Chaska, Minnesota, United States: Anyone who watched last year’s US Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club will remember Paul Chang’s run to the final 16.
A former club player at the University of Virginia, Chang begged the coaching staff for a chance to compete on the school’s varsity team and eventually showed he had the chops to play at the highest level of collegiate golf.
His play at Cherry Hills certainly demonstrated that talent, as he registered a memorable eagle-two in what became a highlight-reel, 19-hole, Round-of-16 defeat to John Marshall Butler.
A native of China who went to high school in England before arriving on the Charlottesville campus, Chang has shown an affinity for USGA events, as the 23-year-old fired a six-under 64 at stroke play co-host Chaska Town Course on a glorious Monday to share the first-round lead with Tom Fischer at the 124th US Amateur Championship.
The competitors were treated to a perfect mid-August day in Minnesota with sunshine, little wind and temperatures in the low 80s.
Scoring at Hazeltine National Golf Club, the two-time US Open and PGA Championship venue that will host all of the matches beginning on Wednesday, was higher, but a trio of golfers posted three-under 69s – 15-year-old American high school sophomore Sohan Patel and 2023 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cuppers James Ashfield, of Wales, and Calum Scott, of Scotland, a rising senior at Texas Tech.
Only 17 of 156 competitors bettered the par of 72 at Hazeltine, while 66 were in red figures on the par-70 Chaska Town Course.
Chang’s 66 included another eagle-two, this time when he drove the 318-yard par-four 16th and holed his putt.
But since his run at Cherry Hills, Chang, a rising senior, has had a mixed bag of results, registering just two top-10s in his first season with the Cavaliers. This summer, his lone top 10 came in the Northeast Amateur in Rhode Island (ninth) before he missed the cut in the Southern Amateur and Western Amateur.
“Coming into this event, I definitely feel a little different,” said Chang. “Last year, I didn’t feel like I belonged here at all. I was just testing the waters. Didn’t know who’s who. This year I was running into a lot of fellow players and saying hi. I really want to give it a good run this year.”
Despite the late withdrawal of China’s Ding Wenyi, fourth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and one of the pre-tournament favourites, it was a promising day for nine of the Asia-Pacific contingent, all of whom bettered par on the Chaska Town Course.
Korean Song Tae-hoon is among eight players tied for third on 66 with Australian Phoenix Campbell and China’s Zhoi Ziqin returning 67s for a share of 11th.
Also well placed to progress to the match play phase later in the week are Vietnam’s Le Khanh Hung, Australian Quinnton Croker and China’s Chang Xihuan (all 68) and Thai Phichaksn Maichon and China’s Andi Xu (both 69).
Of the other Asia-Pacific players at Chaska Town Course on day one, Australian Josiah Gilbert and China’s Liu Yuqi (both 72), Thai Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat and UAE’s Rayan Ahmed (both 74), Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chi-chun (75), Hong Kong China’s Alexander Yang (76) and Singaporean Hiroshi Tai (78) all have their work cut out.
Drawn to play Hazeltine National on day one, China’s Wang Yixiang posted a 73 followed by Australian Jasper Stubbs, the reigning Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner, with a 75, Japan’s Rintaro Nakano and Vietnamese Nguyen Anh Minh (both 76) and Chinese duo Xiong Tianyi (77) and Qiu Zihang (84).
The 312 competitors will switch stroke play venues on Tuesday for the second round, after which the field will be trimmed to the low 64 scorers for match play, which begins on Wednesday. Should a play-off be necessary to determine the final match-play spots, it would take place Wednesday morning at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Match play continues Wednesday through Sunday’s 36-hole championship match.