Multi-Talented Bennett Sweeps into Semis

New Jersey, United States: Sam Bennett is one of those great athletes who excels at just about anything he tries. At Madisonville (Texas) High School, he not only was a standout golfer, but a district champion in tennis, an all-district performer in basketball and a defensive MVP as a baseball shortstop.

Too bad he never ran track, because at this week’s 122nd US Amateur Championship at The Ridgewood Country Club, the 22-year-old fifth-year Texas A&M senior is demonstrating a penchant for hurdling top-rated foes.

The latest illustration came in Friday’s quarter-finals when Bennett, number three in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), upended world number nine and two-time US Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad, 3&2.

Bennett, the 2022 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, has dispatched four foes this week, none ranked lower than 27 in the world. That trend will continue on Saturday when he squares off against number eight Dylan Menante, who led Pepperdine to the 2021 NCAA title before transferring to the University of North Carolina this summer, knocked out 15-year-old Nicholas Gross, 4&3.

“They’re great players, but I’m a better player,” said Bennett. “Number three in the rankings, and I feel like I’m the best player. I’m the dog in this race. I’ve been playing the best golf leading up to here. Yesterday I was 10-under through 29. Today I didn't quite have it, but I got the job done. I’ve got Menante tomorrow. He’s playing good, another tough opponent. I think it’s going to be a good match.”

Georgia Southern fifth-year senior Ben Carr will face Pepperdine fifth-year senior Derek Hitchner in Saturday’s second semi-final.

Carr, 22, defeated the championship’s Cinderella story, Christopher Newport University senior Alex Price, 2&1. Hitchner, also aged 22, eliminated 18-year-old San Diego State sophomore Shea Lague, 3&2.

Price, at 1,212th in the WAGR, was bidding to be the lowest-ranked player to win the US Amateur since the USGA began recognising the ranking system in 2012, and the second lefty since Phil Mickelson in 1990.

Hagestad, 31, and Bennett came into their encounter a combined 21-under-par, with the usual concessions for match play, and they delivered on the expectations of 2022 US Open competitors by combining for nine birdies, with six registered by Bennett, who tied for 49th at The Country Club.

Hagestad, who finished 64th in the US Open, was bidding to be the first mid-amateur in 29 years (John Harris) to win the US Amateur and the first in his demographic to make a semi-final since 2005 (Austin Eaton III).

But after the reigning US Mid-Amateur champ took an early one-up lead with a par at the fourth, he didn’t win another hole. Bennett’s 10-foot birdie on the par-three sixth tied the match and he went ahead for good with a winning bogey on the 474-yard eighth, which played as the second-hardest hole in stroke play.

A winning par on 11 and a 15-foot birdie on 14 were enough to send Bennett into the semi-finals.

“He’s just really, really good at golf,” said Hagestad, a three-time USA Walker Cupper who has reached the quarter-finals twice in 13 US Amateur starts. “He’s got a lot of self-belief and I think he’s got a good mentality for match play … and ready to go all 12 rounds from the first tee on.”

Menante, 21, who repeated as Northeast Amateur champion in June at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rhode Island with a nine-stroke victory, birdied four consecutive holes from the fifth to end Gross’ run.

The championship’s youngest player was also the third-youngest to reach the final eight in history behind Bob Jones (1916) and Chinese Taipei’s CT Pan (2007). Gross, who turns 16 on August 24, had bolted out to an early two-up lead, but Menante’s five wins over a six-hole stretch put the Southern Californian in the driver’s seat.

Hitchner, the 2021 Minnesota State Amateur champion who is 51st in the WAGR, was born in Summit, New Jersey, about 30 minutes from Ridgewood. While he trailed for the first time this week when he lost the fourth hole, he broke open a tight match with birdies on seven, nine and 11 to take a three-up advantage.

Lague, who failed to qualify for match play in last month’s US Junior Amateur, cut into the deficit with a birdie on the 13th, but when Hitchner hit the flagstick with his tee shot on the short 15th to set up a winning birdie, the match was essentially over.

Carr, meanwhile, is hoping to become the first current or former Georgia Southern player to win the US Amateur since alum Stewart ‘Buddy’ Alexander captured the 1986 title at Shoal Creek.

The 70th player in the WAGR saw a four-up lead against Price trimmed to one hole when the Virginia left-hander won 12, 14 and 15. Carr then steadied himself and closed out the match with a conceded birdie on 17.