Hopewell’s Hopes Extinguished by Veteran American

New Jersey, United States: Australian Hayden Hopewell’s brave run at the 122nd US Amateur Championship was brought to an end by veteran American Stewart Hagestad.

With compatriot Connor McKinney and China’s Lin Yuxin both being eliminated in the Round of 32 at The Ridgewood Country Club on Thursday morning, Hopewell was the last remaining representative from the Asia-Pacific.

However, his hopes of becoming only the fourth quarter-finalist from outside the United States in the past five years evaporated with a 2&1 loss to 31-year-old Hagestad in the Round of 16.

But Hopewell, 41st in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), made Hagestad, a two-time US Mid-Amateur champion and three-time USA Walker Cup player, work hard.

Indeed, Hopewell was one-up after nine and all square through 13. But Hagestad won holes 14 and 15. Although Hopewell reduced the deficit at 16, his opponent, at 31 the oldest remaining player, closed out the match at the par-five 17th.

Hopewell had progressed to the last 16 courtesy of a 2&1 triumph over Ford Clegg in the morning. But McKinney, the 2022 Australian Amateur champion, was edged out by Nathan Franks, one-down, while Lin, a two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner, fell 3&2 to San Diego State rising sophomore Shea Lague.

Illustrating just how tough the tournament is for non-Americans was the fact that for the third year in a row all eight quarter-finalists are from the United States.

Joining Hagestad and Lague in the final eight are Sam Bennett, third in the WAGR, 15-year-old Nicholas Gross; University of North Carolina rising senior Dylan Menante, 21; NCAA Division III All-American Alex Price, 21; Pepperdine fifth-year senior Derek Hitchner, 22; and Georgia Southern rising senior Ben Carr, 22.

Gross, a rising junior at Downingtown West High School who turns 16 on August 24, is the youngest to advance this far in the championship since Chinese Taipei’s CT Pan, also 15, in 2007. Before that, one has to go back to 1916 when Bob Jones advanced to the quarters as a 14-year-old at Merion.

Both Gross and Hitchner were among the 11 survivors from Wednesday’s 15-man play-off to determine the final spots in the draw, while Lague rallied from one-down with one to play to eliminate the last remaining medallist, Sweden's Hugo Townsend, from the four who topped the leaderboard following stroke play.

The medallist has not won this championship since 2004 (Ryan Moore), the longest drought among the 10 USGA amateur competitions.