Earlier this week, Mark Knecht represented the bluegrass state as the sole Kentuckian in the field at the 69th U.S. Senior Amateur. The Paducah native has been very successful at the state level, most recently winning both the Kentucky Senior Open and Kentucky Senior Amateur in 2020. Knecht made the trek down to The Honors Course Ooltewah, Tennessee, in pursuit of success on the national stage.

The tournament kicked-off on Saturday with two rounds of stroke play, with the top sixty-four players advancing to the match play portion of the competition. Knecht finished the stroke play portion of the competition in twelfth place with a score of 149(+5). Knecht faced adversity early in match play, faltering a 2-up lead in the final two holes of regulation and needing a nineteenth hole to find victory. In the second round of match play, Knecht fired out to an early 3-up lead in the first three holes and never looked back. He claimed a 4&3 victory to advance to a Round of 16 matchup with Rick Stimmel of Pennsylvania. Knecht and Stimmel, who ranks 278th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, put up quite the back-and-forth battle. Knecht won four of the first eleven holes, but was countered by Stimmel who won three holes of his own. The battle cooled off slightly as the players tied holes twelve and thirteen, but Knecht was not done. He went on a hot streak to win holes #14-16 and claim a 4&2 victory. 

Now one of only eight players remaining in the competition, Knecht teed it up with Matt Sughrue of Virgina. Sughrue another top-500 WAGR caliber player, came out of the gates firing and found himself with a 3-up lead through nine holes. Knecht put together a strong run on holes #10-12 to tie things back up, but a birdie on the par-3 hole #14 gave Sughrue the lead once again. The pair tied the next two holes before Sughrue made another birdie on hole #17 to claim the 2&1 victory over Knecht. 

Congratulations, Mark, on a great week of play! Thank you for representing Kentucky well! 

Click Here To View Final 2024 U.S. Senior Amateur Results

Photo: Jeff Haynes/USGA