Palmer Jackson, who became Franklin Regional’s first state
champion when he captured the PIAA Class AAA crown last fall, struggled a
little Tuesday in the second round of qualifying in the U.S. Amateur at the
Pinehurst Resort in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C., but he’ll be in the
match-play bracket when the second round is finally in the books Wednesday
morning.
Severe weather forced a delay during the second round and
several groups will have to return to complete their second rounds before the
64 qualifiers for match play are finalized, but Jackson will definitely be
among those 64.
There are 21 players at 4-over and it looks like that’s
where there will be a playoff. If the number falls back to 5-over, which seems
unlikely -- but it’s funny how the qualifying sometimes works itself out -- there
were 24 players tied at that figure when darkness forced the suspension of play
at 8 p.m.
Jackson, coming off solid showings in the two biggest
national events for juniors, the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Boys Junior PGA
Championship, was only one shot out of the lead after firing a 4-under-par 66
at Pinehurst’s No. 4 Course in Monday’s opening round.
Pinehurst No. 2, the classic Donald Ross design, played
tougher in the opening round and that trend continued. It certainly played
tough for Jackson, who started on the back nine and had only one birdie on his
card at the 12th hole.
Jackson, who will join the Notre Dame program in a couple of
weeks, had seven bogeys and finished with a 6-over 76 for a 2-over 142 total.
He was tied for 18th when play was halted Tuesday. He had three
straight bogeys at the 16th, 17th and 18th
holes to close out his first nine holes and finished up with bogeys at the
eighth and ninth holes.
After helping Stanford win the NCAA team crown in the
spring, Brandon Wu’s stated goal was to earn a spot on the team representing
the United States in the Walker Cup Match against Great Britain & Ireland
at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England before turning pro.
It looks like Wu’s 3-under 137 total will hold up for medalist honors, adding another line to the impressive resume he has put together to impress the people who will select the U.S. team going to Royal Liverpool. He made the cut and played four rounds at the U.S. Open at the Pebble
Beach Golf Links and hopped across the pond and qualified for The Open
Championship at Royal Portrush.
Wu of Scarsdale, N.Y. and No. 8 in the World Amateur Golf
Ranking (WAGR) had opened with a sparkling 5-under 65 at Pinehurst No. 4. He
played an impeccable two-bogey, 16-par round of 2-over 72 at Pinehurst No. 2
Tuesday to get it to 137.
Tom Sloman of England, who’s trying to upgrade his resume
for inclusion on the GB&I Walker Cup team, took a run at Wu, but finished
in a tie for second with five other players at 2-under 138. Sloman added a
4-under 68 at Pinehurst No. 4 to his solid even-par 70 at Pinehurst No. 2
Monday to get it to 138.
Jacob Solomon, who completed a solid college career at
Auburn in the spring, added a 1-over 71 at Pinehurst No. 2 to his opening-round
67 at Pinehurst No. 4 to finish at 2-under.
Cooper Dossey, a senior at Baylor from Austin, Texas, Shiryu
(Lou) Oyo, a San Diego State sophomore from Japan, and Phillip Barbaree, a
senior at LSU from Shreveport, La., each fired a 3-under 67 at Pinehurst No. 4
after opening with a 1-over 71 at Pinehurst No. 1 Monday.
Rounding out the six-player logjam at 139 was Ricky Castillo
of Yorba Linda, Calif. and No. 10 in the WAGR, who fired a sparkling 4-under 66
at Pinehurst No. 4 Tuesday after opening with a 2-over 72 at Pinehurst No. 2.
Castillo will be joining the Florida program in a couple of weeks.
Trevor Werbylo, a junior at Arizona from Tucson, Ariz., was
alone in eighth place at 1-under 139 as he carded a 3-over 73 at Pinehurst No.
2 after opening up with a 4-under 66 at Pinehurst No. 4 Monday.
Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Calif., the author of an
epic comeback that earned him a victory in the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur
Championship at Stonewall, fired a 2-under 68 at Pinehurst No. 4 Tuesday to
earn a spot in the match-play bracket with a 1-over 141 total.
Hagestad, packing the
gold medal he and Wu won for the United States in the Pan-American Games in
Lima, Peru over the weekend, opened with a 3-over 73 at Pinehurst No. 2 in
Monday’s opening round.
Hagestad has already secured his second straight U.S. Walker
Cup team appointment as he was one of the top three Americans in the WAGR on
July 24. Hagestad is No. 7 in the WAGR.
Roland Massimino, the 2014 PIAA Class AA runnerup as a
senior at New Hope-Solebury, stands at 6-over with two holes left in his second
round at Pinehurst No. 4. Massimino, who completed a solid college career at
Kansas State in the spring, had opened with a 4-over 74 at Pinehurst No. 2 and
was 2-over through 16 holes at Pinehurst No. 4 when darkness halted play.
Drexel senior Connor Schmidt, a scholastic standout at
Peters Township, posted a solid 1-over 71 at Pinehurst No. 4 Tuesday, but
finished at 7-over 147 as he opened with a 76 at Pinehurst No. 2 Monday.
Schmidt was coming off a tie for fourth in defense of his Pennsylvania Amateur
crown at another Donald Ross classic, Aronimink Golf Club, a couple of weeks
ago.
I somehow managed to miss Austin Barbin of Elkton, Md. when
I posted on the opening round of qualifying for match play Monday. And Barbin,
who will begin his college career at Maryland in a couple of weeks, has made
himself tough to miss this summer.
After opening with a 2-over 72 at Pinehurst No. 4 Monday,
Barbin posted a 6-over 76 at Pinehurst No. 2 for an 8-over 148 total. Barbin
couldn’t recover from a triple bogey 7 at the 18th hole at Pinehurst
No. 2, his ninth of the day.
Barbin won the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior
Boys’ Championship and state junior titles in Delaware and Maryland in addition
to earning spots in the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Junior Boys PGA
Championship before capping his summer this week at Pinehurst.
I missed the inaugural American Junior Golf Association’s
Imperial Headwear Junior Classic last week at DuPont Country Club near
Wilmington, Del. in the avalanche of golf going on (not a bad thing, that
there’s a lot of golf going on, mind you) these last couple of weeks.
I still plan to wrap it up, but Barbin closed his junior
career with a ridiculous 8-under 63 in the final round to capture the Boys
Division by 11 shots.
Wake Forest senior Kyle Sterbinsky of Yardley, the medalist
in a GAP-administered qualifier at Cedarbrook Country Club, added a 5-over 75
at Pinehurst No. 2 to his opening-round 74 at Pinehurst No. 4 for a 9-over 149
total.
Wu’s Stanford teammate, Nate Menon, the 2015 PIAA Class AA
champion as a senior at Wyomissing, struggled to a 78 at Pinehurst No. 2 after
posting a 72 at Pinehurst No. 4 for a 151 total. Menon was the co-medalist in a
GAP-administered qualifier at Bidermann Golf Club.
Menon was coming off a tie for second in the Pennsylvania
Amateur at Aronimink.
Carson Bacha, the Class AAA East Regional champion as a
junior at Central York last fall, recovered from a tough opening-round 85 at
Pinehurst No. 2 and was 3-over through 15 holes on Pinehurst No. 4 when play
was halted.
Temple junior Dawson Anders of Telford was 7-over through 17
holes at Pinehurst No. 2 after opening with a 77 at Pinehurst No. 4 and stood
at 14-over. Anders, who starred scholastically at Souderton, also emerged from
the qualifier at Cedarbrook.
Former Conestoga standout Michael Cook, who used up his
college eligibility at Drexel in the spring, struggled to an 89 at Pinehurst
No. 2 after opening with a 77 at Pinehurst No. 4. Cook, who plays out of
Applebrook Golf Club, was the co-medalist along with Menon in the qualifier at
Bidermann.
No comments:
Post a Comment