Australian Duo Join China's Lin in Round of 32

New Jersey, United States: Australians Hayden Hopewell and Connor McKinney have joined China’s two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner Lin Yuxin in the last 32 at the 122nd US Amateur Championship.

In the Round of 64 on Wednesday, left-handed Lin defeated American Peter Fountain one-up. He’ll now take on another American, Shea Lague, in the Round of 32 at The Ridgewood Country Club on Thursday morning.

While McKinney booked his last-32 spot with an impressive 3&1 defeat of American Travis Vick, Hopewell overcame Argentinean Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira on the 19th hole.

He next faces Mississippi State graduate Ford Clegg with 2022 Australian Amateur champion McKinney squaring off against Nathan Franks.

World number 30 McKinney birdied four of his first five holes in eliminating University of Texas All-American Vick, who is 12th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and reached the semi-finals at Oakmont Country Club last year and was the low amateur in this year’s US Open.

McKinney buried a 25-footer on the first, a 15-footer on the second and a 10-footer at the par-five third. “One of my goals in match play, which I haven’t been amazing at, is getting up early,” said McKinney, who lost a 21-hole match in the Sweet 16 in the Western Amateur 10 days ago despite being five-under. “To do it today, it set the tone.”

China’s Ding Wenyi, winner of last month’s US Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes, suffered an agonising loss on 23rd-hole of an epic clash with American Alex Price, a Division III All-American. 

Also bowing out in the first round of match play was Malaysian Khavish Varadan who lost 2&1 to American Justin Biwer.

Given the strength and depth of the match play bracket, it’s not surprising that the Round-of-64 encounters produced drama to rival a Broadway play.

The margin between the four co-medalists and last 11 survivors from the play-off for the last spots in the draw was only eight strokes. That helps to explain why 22 of the 32 match-ups went at least 17 holes and eight were extended beyond 18.

One of the play-off survivors, Andrew Von Lossow delivered the biggest blow when he eliminated fellow-American and 2018 US Junior Amateur champion Michael Thorbjornsen, 3&2. At age 34, Von Lossow was the oldest player in the draw.

Thorbjornsen, sixth in the WAGR and one of the co-medallists, played in the 2022 US Open and finished fourth in the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship a week later.

Peyton Snoeberger became the second consecutive number 64 seed to win a match in the US Amateur when he upended top-seeded Luke Gutschewski, the son of two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Scott Gutschewski, in 20 holes. Last year at Oakmont Country Club, Mark Goetz was eliminated by David Nyfjall.

Number three seed Hugo Townsend, of Sweden, an Ole Miss grad transfer, and University of Florida rising senior and number four seed Fred Biondi, of Brazil, kept alive the possibility of a medallist winning the title for the first time in 18 years with wins over Jon Erik  Alford and Frankie Capan, respectively.

Clegg took out his more decorated former high school teammate and fellow Country Club of Birmingham member Gordon Sargent in 21 holes. Sargent, the 2022 NCAA champion and a rising Vanderbilt University sophomore, had golden opportunities to win on holes 19 and 20 before a bogey on the par-five 21st ended the match.

Stewart Hagestad, 31, a two-time US Mid-Amateur champion (2016 and 2021) who is ninth in the WAGR, defeated world number seven Sam Bairstow, of England, runner-up in this year’s Amateur Championship conducted by The R&A, 3&1.

In a match-up of world number three and world number 16, 2022 US Open qualifier Sam Bennett overcame a three-putt bogey on 18 to defeat 2021 semi-finalist Nick Gabrelcik in 19 holes. Bennett’s 66-yard wedge approach stopped 2½ feet from the flagstick for a winning birdie.

Another match that lived up to its billing saw 2021 USA Walker Cup player and world number 20 Ricky Castillo outlast number two Ludvig Aberg, one-up. Neither player led by more than one hole all day. Castillo, who nearly hit his tee shot out of bounds on the par-four 18th, got up and down for par from 70 yards, while Aberg, of Sweden, barely extracted his ball from a greenside bunker and then failed to reach the green from the fronting rough, leading to a triple-bogey seven.

“That was pretty scary,” said Castillo, a rising senior at the University of Florida. “My ball on 18 was less than an inch inbounds and I took advantage of it, made a good par. It’s not the way you want to see it end, but it was a really well-fought match.”

Incoming Arizona State University freshman Luke Potter, a quarter-finalist in last month’s US Junior Amateur, pulled off one of the day’s great comebacks, rallying from two-down with two to play to defeat University of Georgia rising senior Nicolas Cassidy in 19 holes.

“It was a pillow fight from about hole four on,” said Potter, who is competing in his third US Amateur. “Not my best stuff, but it’s match play. Tomorrow I could play my best round ever. That’s just the way golf is.”

The Round of 32 and Round of 16 will be contested on Thursday, followed by the quarter-finals on Friday, semi-finals on Saturday and the 36-hole championship match on Sunday.