil in my hand for a real competitive round in a little while,” said Mackesy, who turned 55 late last summer and is competing in his first MGA Senior Amateur. “Sometimes that helps and goes your way and I think that was the case today.”

The only other sub-par score on the day came from Nick Desai of Baltusrol. His 1-under 71 included four birdies and three bogeys. Other decorated competitors aiming to make a run on Thursday include past champion Dennis Lynch of Baiting Hollow, who won his second of two MGA Mid-Amateur titles at GlenArbor, and four-time reigning LIGA Player of the Year Dave Scialabba of Meadow Brook, who both enter Thursday two shots back after even-par 72s along with Jim Craffey of Arcola.

Host club member and past champion Ned Zachar remains in the mix as well, sitting as one of 10 players to card 1-over 73s. Recent LIGA Richardson senior division champion Alan Specht of Port Jefferson at Harbor Hill is also in that group.

Thursday’s final round begins at 8:30 a.m. Pairings will go off both Nos. 1 and 10, with the final pairing of Mackesy and Desai teeing off the first hole at 10 a.m.

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