Bryson DeChambeau (TL), Derek Bard (TR),
Sean Crocker (BL), and Kenta Konishi (BR)
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. — Three of four quarterfinal
matches went to the 18th hole on Friday at
Olympia Fields Country Club's North Course,
resulting in exciting golf for those that were
either on site, or watching live on television. Six
countries were whittled down to just three, being
cut in half just like the number of remaining
players. The United States, Zimbabwe, and
Japan are in contention to have a U.S. Amateur
Championship represent them.
For the previous two years, two non-American
amateurs faced off in the championship match,
with the 2013 matchup of Matthew Fitzpatrick
(England) and Oliver Goss (Australia) being the
first
occurrence in tournament history. Strangely
enough, the Yang/Conners duel a year later
made it back-to-back years.
We could have three in a row if Sean Crocker
and Kenta Konishi prevail on Saturday in Illinois.
Let's meet the four semifinalists of the 115th
U.S. Amateur, and see how they reached this
point.
Bryson DeChambeau —
Clovis, Calif.
Representing the United States and the state of
California is the No. 4
ranked amateur in the
world, and
reigning NCAA Individual champion. He faced
Irish sensation Paul Dunne on
Friday, proving his
hot putter to be too much for the upstart 22-
year-old who was one of
three
54-hole leaders at the
2015 British Open. DeChambeau closed out
Dunne 3-and-2 with a par on
16. On Thursday, he 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.
Sean Crocker —
Zimbabwe
DeChambeau will face another Pac-12 opponent
on Saturday in USC
sophomore Sean Crocker — the 2014-2015 Pac-
12 Freshman of the
Year. Crocker, who went to high-school in
Westlake Village, Calif., was 2-down to Canada's
Austin James through the first nine in Friday's
quarterfinals but shot 2-under with no bogeys on
the back side to finish off James 2-up with a wild
left-to-right swinging putt
on the 18th green.
Fist pump included. In the round-of-16, Crocker
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. He
successfully
handled 2015 Monroe Invitational winner Adam
Ball in the morning to advance to the round of
16.
Derek Bard —
New
Hartford, N.Y.
The University of Virginia junior was this year's
Sunnehanna Amateur winner, and had his
toughest test of the tournament
on Friday afternoon in World No. 1-ranked Jon
Rahm. But first, he had to
knock off two SEC collegians on Thursday,
defeating Sepp
Straka of Georgia 6-and-5 for part one, followed
by coming
from 2-down at the turn to beat Hunter Stewart
of Vanderbilt 2-and-1 in part two. In his bout
with Rahm, Bard capitalized
on a number of missed putts by the Spaniard
during the last chunk of
holes, coming from behind for the second
straight time. Bard was 3-down
to the Arizona State senior through 10 holes, but
managed to crawl his way
back and make a 12-foot winning par putt on 18
to advance once again.
Kenta Konishi —
Japan
Konishi was part of Friday's most narrow match.
He and Texas native Matthew Perrine
were back-and-forth most of the back nine,
heading to the 18th tee at all-square in a
match in which half the holes were won by
either of the players, including six of nine on
the inward nine. A closing par on the final hole
sent Konishi to the semifinals to face
Bard. On Thursday, 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.
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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