BETHESDA, MD (June 16, 2011) -- In the past
six U.S. Opens the reigning U.S. Amateur
champions have done no better than a tie for
for 57th place, making just one cut. A few bold
souls, Danny Lee in 2009 and Colt Knost in
2008 abandoned their right to play by turning
pro.
Peter
Uihlein hopes to buck this trend and he is
well on his way after a solid performance today
that resulted in a +1 score of 72.
It could have gone the other way, in fact
he was on that road to disaster with a double
bogey on the first hole and a bogey on the
fourth.
“At 3-over through 4, if you’d
told me I’d shoot 72 I’d take it
– regardless of how I got it,” he
said.
A hole out from the fairway on the next
hole, the par-4 fifth, got him started
followed up by a birdie on the par-4 eighth
hole.
“I was really nervous to
start,” said Uihlein. “I made an
awful double on the first hole. After I made
that eagle, I was able to get a little more
comfortable and played okay from there on
out.”
Uihlein sits in a tie for 34th with fellow
amatuer Brad Benjamin
from Rockford, Ill.
Benjamin had an equally bumpy ride to a 72
with five bogeys and one double offset by 6
birdies.
Russell
Henley, the University of Georgia grad
that has already beaten a full field of
Nationwide pros at this year's Stadion Classic,
carded a steady round of 73 with just three
bogeys and one birdie.
Cheng-Tsung
Pan, the Chinese Tapei native is tied for
64th place with a score of 74 on the tough
par-71 Congressional layout.
Patrick
Cantlay, the touted UCLA freshman shot
75 while Chris
Williams from Moscow Idaho and the 16-
year-old Beau Hossler from Mission Viejo, Calif.
went around in 76.
Brett
Patterson from McMinnville, Tenn. carded
77 and Steve
Irwin, son of the three-time U.S. Open
Champion Hale Irwin carded 78.
Scott
Pinckney from Scottsdale, Ariz. was even
on the first nine holes but struggle on the more
difficult back to post a 79.
David
Chung, the Stanford Senior and U.S.
Amateur runner up, posted 82 and the St.
Petersburg law school grad Michael Barbosa
shot 83.
ABOUT THE
U.S. Open Golf Championship
The U.S. Open is the biggest of the 15 national
championships conducted by the USGA.
Open
to amateurs and professionals. Amateurs gain
entry via USGA win or runner-up finishes while having the opportunity
to qualify alongside non-exempt professionals in an 18-hole "Local' qualifying followed
by 36-hole "Final" qualifying which is affectionately known as golf's longest day.
Highly-ranked amateurs will be exempted past the 18-hole Local Qualifying. See the
USGA website for details. And if you are exempt on any level be sure to apply by the deadline anyway.
The USGA intends to make the U.S. Open
the
most rigorous, yet fair, examination of golf
skills, testing all forms of shot-making. The
USGA prepares the course after careful
consideration of 14 different factors.
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