Arizona State senior Jon Rahm (USGA photo)
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. — Long day No. 1 is over at
Olympia Fields Country Club. Rounds 2 and 3 of
the
115th U.S. Amateur were contested on Thursday
at the property's North Course, whittling the field
down from 32 to eight.
Friday will house the quarterfinal matches, with
semifinal
matches taking place Saturday. On Sunday, the
grueling 36-hole
final will
commence at the former U.S. Open host course.
While the medalist and No. 1 seed Brett Coletta
of Australia fell in Wednesday's first round, it
was his
conquerer, University of Michigan sophomore
Kyle Mueller who bowed out on Thursday. After
beating
Alex Burge of Illinois in the morning, Mueller fell
to Kenta Konishi of Japan 2-up.
Round-of-16 Recap:
"Last Man In"
advances while mid-amateur player Mitchell
remains
The eight players left standing represent eight
distinct parts of the world, including six different
countries. Let's meet each of the quarterfinal
contestants:
Jon Rahm —
Spain
The Spaniard who is ranked No. 1 in the world in
both the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World
Rankings
and the World Amateur Golf Rankings beat soon-
to-be Wake Forest freshman Cameron Young of
New
York 7-and-6 on Wednesday morning to move on
to the third round to face another junior golfer,
Daniel
Wetterich of Ohio. He handled the future Xavier
University golfer from Cincinnati, winning with a
birdie-2 at the par-3 17th to close out a 3-and-1
victory. Rahm, a senior at Arizona State, birdied
four
of his first 11 holes in the morning match, but
truly benefited from his pars considering Young
made
bogey or worse on five of the 12 holes played.
Rahm's first-round matchup on Wednesday was
quite
the opposite, as cross-state rival George
Cunningham of the University of Arizona took
Rahm to the
21st hole before Rahm advanced with a birdie at
the par-4 3rd hole.
Derek Bard —
New
Hartford, N.Y.
The University of Virginia junior was this year's
Sunnehanna Amateur winner. He knocked off
two SEC
collegians on Thursday, first defeating Sepp
Straka of Georgia 6-and-5, followed by coming
from 2-down at the turn to beat Hunter Stewart
of
Vanderbilt 2-and-1. Bard's matchup on Friday
morning with
Rahm will be his toughest test yet.
Bryson DeChambeau —
Clovis, Calif.
The No. 4 ranked amateur in the world, and
reigning NCAA Individual champion, was part of
the round-of-16's marquee matchup between a
pair of
California superstars. After both players won 5-
and-4
during the round of 32, DeChambaeu and
Stanford junior Maverick McNealy battled it out
for a spot in
the quarterfinals. Though the two were all-
square through 10 holes, DeChambeau won
three of the next
four holes thanks to two birdies, winning with a
halved bogey at the 16th.
Paul Dunne —
Ireland
This Irishman made headlines back in July when
he shared the 54-hole lead at the British Open.
Dunne,
who played collegiately for the University of
Alabama-Birmingham, has experience playing
competitively in the United States, and even
took fifth at this year's NCAA National
Championship.
Dunne defeated No. 2 seed David Oraee of
Colorado in the round of 16 after South Carolina
commit
Caleb Proveaux suffered a 3-and-2 defeat at the
hands of Dunne on Thursday morning.
Austin James —
Canada
The Canadian had two ridiculously tough
matchups on the first two-match day of the
tournament.
James had to face 2015 Porter Cup champion
Denny McCarthy in the morning and UCLA
standout senior
Jake Knapp, the tournament's No. 3 seed, in the
afternoon. James only trailed during two holes,
holes
one and two of his second match. James
defeated McCarthy 3-and-2, never trailing, and
Knapp 2-and-1. He'll face another tough Pac-12
opponent on
Friday morning.
Sean Crocker —
Zimbabwe
Crocker, the 2014-2015 Pac-12 Freshman of the
Year, battled until the 20th hole with this year's
Western Amateur medalist Robby Shelton.
Crocker and the Alabama sophomore were back
and fourth
all match, with Shelton making a clutch birdie at
18 to force extra holes. Crocker drained a
15-foot putt on the 3rd extra hole while Shelton
missed a putt inside three feet. Crocker
successfully
handled 2015 Monroe Invitational winner Adam
Ball in the morning to advance to the round of
16.
Kenta Konishi —
Japan
Konishi needed to wrestle with two top Big-10
collegians to make it to this year's final eight. In
the
morning, Konishi ousted Belgium native and
University of Illinois golfer Thomas Detry on the
19th hole
after Detry won the 18th to force a playoff. Then
Konishi took down the 64th seed Kyle Mueller 2-
up,
though Konishi never trailed throughout the
match.
Matthew Perrine —
Austin,
Texas
Perrine enters the quarterfinals as likely the
most unknown of the group. Having just finished
his
freshman year at Auburn in the crowded SEC,
Perrine is making headlines now. On Thursday,
he
defeated two notable mid-amateur players with
both match play and USGA experience. In the
morning,
it was Brad Nurski, the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur
runner-up falling to Perrine, while the afternoon
brought Perrine and Illinois' Todd Mitchell
together. The Austin, Texas native beat the
former U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up (2008) by a
count of 4-and-3
to advance to Friday morning's matchup with
Konishi.
ABOUT THE
US Amateur
The U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA
championship, was first played in 1895 at
Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island. The
event,
which has no age restriction, is open to
those
with a Handicap Index of .4 (point four) or lower. It is
one
of 15 national championships conducted
annually by the USGA.
A new two-stage qualifying process went into effect in 2024, providing exemptions through local qualifying for state amateur champions and top-ranked WAGR playres. See the USGA website for details -- applications are typically placed online in the spring
at www.usga.org.
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