News

By Mark Gaughan

Andy Bernatovicz picked up the phone Tuesday night looking for some encouragement while sitting on a share of the lead after the first round of the 68^th New York State Senior Amateur Championship. 

Related: Final Results / Rd 1 Recap / Championship Central

“I called my brother, John, who’s a good player in Ohio,” Bernatovicz said. “I told him I was a little nervous coming in yesterday. I was 3 under, but then I bogeyed the last three. He told me he had played with a kid from Kent State who told him, ‘Where are your feet?’

“I said, ‘What does that mean?’ He said, ‘You just want to be in the present moment.’ When your mind starts going other places, it’s not good. So all day today, I was saying, ‘Where are your feet?’ That helped me center myself a little bit.”

Bernatovicz kept his composure through a tense final round Wednesday and scored a two-stroke victory in the 36-hole event at Brookfield Country Club in Clarence. 

The 58-year-old shot another even-par 72 to hold off two-time defending champion Jim Scorse of Stafford Country Club and Dave Segot of Nassau Country Club, who both finished 2-over 146. Scorse shot a final-round 3-under 69, while Segot shot 71. Those were the only two under-par rounds of the tournament, which included a field of 120.

Bernatovicz tied for third at last year’s NYS Senior Amateur, was 15^th in 2023 and sixth in 2022. He easily was one of the top 10 to 12 players in the Buffalo District from age 26 to at least age 45. He twice qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. He won the NYS Men’s Senior Four-Ball title with Ken Riter in 2023. He’s a three-time Buffalo District Senior player of the year and won the Buffalo District Senior title in 2024. 

But this, he said, was the biggest triumph of his career. 

“Oh, yeah, 100 percent,” he said. “It just means the world to me because the state has done such a great job putting on wonderful golf tournaments at wonderful golf courses. To have the support of all my friends, and to do it in Buffalo probably means a little bit more because I’d like to show for the Buffalo District. It just means all the hard work, all the workouts, all the practicing came together today.”

The 6-foot, 200-pounder showed off his solid ball-striking in the final round. He hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation and did a good job mostly staying below the hole on approaches to Brookfield’s fast greens, which vexed most in the field. 

“I think I’m playing as well as I ever have in my life because I understand it better,” Bernatovicz said. “I understand when I get a little out of sync, I know how to correct myself and I’ve been through it so much. It’s like, OK, you’ve been here before. You’ve 3-putted from 8 feet before. So let’s just go.”

The 60-year-old Scorse, who won last year’s title by nine shots, shot 5-over 77 on the first round to sit five shots back. But Scorse is one of only four men (with John Baldwin, Don Allen and Allen Foster) who have won the NYS Amateur, the NYS Mid-Amateur and the NYS Senior since the mid-amateur was created in the 1980s. It was no surprise he wasn’t going to give up his title without a fight. 

Scorse took the lead over Bernatovicz by playing the first seven holes in 4 under. He made eagle on the 500-yard, par-5 seventh. He hit driver and an 8-iron from 185 yards downhill to 6 feet, then made the putt. Scorse almost made eagle again on the par-5 12^th, hitting the flagstick with a pitch shot from just off the green then making a 1-foot birdie putt.

But on the 329-yard 16^th, Scorse missed the green long with his approach, then hit a downhill chip 10 feet past the hole and made bogey. 

At that point, he stood 2-over and in a four-way tie with Bernatovicz, Segot and Don Fortuna of Twin Hickory Golf Club in Hornell. 

Just a few minutes later, Bernatovicz took the lead for good by making birdie on the 343-yard 13^th hole, hitting a gap wedge from 109 yards to 1 foot. 

“That was probably the best swing I had all day,” Bernatovicz said. 

Bernatovicz had a good par save on the par-4 16^th after missing the green right with his approach. He faced a 30-foot pitch to a short-side pin but deftly played it off the slope behind the pin and watched it roll backward to 3 feet. 

“It’s always better to be right into that green because you’re chipping up the hill,” he said. “I knew I had a little bit of a backstop and I had a really good lie. I was able to cozy it up there.”

With a smile on his face down the stretch, Bernatovicz sealed the win by hitting the green on the par-5 18^th from 225 yards out and two-putting for birdie. 

Bernatovicz is known for his affability. 

“He’s like the mayor of River Oaks,” said friend and fellow River Oaks member Jeff Schauger, who won the age 60-64 flight. “Nobody has a bad thing to say about him, and he’s the best partner you could have. His mental approach is his best strength.”

Scorse had birdie chances from 4 feet on 17 and 7 feet on 18 but couldn’t convert. He said he was proud of his comeback in round two.

“Oh yeah, for sure,” he said. “I played really good today. I just had a couple hiccups down the stretch. Both days I didn’t play good on the last four holes.”

Segot, 55, played in the U.S. Senior Amateur in San Antonio last month. He’s a three-time Bethpage club champion and a seven-time winner of the Nassau Players Championship, which is held at Bethpage State Park. Fortuna placed fourth. Kevin Vandenberg of Beaver Meadows Golf Club was fifth. Vandenberg is the No. 1 senior player in the country on the Golfweek.com rankings. He won the NYS Senior in 2022. David Mooradian of the Country Club of Troy won the 55-59 age group. 

Bernatovicz and his wife, Bethany, had been members at Brookfield for a few years in the early 1990s.

“I thought the golf course was in exceptional shape.,” he said. “The best greens we’ve putted all year. I love the way they’ve taken the trees away behind 10 and 17. It’s really a premier course in Western New York and all of the state.”