Sunnehanna Amateur

1963-Champion Roger McManus

The 1963 Sunnehanna Amateur champion, Roger McManus played in the Sunnehanna Amateur twenty-nine times.

He also won, at the famed Congressional Country Club, the 1970 Middle Atlantic Amateur Championship, a major amateur at that time.

Along with Dr Ed Updegraff, Bill Hyndmann, Ed Tutwiler, Ralph Bogart and Dale Morey, they were the backbone of the tournament’s early years. Their relationships with the members made the week more of a reunion than it did a golf tournament.

Roger McManus qualified seventeen times for the United States Amateur Championship, advancing as far as the quarterfinals, and was also a two-time U.S. Open qualifier. He qualified for both the United States Senior Amateur three times. He also competed in the British Amateur Championship, played three times in the British Senior Amateur, and twice in the British Senior Open. Roger was invited to compete in the Masters as an amateur twice in the 1950's.

1957 Champion-Hillman Robbins

One of the few players in history to have won the NCAA (1954) and United States Amateur (1957). He had previously reached the semi-finals of the United States Amateur in 1954. Hillman Robbins has been forgotten in time.

His amateur career included winning the Western Junior, three-Southern Intercollegiate titles, two-Southeastern Open titles, Arkansas Open, North and South Amateur and the 1955 Sunnehanna Amateur.
His final round of 67 helped him pass 1955 Sunnehanna Amateur champion Don Cherry and Ed Tutwiler.

Proud to host the US Amateur and support the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association who does an incredible job throughout the year. Good luck to all the players

Sunnehanna to host U.S. Amateur Local Qualifying Monday - Western Pennsylvania Golf Association SCORING | STARTING TIMES JOHNSTOWN — Sunnehanna Country Club will welcome a loaded field of amateur golfers Monday, as they hope to punch tickets to the next round of 126th […]

1981-Steve Jones

Steve Jones earned his invitation to the Sunnehanna Amateur by winning the Colorado State Match Play in 1980. A year later, he would add the Colorado Amateur to his resume.

A semi-finalist at the United States Junior in 1976, he played collegiate golf at the University of Colorado, where he was a four-time All-Big Eight selection and earned second-team All-American honors. He finished 7th in his only appearance at Sunnehanna.

Jones won on the PGA Tour for the first time in 1988. The following year was prolific winning of his career with three PGA Tour wins and ended the season a career-best eighth on the money list.

In November 1991, Jones suffered ligament and joint damage to his left ring finger in a dirtbike accident, and missed almost three years.

After playing in two events in 1994, Jones comeback began his comeback in earnest in 1995 when he had two top-10 finishes.
In 1996, he achieved three top-10 finishes by May and approaching the United States Open was an afterthought. After four-rounds Steve Jones won the United States Open, the only major championship of his career, defeating Tom Lehman and Davis Love by one stroke. He was the first sectional qualifier to win the United States Open since Jerry Pate in 1976. He would win 8-times on the PGA Tour

Champion-1957 Joe Campbell

The 1955 NCAA Champion at Purdue, Joe Campbell had won the Indiana Amateur three-times, in 1954, 1955 and 1956, the Indiana Open, in 1955 and 1956 and the Big Ten Conference title in 1956. He had finished 4th at Sunnehanna in 1955 and had just added his second Big Ten title before arriving at the Sunnehanna Amateur in 1957.

He is one of only two men to win the Indiana Boys State Junior, Indiana State Amateur and Indiana State Open Championships in the same year and he did it twice

He was also a member of the Purdue Basketball team from 1955 to 1957. Co-Captain his senior year, he played in 58 games and scoring 444 career points, including 11.9 PPG as a senior in 1957.

A member of the 1957 United States Walker Cup team, Campbell would turn professional in 1959 and was Rookie of the Year that same year. He played for 14 years on tour winning 3-times.

After retiring from the PGA Tour, he would make his home in Knoxville, Tennessee where he won the Tennessee State Open 3-times and the Tennessee PGA Section title 5-times.

Campbell would return to West Lafayette and become head men’s golf coach at Purdue, a position he would hold from 1957 to 1993.

Bobby Pratt, who finished runner-up, was the 1954 Nevada Amateur champion, and was a part of teams that won three straight NCAA Team titles at the University of Houston.

1980 Champion-Bobby Clampett

From 1978 to 1980, Bobby Clampett was the dominant force in college and amateur golf. A three-time All-American and two-time Collegiate Golfer of the Year at Brigham Young. In 1978, he would win the California State Amateur, Western Amateur, Porter Cup and Western Junior.

In 1980, he would add another California Amateur title and win the Sunnehanna Amateur after finishing 4th the year before.

Clampett turned professional after the 1980 United States Open, a year before his collegiate eligibility was complete. In three seasons at BYU, he won 12 individual titles and helped lead the Cougars to three top-four finishes in the NCAA Championship.

His professional career didn’t go as many predicted winning once. Swing changes and a loss of confidence eroded his game. He would make a career switch to broadcasting joining CBS Sports In 1991, first as an on-course reporter and then to the tower in 1995. He would later be lead analyst for Turner Broadcasting

1974-Champion Dave Strawn

A graduate of Furman, where he won the Southern Conference Championships in 1969 and 1970 and was an All-American in 1970, Strawn continued to play amateur golf while attending law school at the University of South Carolina.

Over a two-year span (1973-74) he compiled an impressive record. In 1973, he reached the finals of the United States Amateur losing to future Masters champion Craig Stadler. That same year he tied for second at the 1973 Eastern Amateur and Carolinas Open. In 1974 he won the Sunnehanna Amateur, and played in The Masters and U.S. Open.

An attorney, he later played in 8 United States Mid Amateurs reaching the semifinals in the 1993.

1975 and 1975-Mark Lye

A three-time All-American at San Jose State and first-team All-American in 1975, Mark Lye won nine collegiate titles over three years. Among them, the prestigious Western Intercollegiate one of the nation’s oldest college tournaments and the Tucker.

He would turn professional in 1975 and play on the PGA Tour from 1977 to 1994. Over that span he would win once and finish runner-up numerous times. A hand injury ended his playing career and he moved to the Golf Channel where he became an accomplished analyst.

Champion-1948 Arnold Palmer

The 1947 tournament marked the debut of a teenage sensation named Arnold Palmer.

In 1946, Palmer displayed signs of what was to come. He won the Pennsylvania Scholastic Championship and qualified for the Hearst National Junior, one of the most prestigious junior tournaments in the nation at that time. He traveled to Los Angeles where a highlight, other than golf, was meeting Esther Williams. He would reach the finals losing to Mac Hunter.

The summer of 1947, the native of Latrobe would defend his Pennsylvania Scholastic title, win the West Penn Junior and lose in the semi-finals of the Pennsylvania State Amateur to Art Wall. Exhausted by his non-stop schedule, Palmer would shoot 83 missing the qualifying score of 79 needed to make the championship flight. A few weeks later, he would win the West Penn Amateur to become only the third player to win both the West Penn Junior and West Penn Amateur in the same year.

In July of 1948, Palmer would return to Sunnehanna determined to erase the memory of the previous year’s performance. Already that month, he won his second West Penn Junior title and the week before traveling to Johnstown, made the cut in his first PGA event: The Dapper Dan Invitational Open at Alcoma Country Club.

Palmer would shoot 2-under par to finish runner-up in qualifying to Spencer Overton the 1947 Maryland Amateur champion.

He would defeat 2-time champion Buddy Lutz among others to reach the finals where he would meet J.S. “Babe” Matlack a relative unknown from Altoona.

Palmer recalled his opponent and match some 30 years later.
“I’ll never forget playing Babe Matlack in the finals. And of course, when I saw him… I didn’t know Babe, really, except that he had played a few tournaments around, but I hadn’t been face to face with him. I saw him hit the first couple of shots, and I thought—and I was pretty young in those days, and I thought I was really a lot better than I actually was—so I didn’t think Babe would be any problem at all. I thought this would be a short day—36 holes, a walk in the country, or whatever you call it.
As it turned out, it was a lot more than a walk in the country. Babe Matlack gained all the respect I had for him. I couldn’t tell you—he was one of the greatest players I had seen in a long, long time. He hit it on the ground and in the hole, and that’s really what he did. It took 36 holes, and I think I finally eked out a one-up victory over him.”

In fact, Palmer struggled early in his match and was 3-down after seven holes. By the close of the morning 18, he had cut the deficit to a single hole. Matlack pushed the heavy favorite by chipping in 3-times and displaying a deft touch with his putter.

One-up with a hole to go, Palmer reached the final green comfortably in two shots while Matlack found a greenside bunker which he couldn’t extricate himself from and Arnold Palmer would add the Sunnehanna title to his resume.

Afterward Bob Drum, the legendary golf scribe for the Pittsburgh Press who was known for his acerbic wit, was far less diplomatic than Palmer when it came to describing his opponent, “Matlack doesn’t play the top shots most of the top amateurs in the can. He is addicted to the blooper, grounder, and head lift until he gets to the green. Then it is Matlacks turn to shine”

Drum later added, “The golf shot with an iron must produce backspin. But evidently nobody told Matlack. He couldn’t stop a ball in the marsh.”

I spoke with a fine player from Holidaysburg, which is near Altoona, and recounted what Drum had written. He quickly replied, “I knew Babe Matlack, he tracked Drum down at the US Open at Oakmont and threatened to beat his ass.”

Bill Wilson, who was a legendary sports voice in Western Pennsylvania, asked Palmer, “When you look at that tournament—and of course, you’re more aware of this than anybody because of your years on tour—I guess every guy you tee it up against on the tour today, or most of them at least, had played in that tournament at one time or another, which is quite a testimonial for Sunnehanna.”

Palmer responded, “Well, there’s no question about it. And of course, you can go right down the line and talk about the people who have played in the Sunnehanna. I can remember when Julius Boros played at Sunnehanna as an amateur—and now that’s really going back. Well, as old as he is—my goodness—you know, I feel young when I look at him back (Palmer turned his head, smiled and chuckled, Boros obviously was close enough to hear). But he did play, and I can remember that. Of course, some of the younger boys who have really done quite well on the tour… I guess Hubie Green—yeah, he played. Ben Crenshaw, and, you know, all these guys are really good players.”

Miscellaneous Fact: Did you know that Fred “Mr Rogers” Rogers, and Arnold Palmer graduated one-year apart from Latrobe High School.

1962 Champion -Dr Ed Updegraff

Dr Ed Updegraff was a fixture in the early formative years of the Sunnehanna Amateur. An argument could be made that he was one of the most influential players both on and off the course.

The Boone Golf and Country Club became Dr. Ed Updegraff’s second home as a kid. If he wasn’t caddying, he was playing. His game improved quickly shooting in the 70s consistently by the time he was 12 years old.

From a medical family, he received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Iowa State and his medical degree from the University of Iowa. World War II briefly interrupted his career, but he made up for lost time after moving to Tuscon, Arizona in 1951, partially because of the opportunity to continue playing golf. He would eventually take his game to the national amateur circuit.

He first appeared in the Sunnehanna Amateur in 1956, finishing tied for third. In 1957, he did the same, finishing tied for third with Phil Rogers, missing a playoff by a single shot with Joe Campbell and Bobby Pratt.

After a one-year hiatus in 1958, he would finish runner-up and again in 1959 3-strokes behind Tommy Aaron and 7-strokes ahead of third place finisher Roger McManus.
Mc Manus would win the Sunnehanna Amateur.

A third runner-up finish would follow in 1960 losing to Gene Dahlbender by 3-strokes.

Finally, in 1962, Dr Ed Updegraff broke through defeating Homero Blancas and Bill Hyndman by 5-strokes.

He would finish 5th in 1963, 4th in 1966 and in 1968 Updegraff tied for second with Jack Lewis, a stroke behind Bobby Greenwood who would capture his second title.

Over a 12-year period at Sunnehanna, he would win once, finish runner-up 4-times and third-twice, a record only surpassed by Jay Sigel and Alan Doyle.

A member of 3 United States Walker Cup teams in 1963, 1965, 1967, he captained the team to victory in 1975. His won the Western Amateur twice, 1957 and 1959, the Pacific Coast Amateur in 1967 and the United States Senior Amateur in 1981. He also won four Southwestern and Arizona Amateurs and played in six Masters and 12 United States Amateurs.

Updegraff remained a lifelong amateur. “I love to play golf,” Updegraff told the Arizona Daily Star in 2017. “But I wasn’t a pro. I would’ve lost my appreciation of the game, and it would’ve taken all the fun out of it for me. My medical practice was different – there was a new challenge every day.”

In 1999,because of his dedication to the game, the United States Golf Association presented Dr Ed Updegraff its highest honor, the Bob Jones Award. Awarded annually to an individual who demonstrates the spirit, personal character and respect for the game, it is the USGA’s highest honor. It is given in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in the game and who demonstrates the spirit, personal character and respect for the game exhibited by Jones.

William C. Campbell, a three-time USGA champion, past USGA president and Walker Cup teammate, said of Updegraff when he nominated him for the Bob Jones Award: “Whether winning or losing, he was the same unassuming, modest and courteous person, which is why his circle of good and lasting friends grew wider wherever he played. His dry wit adds to the fun of being with him, on and off the course.”