Sep. 7—Spencer Skiff hasn’t always gotten off to the best start at the City of Aiken Amateur Championship, which has been equally frustrating considering the quality of golfer he is and his familiarity with the golf course.
A good omen for the 15th edition of the tournament presented itself to Skiff in the form of Saturday’s opening tee time at The Aiken Golf Club, a coveted slot that allows the lucky grouping to play as quickly as desired.
That alone was reason to smile, and there was even more by the time Skiff finished his round — he had the low score in his group with a 66, which held up for the remainder of the day to put him atop the Regular division by one over Scott Robbins heading into Sunday’s final round.
“I was just glad to finally put together a good first round,” Skiff said with a laugh. “Usually I come up here and don’t play well, so it’ll be a fun weekend. I kind of feel like scores are going to be really, really low this weekend, so I was happy to get a first round is and see how tomorrow goes.”
Skiff will flip from the first group Saturday to the final one Sunday, the only tee time more coveted than the tournament’s very first. Overnight rain from Friday bled into Saturday morning, meaning those who went out first didn’t face the usual firm and fast conditions that are expected.
“With where some of those pins are, it may have given us an advantage,” Skiff explained. “Some of the pins are on pretty nasty slopes. I had a handful of downhill putts that, if they were later in the day, I don’t know if you’re stopping the ball. One of them hit the pin to stop, so that was nice. I think it was a good advantage to have. We’ll see how this afternoon goes. The greens will be a little quicker, so scores will probably still be pretty low.”
Six-time tournament champion Patrick Cunning is three back after an afternoon round of 69, with two-time champ Brian Quackenbush and perennial contenders Bo McCullough and Kyle Bearden another shot back.
David Lott, the defending champion who also won in 2020, and Dylan Murray are five back at 71.
Skiff hadn’t played the course in a while, but he has a lifetime of course knowledge that he felt finally paid off. There are some pin positions and tee boxes that aren’t in play during the other 363 days of the year, which gives Skiff some confidence and calm because he’s played there enough to still know where to put the ball.
There was also the comfort that comes with the first group of the day, where he was joined by McCullough, Robbins and Frank Morelli. Tournament play, especially in one with such a big field, can get bogged down and turn into a marathon day. Going out first, however, felt more like an average day at The Aiken Golf Club.
“That’s one of the hardest parts about this tournament, at least in the past, especially round two,” Skiff said. “Pace of play is always so much slower than you’re kind of used to out here, so just kind of staying in your own bubble definitely helps. Being in the first group, not having to worry about that was great. We had a really good group. It was a good time. Pace of play was never an issue. It just felt kind of like a normal dogfight round out here, honestly, which helped me, I think.”
Jim Boughner (70) leads Dan Skiff (71) and Randy Lamb (74) in the Senior division. Glen Hurt (72) paced the Super Seniors, with Jim Roland (75) his closest competitor.
