(Golf Canada image)
Corey
Conners, Canada
@coreconn
Reason for
Invitation:
2014 U.S. Amateur runner-up
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rank: 2
Thursday/Friday Scores: 80-69
Current Position: T73
After shooting 80 in his first Masters round, the
No. 2-ranked amateur
in the world birdied three of his last six to shoot
69, and finish with the lowest amateur score in
the field.
The former Kent State golfer got off to an
incredible start, making
birdies on his first and second holes. He then
birdied five to go
three-under on the front before finishing the nine
with a bogey. The
difficult par-four 11th hole surrendered a double-
bogey from
Conners, but he rebounded successfully with
birdies at 13, 15, and
16 to break 70 by a stroke.
Conners' first round at Augusta didn't go quite
like
he, and many others,
thought it would go. The popular
pick for low amateur, by virtue of his current
No. 2 rank in
AmateurGolf.com's World Rankings.
Conners didn't make his first birdie until 18, but
didn't record a bogey until
five. Between the two
holes, the Canadian went eight-over to post 80
on Thursday, making his
quest to make the cut quite
difficult, though he did beat his fellow
countryman Mike Weir by two.
BIO: Conners sat atop the
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rankings for a large portion of
2014 and into 2015 thanks to a flurry of
impressive performances to go alongside his
U.S. Amateur runner-up finish at Atlanta Athletic
Club. In 2014, the Ontario, Canada
native won the Jones Cup, was medalist at the
Argentine Amateur, and finished second
at the Ontario Amateur and North & South
Amateur. Then he kicked off the new year
with a win down under at the Lake Macquire
Amateur. Having graduated from Kent
State University last spring, Conners will surely
turn professional following his Masters
appearance.
Byron Meth,
San Diego,
Calif.
@ByronMethGolf
Reason for Invitation:
2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rank: 37
Thursday/Friday Scores: 74-76
Current Position: T78
The low amateur after day one at Augusta
National was the only amateur
to
ever
be in red numbers on Thursday. After rolling in
birdies on 6 and 8, Meth
sat
at
one-under, though he did bogey the par-four
ninth to shoot 36 on the
front.
A
disappointing double-bogey on Amen Corner's
finishing hole pushed him to
two-
over, where he eventually finished after a
closing birdie on 18. His second-round 76 pushed
him just far enough back to lose
out in the
low-
amateur race by one to the streaking Conners.
BIO: Meth is a senior at the University
of the Pacific
in Stockton, Calif. and will forever be
remembered as the final player to ever win the
U.S. Amateur Public Links
championship. The event, as most know by now,
has been replaced by the U.S.
Amateur Four-Ball beginning next month at The
Olympic Club in San Francisco. The
San
Diego native defeated Texas freshman Doug
Ghim on the first playoff hole at Sand
Creek Station to capture his first USGA title.
Meth, having been consumed by college
events with his Tigers this spring, has just one
non-collegiate tournament under his
belt
thus far — a T35 at the Jones Cup.
Antonio
Murdaca,
Australia
@AntonioMurdaca1
Reason for Invitation:
2014 Asia-Pacific Amateur champion
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rank: 24
Thursday/Friday Scores: 78-73
Current Position: T81
Murdaca's opening round was plagued with
double-bogeys — four of them
to be
exact. He actually didn't record a regular bogey
all day, using two birdies
throughout the day to shoot 78 on Thursday. The
Aussie, who was paired
with
childhood hero Adam Scott, began and ended his
day with a double-bogey, but turned it around
for a respectable 73 on Friday to
finish third best among the amateurs.
BIO: Murdaca punched his ticket to The
Masters with
a seven-stroke win at Royal
Melbourne last
October. He picked up another seven-shot win
earlier this year at the South Australia
Amateur
Classic, and has enjoyed a half dozen
professional exemptions in preparation for this
week's
major, though Murdaca didn't reach the weekend
at any of the events. The 19-year-old became
the youngest Australian Boys champion in 2010
when he captured the title at just 14.
Matias
Dominguez, Chile
@Afidominguez
Reason for
Invitation:
2015 Latin America Amateur champion
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rank: 96
Thursday/Friday Scores: 76-76
Current Position: T87
Dominguez made a splash on Wednesday at the
Par-3 Contest, making an
ace
with his girlfriend on the bag. And on Thursday
and Friday,
paired with fellow South
American Angel Cabrera, Dominguez grinded
through a birdie-less round
of 76,
consisting of two 38s with only four bogeys to
his name. He shot 76 again on Friday, but
carded two birdies and an impressive
eagle on 13.
BIO: The Texas Tech senior prepped
for Augusta with
an impressive showing at the
Web.com Tour's Chile Classic, where he made
the cut and finished T30. His Masters
exemption was possible because of the newly
formed Latin America Amateur
Championship, which kicked off its inaugural
event in January at Pilar Golf Club in
Argentina. Run by the R&A and USGA, the
event's winner was granted an invite to
Augusta National, bringing the amateur total to
seven.
Scott Harvey,
Greensboro, N.C.
@ScottHarvey78
Reason for
Invitation:
2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rank: 4
Thursday/Friday Scores: 76-81
Current Position: T92
Harvey had probably the largest following of any
amateur, hailing from
North Carolina. He hung tough on the back nine,
including going one-under
on Amen Corner thanks to a birdie on 13, to post
76 on Thursday. But he struggled to an 81 on
day two and finished in a tie for 92nd
with
fellow
amateur Bradley Neil.
BIO: The 36-year-old Harvey has two
amateur
victories already in 2015, winning the South
American Amateur in Lima, Peru in January, as
well as the rain-shortened Gasparilla
Invitational the next month. At Saucon Valley in
September, Harvey earned co-medalist honors
at the U.S. Mid-Amateur
alongside eventual final-match competitor
Brad Nurski, who he defeated 6-and-5.
Bradley Neil,
Scotland
@BradleyNeil1
Reason for Invitation:
2014 British Amateur champion
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rank: 6
Thursday/Friday Scores: 78-79
Current Position: T92
Neil's first round was basically opposite than that
of
Matias Dominguez, who
made 14 pars and four bogeys. The Scotsman
made just four pars, marking his card with a
scattering of
birdies and bogeys. He
played the par-fives spectacularly, making birdie
on all except hole 2, but
struggled on par-fours. His bogey on 18 was his
eighth of the day on par-
fours. Neil followed it up with 79 on Friday.
BIO: Like Yang, Neil's amateur activity
has been quiet
in the 2015 calendar year, having
played
just one event since Jan. 1. The 19-year-old
struggled to a T50 finish at the Jones
Cup,
and
has played in two professional events, both in
South Africa. Neil's 2-and-1 victory
over
Zander Lombard at Royal Portrush granted him a
Masters invite and he'll be one of
just
three
Scotsmen in the field, along with Stephen
Gallacher and former Masters winner Sandy
Lyle.
Gunn Yang, Korea
@Gunn_Yang
Reason
for Invitation:
2014 U.S. Amateur champion
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World Rank: 40
Thursday/Friday Scores: 85-74
Current Position: 95
Yang beat only one player on Thursday — Ben
Crenshaw. The SDSU golfer
was even through the first three holes but had a
difficult time making any
more pars after that, recording just four the rest
of the day. Yang had a bit of a redemption round
on Friday, shooting 74.
BIO: Yang, who would have been a
redshirt
sophomore at San Diego State
this year, has played in just one amateur
tournament in 2015 — the
New Year's Invitational — where he tied for third
just three shots back
of winner Sam Horsfield. Yang's choice to take a
lease from SDSU this
season stemmed from his many exemptions into
professional
tournaments, aside from just The Masters. Yang
played in both the
Farmers Insurance Open and Arnold Palmer
Invitational, missing the
cut both occasions.
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