As the sun was setting on the historic East Course at Merion Golf Club Wednesday evening, the sun was setting on the amateur career of Norristown’s Josh Ryan.
Ryan had emerged as an early star of the 126th U.S. Amateur at Merion, his brilliant 5-under-par 65 at the East Course Tuesday earning him medalist honors by two shots in qualifying for match play.
But Ryan was never quite able to recapture the magic of Tuesday as he fell on the 19th hole to Japan’s Taishi Moto, a junior at Arizona.
This one was all about grit, as match play so often is, and Moto, the last survivor of a bulky playoff early Wednesday morning in which 16 players were vying for the final 11 spots in the match-play bracket, might have had a little more of that in the end.
The momentum kept shifting back and forth on the incoming nine at the East Course and it looked like it had shifted finally in Moto’s favor when Ryan couldn’t get a four-footer for par to fall at the tough par-3 17th hole, giving Moto a 1-up lead heading to the 18th tee.
But just like that, the momentum shifted once more as Moto, who had snap-hooked his drive on the 16th hole to help Ryan even the match, did it again, this time so severely that he was out of bounds.
Ryan had life again as Moto’s mistake enabled Ryan to even the match and send it to extra holes.
The match had started late in the afternoon with Ryan pull-hooking his tee shot out of bounds. It ended with Ryan pulling his tee shot into the left rough. This time it was Moto who took advantage of his opponent’s mistake, making a par at the East Course’s short opener.
It will be Moto, who helped Arizona reach the NCAA semifinals at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. as a sophomore in the spring and is No. 57 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), who will take on Gaven Lane, a senior at Oklahoma State who helped the Cowboys reach the semifinals at La Costa and is a notch below Moto at No. 58 in the WAGR, in a second-round match at 7:15 a.m. Thursday.
Lane of Argyle, Texas had advanced with a 3 and 2 victory over mid-amateur Grady Brame Jr. of Hammond, La., who had teamed with former Southeastern Louisiana teammate Lawrence Allen to capture the title in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in the spring.
Ryan never seemed as sharp as he had been in Tuesday’s second round of match play, although when he slam-dunked his chip for eagle at the par-5 fourth hole, he grabbed a 1-up lead.
But he was unable to build any momentum from that moment.
Moto managed to make four from up against the collar at the impossible par-4 fifth hole to even the match again.
It stayed that way until the par-3 ninth hole when Ryan sent his tee shot to the middle of the green with the pin in the front. His three-putt bogey gave Moto a 1-up lead heading to the 10th tee.
Once again, though, it seemed Ryan seized the momentum as he drained a tough seven-footer for birdie at the short par-4 10th hole to even the match and then watched Moto dump his approach at the short 11th, the Bobby Jones hole, into the creek in front of the green. A par there was good enough for a win for Ryan as he took a 1-up lead.
Moto made a tough 15-footer for birdie at the par-4 12th hole to even the match and dropped in an 18-foot birdie putt right on top of Ryan draining a 20-foot birdie try of his own. It was all even going to the East Course’s final five holes.
Ryan couldn’t get it up and down from a back bunker to an impossible pin at the 14th hole and now he was 1-down with four holes to play.
Moto’s snap hook off the tee at the 16th hole enabled Ryan to even the match heading for the 17th tee.
Neither player found the green at the tough par-3 17th hole, playing all the way back at 246 yards. Moto was in the right rough just short of a greenside bunker and chipped it six feet past the hole. Ryan was in the left greenside bunker and blasted it to four feet.
Ultimately, it was Moto’s make and Ryan’s miss there that went a long way to deciding the outcome.
Moto made a mess of the 18th hole, but his 1-up lead meant only that the match was going to a 19th hole, where he ultimately prevailed.
It was a disappointing end to what has been a breathtaking conclusion to Ryan’s amateur career.
He let it be known that he was planning to turn pro during the Philadelphia Open at Lancaster Country Club, where he lost in a playoff to the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s best player, Drue Nicholas, the former Drexel standout.
Ryan said he would remain an amateur if got a chance to tee it up in the U.S. Amateur, a home game at Merion and Philadelphia Country Club for Ryan, who represented Norristown High on the golf course while doing his school work via the Commonwealth Connections Academy.
He got the opportunity with a solid showing in Final Qualifying at Llanerch Country Club and then backed that up with a really impressive three-shot victory in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Oakmont Country Club, the renowned Henry Fownes design in the Pittsburgh suburbs.
Claiming medalist honors in the U.S. Amateur and that 5-under 65 at the East Course Tuesday will have to serve as the icing on the cake.
Ryan appeared much more comfortable in stroke play Tuesday than he did during his match with Moto Wednesday. Maybe sometimes in match play you start playing the other guy instead of just playing the golf course.
But this last month should prove to be a springboard for the 22-year-old Ryan as he embarks on his professional career. The best amateur players in the world were gathered at Merion and Philly Country this week and for two days, Ryan was better than all of them.
Ryan’s teammate on the Liberty team that lost in a playoff for the final berth to the NCAA Championship at La Costa in the Corvallis Regional, Michael Lugiano, who capped an outstanding scholastic career at Lake Lehman by finishing in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a senior in 2023, advanced to the second round with a 1-up victory over Oklahoma City, Okla. teen Chase Hughes.
Lugiano captured the individual crown in the Corvallis Regional and did represent Liberty in the NCAA Championship at La Costa as an individual to cap a really strong sophomore season with the Flames.
Hughes was coming off a tie for second place in the Texas heat in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at PGA Frisco, the PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas.
Lugiano’s second-round opponent Thursday morning is Nevill Ruiter of The Netherlands, who wrapped up his college career at the College of Charleston in the spring. Ruiter advanced with a 3 and 2 victory over William Lisle of Hong Kong.
The second-round matches are teeing off as I wrap up this post. The winners will square off in the round of 16 Thursday afternoon. Weather permitting – and it seems to be of a mind to permit – only eight quarterfinalists will be left standing when the sun sets on the East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.
I’ll figure out some juicy round-of-16 match to follow Thursday afternoon.
The match of the day Wednesday pitted Florida phenom Miles Russell, No. 4 in the WAGR, against Oklahoma senior Ryder Cowan, an Edmond, Okla. home boy who shared low-amateur honors in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island in June and is No. 8 in the WAGR.
Russell played the weekend at Shinnecock as well and his Pennsylvania tour began with a runnerup finish in the U.S. Junior Amateur last month at Saucon Valley Country Club.
Russell’s lofty ranking has already earned him a spot on the United States Walker Cup team that will take on Great Britain & Ireland at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland next month. Cowan is hoping to be one of the USGA Team Selection Committee’s picks at the conclusion of this U.S. Amateur to join Russell on captain Nathan Smith’s U.S. squad at Lahinch.
Cowan, who helped the Sooners capture the team title in the Corvallis Regional in the spring, had the early advantage over Russell Wednesday, but the little left-hander caught him with birdies at the 10th and 12th holes.
Russell had some issues at the first of the East Course’s finishing quarry holes, the par-4 16th, and Cowan took a 1-up lead to the par-3 17th.
Cowan’s tee shot at the 17th hole wasn’t far from the pin, but stuck in the deep rough left of the wicker-basket topped stick. He left his first try in the thick stuff, but then bumped another chip just on the green and watched it roll right in the hole for an unlikely par.
When Russell missed his par putt, it was over, Cowan claiming a 2 and 1 victory.
Cowan will take on Canadian Justin Matthews, who wrapped up his college career at Charlotte in the spring, in a second-round match. Matthews reached the second round with a 4 and 3 victory over Caleb Bond of Williamston, Mich., who wrapped up his college career at Michigan State in the spring.
It’s been 10 years since I got a chance to watch Stewart Hagestad, a mid-am rookie, rally from 4-down with five holes to play to defeat Scott Harvey on the 37th hole and capture the U.S. Mid-Amateur crown at Stonewall’s Old Course.
In the ensuing decade, Hagestad has won two more U.S. Mid-Am titles and played on five straight winning U.S. Walker Cup sides. He would like to make the U.S. team for a sixth time.
Hagestad claimed a 5 and 3 victory over Vanderbilt’s Ryan Downes, a junior from Longmeadow, Mass. in the opening round Wednesday. Downes had helped the Commodores reach the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship at La Costa.
Hagestad will take on Drake Henry, the incoming Brigham Young freshman from Henderson, Nev. who knocked off William Love, an Atlanta, Ga. native who wrapped up his college career at Duke in the spring, 2 and 1.
Henry had matched the competitive course record at the East Course with his 6-under 64 in the opening round of stroke play, although it was barely noticed since it wasn’t completed until he returned to the course early Tuesday morning and birdied his final two holes, the ninth and 10th, to finish off the spectacular round.
There was a little grumbling when Hagestad was picked for the U.S. Walker Cup team that defeated GB&I a year ago at the iconic Cypress Point Club on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.
But not only has Hagestad proven that, at 35, he still has the goods, he has been a tremendous mentor for several rounds of talented U.S. youngsters.
This promises to be a very young U.S, team at Lahinch and Hagestad may prove to be more valuable than ever to captain Smith when the rabid Irish golf fans come out loud and proud for the home team.
This post is just the tip of the iceberg from a wild and crazy opening round of match play Wednesday.
If you’re a golf fan in the Philadelphia area, you would be wise to take the opportunity to watch some ridiculously talented players going head-to-head on the ridiculously challenging canvas that is the Hugh Wilson design (with some finishing touches from “greenkeeper” William Flynn) at Merion.