Waugh has ace on way to LI Amateur final

While everyone who watched 16-year-old Clancy Waugh play in the Long Island Amateur Thursday marveled at the power that produced shots such as his 360-yard drive on the 11th hole, it was his little 117-yard shot on No. 2 that he liked the most. It happened to be a hole-in-one.

"It was really cool. I was thinking after that, I wouldn't really care if I won the match or not. I'd still be happy, making my first hole-in-one," said the teen who plays power forward for the Benjamin School's basketball team in Palm Beach Gardens during the winter and plays golf at Deepdale and the National Golf Links of America in the summer.

Friday, he will face the Metropolitan Golf Association's defending player of the year, Joe Saladino, 31, in the final at Tam O'Shanter Club in Brookville. That intriguing matchup will cap what already has been an interesting tournament. For instance, 15-year-old Matt Lowe gamely played Saladino Wednesday in a match that the latter said he was lucky to win in 20 holes. Saladino Thursday beat Hal Berman 4 and 2 in the quarterfinal, and Tim Rosenhaus 4 and 3 in the semifinal.

Also, former Islander Butch Goring of the host club missed by one shot of making it to match play with his 76 on Tuesday. And there was 55-year-old Tom Trakoval of Port Jefferson Country Club, strong through five rounds in three days, carrying his own bag through three of those rounds. He was 1 under par in the afternoon semifinal Thursday. He just he ran up against Waugh, who shot 5 under.

"We both played extremely solid. I don't think I've played this solid in my life," Waugh said after his 4 and 3 win.

Waugh was perfect with his pitching wedge ace. "It's a weird feeling. It's hard to get back into the mindset when you make one," he said. It could have been even weirder: Trakoval, needing a hole-in-one to tie the hole, came within four feet. He did draw even on the next hole with a chip-in birdie.

The teen pulled away on the back nine. The turning point was the 540-yard par-5 11th, on which he had only a 180-yard 8-iron for his second shot. He made birdie and went 2 up.

"He's a great player and he's got great length. Every par 5, he turns into mincemeat," said Trakoval, who reached the final of the LI Amateur in 1993, two years before Waugh was born. Trakoval knows what a compelling final it should be, having faced Saladino, too. "I played him when he was a kid, 17. He probably doesn't even remember it."