Jackson Buchanan (USGA Photo)
Jackson Buchanan admittedly did not have his best stuff when the bell went off for the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship. His practice rounds were not up to standard, and he needed consecutive birdies on his last two holes at stroke-play co-host Chaska Town Course during Round 2 of stroke play just to sneak into match play.
Sometime on Wednesday, however, things began to come together, and by late Thursday afternoon, Buchanan, a 22-year-old from Dacula, Ga., who qualified for this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, was still alive after two more dramatic victories at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Buchanan might not be a drama major at the University of Illinois, where he’s a rising senior, but he provided some epic theater for those who watched him perform on the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design.
In the Round of 32 on Thursday morning, he eliminated
Luke Clanton, the No. 1 player in the
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings, who had posted three top-10 finishes this summer on the PGA Tour and in June became the first amateur in U.S. Open history to record consecutive rounds in the 60s, 1 up, before a healthy crowd north of 500 fans.
With an hour for lunch, Buchanan managed to regroup and refocus his energy against 16-year-old high school junior Tyler Mawhinney, of Fleming Island, Fla. He posted another 1-up decision in the Round of 16, converting an 8-foot birdie on the 18th green after his opponent got up and down from the greenside rough by holing a 15-footer for par.
“I’m just gassed right now,” said Buchanan, who beat world No. 6 Preston Summerhays in the opening round. “We play 36 holes all year round in college. It’s not new, but it’s different with match play. Match play brings way more energy out of you.
“I’ve never played two matches in one day. Luke … brought it all out of me. That was the toughest match I’ve ever played. I knew coming into [my Round-of-16 match], it was going to be kind of a little bit of a dogfight. Tyler played well and I was able to close.”
Buchanan was joined in the quarterfinals by No. 64 seed and Oklahoma State sophomore Ethan Fang, of Plano, Texas; Iowa sophomore Noah Kent, of Naples, Fla.; Notre Dame sophomore Jacob Modleski, of Noblesville, Ind.; Arizona State senior Jose Luis Ballester, of Spain; his fellow countryman Luis Masaveu; Auburn senior and two-time U.S. Open qualifier Brendan Valdes, of Orlando, Fla.; and 36-year-old Bobby Massa, of Dallas, Texas.
Against Clanton, who’s likely to win the Mark H. McCormack Medal next week, Buchanan twice built 2-up leads only to see both evaporate. Clanton, in fact, grabbed a 1-up lead with a birdie on No. 14, a lead he kept briefly until Buchanan won the par-5 15th with a birdie, took 16 with a par and then tied the next two holes, including an exquisite up-and-down par from the right greenside rough on No. 18. Clanton nearly forced extra holes with a 20-foot birdie attempt that slid just by the hole.
“It's the U.S. Amateur. Like what do you expect?” said Clanton of the tough Round-of-32 draw. “You're not going to get easy matches all the time. He's a good buddy of mine. He played really well, and I don't see him losing much. So, it's going to be fun to watch.”
Added Buchanan: “My practice rounds were atrocious. Sometimes I'm not very confident in parts of my game, so I just kind of threw it out the window [and] started hitting it better. Birdied my last two to get into match play and just have kind of been riding that since.”
Mawhinney, a member of the USGA’s inaugural U.S. National Junior Team, had also been riding a major momentum wave since winning the Canadian Amateur last Thursday in Saskatchewan, which earned him a spot in this week’s field. And the 2023 Florida 3A high school state champion showed plenty of moxie, battling back from a 2-down deficit to tie the match with a birdie on No. 12.
Then Mawhinney took the lead on 16 with a par, forcing Buchanan to come up with more magic. He answered with a 7-foot birdie on the par-3 17th and followed with a mammoth drive on 473-yard, par-4 closing hole. Facing a 130-yard approach – 136 with the slope – Buchanan watched his approach nearly fly into the hole. He even did a club twirl, knowing he flushed it.
Indeed, the ball nearly spun into the hole, settling 8 feet below, setting the stage for the winning birdie.
That wasn’t the only dramatic Round-of-16 match. Massa, a quarterfinalist in last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur and a high-performance trainer, outlasted 2023 Canadian Amateur champion and 2024 U.S. Open qualifier Ashton McCulloch, of Canada, in 23 holes, converting a 25-footer on the fifth extra hole, the par-4 18th at Hazeltine, as dusk rapidly approached.
It was the longest quarterfinal match in the U.S. Amateur since Reynolds Smith defeated Ernest Pieper Jr., also in 23 holes, in 1934 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. With a win on Friday over Ballester, Massa would be the first mid-amateur semifinalist in 19 years (Austin Eaton III). Earlier on Thursday, Massa was extended to the final hole against incoming Stanford freshman Ratchanon Tk Chantananuwat, of Thailand.
“I'm enjoying the moment right now, so I don't know what the future holds,” said Massa. “Just happy to be here right now.
“I'll be happy to find my bed, I'll tell you that. I'll be happy to take a shower and get in bed.”
In a competition that has seen high seeds and notable players exit early, Masaveu, has been the one player to avoid the upset. Seeded third from stroke play, the 2024 Open Championship qualifier – he finished 78th at Royal Troon – took out left-hander Jackson Herrington, 1 up, and Texas A&M’s Phichaksn Maichon, 3 and 2.
With Ballester also advancing, that gave Spain two players in the quarterfinals for the first time in championship history. Two-time major champion Jon Rahm, in 2015, made the last eight and Masters winner Sergio Garcia was a semifinalist in 1998 – the last Spaniards to make deep U.S. Amateur runs. On Thursday, Ballester first knocked off college rival and German native Tiger Christensen, of the University of Arizona, 3 and 1, and then defeated 36-year-old Christian Brand (3 and 2), who won this year’s West Virginia Amateur by 21 strokes.
Fang, who took out medalist Jimmy Ellis on Wednesday, continues his trek to possibly becoming the first 64 seed to win any USGA amateur championship. He moved into the final eight with a 2-up win over 2023 U.S. Open qualifier Bastien Amat, of France.
Through family connections, Kent has recently struck up a friendship with NBC/Golf Channel analyst and 1978 U.S Amateur champion John Cook, and 1993 champion John Harris, a Minnesota native who is the last mid-amateur to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy. The positive encouragement has proven to be beneficial for the Floridian, who traveled to Australia in January to play the Australian Master of the Amateurs and Australian Amateur, and to Ballyliffin, in the Republic of Ireland, two months ago to compete in The Amateur Championship. He was also runner-up in this year’s Porter Cup.
All of those experiences have led up to this week at Hazeltine. On Thursday, Kent, never trailed in beating 2024 Alabama Amateur champion Tom Fischer (2 and 1) and Garrett Engle (4 and 2).
“I've been talking to both of them,” said Kent of his two mentors. “[They told me], you're as good as anybody in the field. Like now everybody can compete, but it's like you belong and you're better than every single one of them here. It's just having the self-confidence in yourself.”
Interestingly enough, Modleski’s two victories in 2024 have both come in the Sea Island, Ga., area, first at the Jones Cup Invitational at Ocean Forest and then the Johnnie-O at Sea Island, a collegiate event held at Sea Island Golf Club.
On Thursday, the Notre Dame sophomore continued to have the luck of the Irish on his side with wins over 2024 European Amateur champion and University of Texas standout Tommy Morrison (3 and 2) and 2024 Latin America Amateur runner-up Omar Morales (2 and 1), of Mexico, a UCLA rising senior.
Valdes said his two U.S. Open starts at The Los Angeles Country Club in 2023 and Pinehurst in June were major factors coming into Hazeltine. He also delivered a key match-play win over Florida State’s Frederik Kjettrup in the championship match at the NCAAs in June to lift the Tigers to their first national title.
He advanced with wins over Caleb Shetler (2 and 1) and Peter Fountain (3 and 2).
“Of course, I try and be confident, but I know all the guys [are] all great players,” said Valdes. “I just have to look forward to who I'm playing next. But there's really nothing after that. I'm looking to the next match.”
What’s Next
The quarterfinal matches on Friday are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CDT and tee off in 15-minute intervals. Saturday’s semifinals are set for 1 and 1:20 p.m., with the first 18 of Sunday’s 36-hole championship match scheduled for 7:15 a.m. Tickets are available for purchase, while Peacock will stream live on Friday at 4 p.m. with Golf Channel picking up the coverage at 5 p.m.
Notable
All eight quarterfinalists are now exempt into the 125th U.S. Amateur, which will be contested at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Olympic, a five-time U.S. Open site, last hosted the U.S. Amateur in 2007, won by current CBS/Golf Channel on-course reporter Colt Knost.
After seven matches went extra holes in the Round of 64, none went beyond No. 18 in the Round of 32, and just one in the Round of 16.
A well-known figure in the world of golf has been following Noah Kent, of Naples, Fla., this week. Architect Dana Fry, who is his stepfather, has re-worked and designed a number of high-profile venues with Michael Hurdzon, a former partner, and now current colleague Jason Straka. Among some of Fry’s works/renovations include 2025 U.S. Women’s Open venue Erin Hills and the Militia Hill Course at Philadelphia Cricket Club (stroke-play co-host venue for 2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball). Kent’s father, David Kent, competed in the 1990 U.S. Junior Amateur at Lake Merced Golf Club, where a 14-year-old Tiger Woods advanced to the semifinals.
The players to reach the last 16 of the championship represented 14 different colleges. Tyler Mawhinney, 16, is a high school junior in Florida, while Luis Masaveu, of Spain, doesn’t attend college in the United States. The colleges were Arizona State, Auburn, Illinois, Iowa, Marshall, Michigan State, New Mexico, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Texas A&M, Texas-Arlington and UCLA.
Speaking of Texas-Arlington, it is the alma mater of USGA president Fred Perpall, and quarterfinalist Bobby Massa, 36, happens to be his personal trainer. Massa does high-level performance work with golfers in the Dallas Metroplex. Massa advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sleepy Hollow and missed the match-play cut in the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills by a stroke.
Mid-amateur Christian Brand had an interesting Round-of-32 match against No. 2 seed Ethan Evans, a Duke University standout from Mercer Island, Wash. The two did not have a tied hole over the first 13, then matched scores over the final five holes with Brand prevailing, 1 up. The match included Brand holing out for an eagle 2 on the ninth hole from 140 yards out with a pitching wedge.
Matthew Modleski, the father of Jacob Modleski, is a former pilot with the Thunderbirds who perform all over the country in air shows.
Walker Cup captain and five-time USGA champion Nathan Smith has been on the property since the championship began looking at potential players for the 2025 Match at Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Calif. Smith played on three USA Walker Cup Teams.