You scan down the list of 300-some players battling for 64
spots in match play at a U.S. Amateur and you realize what a daunting task it
really is.
If you can get there, then it’s match play and anything can
happen. A measure of how hard it is just to get into match play can be found in
a trio of players who will be teeing off Wednesday morning in a 13-for-8
crapshoot to get into that final 64.
One of them is Texas senior Scottie Scheffler of Dallas. He
has been one of the very best players in college golf the last two seasons. He
was the low amateur in the U.S. Open, finishing tied for 27th at
1-under 287 at Erin Hills.
He almost certainly will be a member of the U.S. team
when the Walker Cup is held at Los Angeles Country Club next month. But
Wednesday he will be fighting for his life after opening with a solid 1-under 69
at Riviera Country Club Monday before falling back with a 75 at Bel-Air Country
Club Tuesday.
His 144 total left him hoping he can get grab one of those
eight spots that will be up for grabs in Wednesday morning’s playoff. That’s
what it took, 4-over, just to get into a playoff to maybe get a chance to make
match play. It’s a tough crowd.
NCAA champion Braden Thornberry, a junior at Mississippi, is
in the same boat after shooting 2-over 72 at both courses.
Florida state senior Harry Ellis of England added a 1-over
71 at Riviera to his opening-round 73 at Bel-Air and is the mix as well. All
Ellis did earlier this summer was win The Amateur Championship at Royal St.
George’s Golf Club, so look out for him if he makes it into match play.
At the top of the leaderboad, Hayden Wood, who was a
sophomore on a really, really strong Oklahoma State team last spring, fired a
spectacular 6-under 64 at Riviera Monday and added a 3-under 67 at Bel-Air
Tuesday to easily win medalist honors at 9-under 131.
Wood is the son of 1977 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Willie Wood,
who made a living on the PGA Tour and occasionally pops up on a PGA Tour
Champions leaderboard now and again.
The runnerup was Norman Xiong, who helped Oregon reach the
final match in defense of its NCAA Championship as freshman last spring. Xiong
of San Diego matched Wood’s opening-round 64 at Riviera and added an even-par
70 at Bel-Air for a 6-under 134 total.
Michael Graboyes, the Cornell senior and Ivy League champion
who earned his ticket to the U.S. Amateur in a qualifier at Stonewall, came up
just short of joining that gang in the playoff. Graboyes of Wachtung, N.J.
fired a solid 1-over 71 at Riviera Tuesday after opening with a 74 at Bel-Air
to finish a shot out of the playoff at 5-over 145.
Stewart Hagestad, a Newport Beach, Calif. native who won the
U.S. Mid-Amateur at Stonewall in dramatic fashion last summer, also came up
just short of reaching match play. Hagestad, the low amateur at the Masters,
had a second-round 74 at Bel-Air after opening with a 72 at Riviera for a
6-over 146 total.
His opponent in the final at Stonewall, 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Scott Harvey of
Greensboro, N.C., added a 78 at Bel-Air to an opening-round 74 at Riviera for a
152 total.
Penn State senior Cole Miller, who will be one of the top
returning players in college golf this season, couldn’t recover from the hole
he dug for himself with a 78 Monday at Riviera. The former Northwestern Lehigh
standout, matched par at Bel-Air with a 70 in the second round, but his 148 –
with a snowman in each round – wasn’t good enough.
Nathan Smith, the four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion from
Pittsburgh, opened with a 73 at Bel-Air, but a second-round 77 at Riviera left
him at 150.
Ben Cooley, who helped Penn win the Ivy League title in 2015
and survived a 4-for-1 playoff at Stonewall, looked good after an opening-round
72 at Bel-Air Monday, but could do no
better than an 80 at Riviera in the second round for a 152 total.
Arizona junior Dylan Stein, the medalist in the qualifier at
Stonewall from Flemington, N.J, rebounded nicely from an opening-round 83 at
Riviera with an even-par 70 for a 153 total.
Connor Schmidt, the former Peters Township standout who had
a solid freshman season at Drexel, opened with a 76 at Bel-Air and added a
second-round 80 at Riviera.
Another player who advanced out of the Stonewall qualifier,
William & Mary junior David Hicks of Cape May Court House, N.J., opened with
a 79 at Riviera and added an 82 Tuesday at Bel-Air for a 161 total.
Not sure how this happened, but Chris Crawford, the former
Drexel standout who has qualified for the U.S. Open the last two years and had high
hopes for this U.S. Amateur, was disqualified after an opening-round 73.
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