Pies, 41, makes birdie in playoff to earn spot
Missing a putt from 18 inches on the final hole cost George Mason University junior Josh Apple his first berth in the U.S. Amateur on Tuesday.
Moments earlier on the same green, University of Virginia golf coach Bowen Sargent missed one even shorter — a tap-in that he didn’t even line up — preventing him from advancing to the Amateur for a second straight year.
There was plenty of mistakes on the 18th hole at the Members Club at Four Streams. But not for medalist Bruce Woodall (69-72 – 141), Front Royal’s Ryan Rettberg (71-72 – 143), Potomac’s Billy Peel (75-68 – 143) and Potomac’s Rusty Pies (69-75 – 144). They advance to the U.S. Amateur, all for the first time, Aug. 22-28 at Erin Hills (Wis.).
While the other three, all college players, advanced in 36 holes, Pies, a 41-year-old member at Bethesda Country Club needed to work overtime, making a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole, sending Apple home to Leesburg as the first alternate.
“I know the feeling. I’ve been the alternate before,” Pies said. “I’ve probably tried 15, 20 times to qualify, been close a bunch of times. To finally get in is pretty cool.”
To do it, Pies needed to rally after playing the first seven holes in 6 over par. He made three birdies on the back nine. Then on the extra hole, the 166-yard par-3 10th, Pies hit a 9-iron hole high, and rolled in the putt after Apple parred.
Pies’ claim to fame is his invention of a swing aid called the PlaneFinder. He introduced the contraption to famed teaching pro Hank Haney at a golf trade show in 2009, earning his endorsement.
Woodall, a senior at Virginia, Rettberg, a redshirt sophomore at Radford, and Peel, a senior at Eastern Kentucky, emerged from a field of 107, which was cut to 30 after Monday’s opening round.
Peel, a Churchill graduate, will play in a USGA event for the first time. He had the best round of the tournament on Tuesday, a 3-under 68. The key stretch came on the front nine when he made three straight birdies.
“I’m gonna try to turn pro after I get done [with school],” Peel, 22, said. “So I was running out of chances to try to qualify for a U.S. Am. So this is pretty sweet.”
