Cole Hammer, who is about to make the powerful Texas program
a little more so in a few weeks, has been the best junior player in America the
last few years.
The Houston native made one last gallant bid to win a U.S.
Junior Amateur championship last month at Baltusrol Golf Club before falling to
the red-hot Akshay Bhatia, the 16-year-old from Wake Forest, N.C. who inherited
the throne in junior golf from Hammer.
But Hammer, a deserving No. 18 in the World Amateur Golf
Ranking (WAGR), just goes along, getting better. He toured the 6,993-yard,
par-72 Spyglass Hill Golf Course layout in a boringly efficient 4-under 68
Tuesday to get a share of medalist honors with Daniel Hillier of New Zealand at
6-under 137 in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Amateur.
Hammer made four birdies and no bogeys while adding a 68 to
the 2-under 69 he shot on the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links in his opening
round Monday.
Match play, which gets under way Wednesday with the opening
round, will be contested at a 7,040-yard, par-71 Pebble Beach layout that is as
visually stunning as any in the wide, wide world of golf. Match play will get
started after 24 players who came in at 4-over 147 play off for just one ticket
left into the match-play bracket.
The 20-year-old Hillier, No. 27 in WAGR, had opened with a
brilliant 4-under 67 at Pebble Beach Monday. He added a little more adventurous
2-under 70 at Spyglass Hill Tuesday to join Hammer at 137.
Starting on the 10th, Hillier made birdie at the
17th to get to 2-over for his round. But then he unleashed a
devastating burst that saw him go 4-under in the space of four holes with
birdies at the first and second holes and an eagle at the fourth.
Andrew Alligood, a senior at a perennially underrated North
Florida program, was alone in third at 5-under 138. The 21-year-old Alligood,
from St. John’s, Fla., fired a 5-under 67 at Spyglass Hill after opening with a
solid 1-under 71.
Michael Thorbjornsen, who knocked off Bhatia in the final to
win that U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol, finished in a tie for fourth with
Vanderbilt senior Will Gordon at 4-under 139.
Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, Mass. added a 3-under 69 at
Spyglass Hill to the opening-round 70 he shot at Pebble Beach while Gordon of
Davidson, N.C. added a 2-under 70 at Spyglass Hill to his opening-round 69 at
Pebble Beach.
Southern California senior Justin Suh, the champion of the
talent-laden Pac-12 and No. 2 in the WAGR, finished alone in sixth at 3-under
140. Suh of San Jose, Calif. posted a solid 2-under 69 at Pebble Beach Tuesday
after opening with a 71 at Spyglass Hill.
There are nine players tied for 10th at 1-under
142 and one of them is Stewart Hagestad, whom I was fortunate enough to watch
stage a stunning late rally to capture the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship
at Stonewall.
After a disappointing 4-over 76 at Spyglass Hill, Hagestad
fired a spectacular five-birdie, no-bogey 5-under 66 at Pebble Beach to easily
earn a ticket into match play for the first time in his ninth U.S. Amateur
appearance. Hagestad is a product of that same Southern Cal program that Suh is
starring for these days.
Michael Brennan, the 16-year-old from Leesburg, Va. who was
the medalist in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at
Chambersburg Country Club, couldn’t maintain the momentum from the 2-under 70
he posted at Spyglass Hill Monday.
The Wake Forest commit had six bogeys and a double bogey in
an 8-over 79 at Pebble Beach to miss that playoff for match play by two shots
at 6-over 149. Still, a really strong performance from a kid who should have at
least been a little overwhelmed in his first U.S. Amateur, but was not, not for
one second.
I missed Brandon Dalinka, the former scholastic standout at
Council Rock North, in my roundup of the local guys in my opening-round post
Monday. Dalinka played collegiately at North Carolina and lives in New York
City where he works for an asset management firm.
Dalinka opening with a solid even-par 72 at Spyglass Hills,
but fell back with a 78 at Pebble Beach for a 150 total.
Little Mill Country Club’s Zach Arsenault, a developer in
Camden, N.J., was the medalist in a GAP-administered qualifier at Laurel Creek
Country Club, bounced back from a 79 at Pebble Beach Monday with an even-par 72
at Spyglass Hill Tuesday for a 151 total.
Palmer Jackson, a senior at Franklin Regional who finished
tied for second in last fall’s PIAA Class AAA Championship, added a 75 at
Pebble Beach to his opening-round 77 at Spyglass Hill for a 152 total.
Erik Dulik, the co-medalist in a GAP-administered qualifier
at Bidermann Golf Club, added a 76 at Pebble Beach to his opening-round 77 at
Spyglass Hill for a 153 total.
Kevin Scherr, the 2016 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior
at Nazareth who is coming off a solid freshman season at Youngstown State,
carded a 76 at Pebble Beach Tuesday after opening with a 78 at Spyglass Hill
for a 154 total.
Temple junior Jack Melville, the former Upper Dublin
standout who shared medalist honors with Dulik at Bidermann, added a 79 at
Spyglass Hill to his opening-round 77 at Pebble Beach for a 156 total.
Reigning U.S. Senior Amateur champion Sean Knapp, the
western Pennsylvanian who was coming off a victory in the Pennsylvania Senior
Amateur at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course last week,
struggled at Spyglass Hill Tuesday, posting an 82 after opening with a 76 at
Pebble Beach.
But playing a couple of tough courses like that should be
perfect preparation as Knapp gets ready to defend his U.S. Senior Amateur title
in a couple of weeks up the West Coast at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
Anthony Sebastianelli, the runnerup to Arsenault in the
qualifier at Laurel Creek, was very much in the hunt for a match-play berth
after carding a 1-under 71 at Spyglass Hill Monday. But Sebastianelli, a former
scholastic standout at Abington Heights who completed his college career at
Central Connecticut this spring, was disqualified Tuesday.
There’s always a long story behind a DQ and I just don’t
know what that story is at the moment. I’m sure Sebastianelli, coming off a
nice runnerup finish in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Sunnehanna Golf Club, was
disappointed.
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