This second part of my top ten Umcees of 2023 may be seen as capping off the "second team All-Umcee" portion of the list. Yesterday I posted the first three members of the list--Angus Flanagan, Kim Kaufman and George Kneiser--and by adding two more today, that not only leaves five to go for my first team, but rounds out my second team nicely. So, without further ado, let's cap off the All-Umcee Second Team!
Number 7: Derek Hitchner, Blake School alumnus, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Two years ago, Hitchner was a good, but fairly obscure, junior at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Then, in summer 2022, he made it all the way to the final four of the U.S. Amateur, coming within a single match win against Ben Carr of free exemptions to the U.S. Open and Masters and a second triumph (over Sam Bennett, who shined at said Masters) of the Open Championship. He lost 3 and 2 to Carr, but his confidence was greatly boosted by his deep run, and he finished his senior year 14th in the PGA Tour University rankings after qualifying for the NCAA finals. This awarded Hitchner a PGA Tour Canada card, and he finished higher than any other Umcee in the Fortinet Cup (23rd, just edging out Kneiser), earning an exemption to Second Stage of the PGA Tour Q-School. It's too bad he missed out on Final Stage by one measly stroke, or he might have placed higher on the list, even making First Team All-Umcee. Speaking of Final Stage qualifiers...
Number 6: Thomas Longbella, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin/University of Minnesota '21
If Hitchner came into his own out of nowhere as a college upperclassman, Longbella needed a bit longer to blossom. Having been overshadowed at the U by Flanagan, Longbella nevertheless kept the faith and won his PGA Tour Canada card in 2022 in a playoff (along with Kneiser). He went on to a 23rd place finish in the Fortinet Cup but, for lack of Q-school experience, fell short of Final Stage. This year, he fell short of the top 30, let alone the top 25. Otherwise, he would have definitely been a First Team All-Umcee laureate based on what followed.
In October, Longbella went down to Muskogee, Oklahoma and managed to advance to Second Stage. At first that seemed the best he'd do, but he took off in round 3 with a -6/66 at Valencia Country Club in California. He didn't have enough to assure himself of Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2024, but he did secure a trip to Final Stage by tying for second, three strokes adrift of Jeffrey Kang. Once there, he fell short of improved status, but he now has access to PGA Tour and KFT Mondays without necessarily having to go through prequalifying for 2024 (slots #48 among conditional KFT members in the Q-school category).
With that said, each of the next five posts will be published daily if possible, and in any case, each will feature one Umcee from the First Team. Tomorrow's pick, I will say, may be a bit controversial in some aspects...
Edward the Scop
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