Mike Anderson is used to the results in golf championships being out of his control.
Not this week. Anderson, the longtime and highly accomplished head boys golf coach at Detroit Catholic Central, has advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Senior Amateur at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas.
Anderson, 55, of Novi, is three match wins away from winning a prestigious USGA championship, a year after he retired as the golf coach at C.C. with his team winning one more state title. This is his first U.S. Senior Amateur. By day, Anderson is a financial adviser for Stifel.
“I would tell you that I’ve learned more about golf and how to play from these guys out here because they’re so good.” Anderson said after his round Tuesday. “It’s really helped my game, because I’ve identified some weaknesses.
“You have to wedge it well and you have to chip and putt it well.”
Anderson did all of the above in beating Tony Wise of Kentucky, 3 and 1, in the Round-of-16 match Tuesday.
Anderson earned the No. 29 seed for match play after shooting rounds of 71 and 74 in stroke play, and now has won three matches, his first two finishing at 2 and 1 and 2 up, before eliminating Wise in Tuesday’s match. Anderson won three of the first three holes against Wise, and he never trailed in the match.
This is Anderson’s best showing in a USGA championship. He made match play at the 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur, losing his first match in extra holes. He won the Golf Association of Michigan’s 2020 Mid-Amateur championship.
The Michigan State alum coached Catholic Central for 14 years, with five state championships and two runners-up.
Now, he’s the one learning, and playing well, thanks in large part to a local caddie, Rafael Abad, he was assigned.
“I wouldn’t be where I’m at, at be honest with you,” Anderson said Tuesday. “He just does such a good job, and so it’s been fun. We’ve gotten along great, and we’ll be friends for life now.”
Anderson will play Iowa’s Michael McCoy, a former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion who played in the 2014 Masters, in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinal match. The semifinals are Wednesday afternoon, and the final is Thursday.
By making the quarterfinals, Anderson has earned an exemption into next year’s U.S. Senior Amateur.
Anderson is attempting to become the second player from Michigan to win a USGA championship in 2025, after Battle Creek’s Kim Moore, formerly the head women’s golf at Western Michigan, won her second U.S. Adaptive Open, in July at Woodmont Country Club in in Rockville, Maryland.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
