Four Florida men and women advanced to match play at the US Mid-Amateur and US Women's Mid-Amateur Championships. The Mid-Amateur is being conducted at the Country Club of Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Women's Mid-Amateur is being conducted at the Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, North Carolina.
US Mid-Amateur Highlights
Ten players entered the weekend representing Florida in hopes of making it to match-play at the US Mid-Amateur Championship at the Country Club of Birmingham.
Jon Veneziano of Mount Dora, secured his spot in match play with rounds of 69-71-140, to finish 1 under par and in a tie for 5th. Veneziano awaited a winner in this morning’s play-off to see who he would play for his round of 64 Match. Doug Clapp of Walpole, Massachusetts will be Veneziano's first opponent.
Joe Alfieri of Lutz, finished tied for 14th with rounds of 70-73-143 and will face Michael McDermott, of Bryn Marr, Pa in the Round of 64. Bryan Haase of Jupiter used steady play of 73-72-145 to finish tied for 21st and has a round of 64 match-up with Todd Mitchell of Bloomington, Il.
TJ Shuart of Coral Springs, playing his 3rd national championship of the summer (US Amateur Public Links & US Amateur), was on the outside of the cut line after a 75 Saturday and used a 2nd Round 72 to tie for 45th and advance to the round of 64. He will take on Joseph Saladino of Huntington, NY this morning.
The starting field of 263 played two rounds of stroke play on Oct. 5-6, 69 of those players have advanced to match play. The schedule is as follows:
Oct. 5 (Saturday) – First round of stroke play
Oct. 6 (Sunday) – Second round of stroke play
Oct. 7 (Monday) – First round of match play
Oct. 8 (Tuesday) – Second and third rounds of match play
Oct. 9 (Wednesday) – Quarterfinals and semifinals, match play
Oct. 10 (Thursday) – Championship match (36 holes)
The West Course at the Country Club of Birmingham will be set up at 7,173 yards and will play to a par of 35-36--71. The East Course at the Country Club of Birmingham, which served as the companion course for the two days of stroke-play qualifying, was set up at 6,471 yards and played to a par of 35-35--70. This will be the fifth USGA championship held in Alabama and the first US Mid-Amateur held in the state.
US Women's Mid-Amateur Highlights
Tara Joy-Connelly of Palm Beach Gardens, Lin McMillan of Palm Coast, Therese Quinn of Jacksonville and Meghan Stasi of Oakland Park all advanced to round of 64 matches. Play was delayed due to the two inches of rain Biltmore Forest CC received overnight, pushing back the start of the playoff for the final match-play spot to 10:00 AM while round of 64 matches will start at 11:00 AM.
Meghan Stasi, four-time USGA Women's Mid-Amateur champion, and current defending champion, will be playing as the number two seed after finishing five strokes behind Julia Potter in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying. Stasi has won 2012 Women's Player of the Year along with numerous FSGA championships including the 2013 Inaugural Women's Mid-Amateur Championship. Stasi's first match will be against 
Julie Streng of Greensboro, NC.
Tara Joy-Connelly, who finished tied for 8th in the qualifying rounds will take on Lisa Anderson of Middleton, MA. Tara Joy-Connelly along with Staci helped Florida win second place at this year's USGA Women's State Team Matches. Connelly has also made it to the round of 32 matches at the 84th Women's Amateur Championship, placed second in the Women's Mid-Amateur Championship and the Women's Amateur Stroke Play Championship.
Lin McMillan, who made it to the round of 32 matches at this year's US Senior Women's Amateur Championship, will be taking on Olivia Slutzky of Newport Beach, CA. Therese Quinn, who made it to the round of 64 matches at this year's US Senior Women's Amateur Championship will be taking on Olivia Herrick of Roseville, MN.
The starting field of 132 played two rounds of stroke play on Oct. 5-6, 64 of those players have advanced to match play. The schedule is as follows:
Oct. 5 (Saturday) – First round of stroke play
Oct. 6 (Sunday) – Second round of stroke play
Oct. 7 (Monday) – First round of match play
Oct. 8 (Tuesday) – Second and third rounds of match play
Oct. 9 (Wednesday) – Quarterfinals and semifinals, match play
Oct. 10 (Thursday) – Championship match (18 holes)
Biltmore Forest will be set up at 6,152 yards and will play to a par 35-36--71. This will be the second USGA championship conducted at Biltmore Forest, designed by Donald Ross. The club previously hosted the 1999 US Women's Amateur, won by Dorothy Delasin.
