Well, Merion sure lived up to its hype. Of
course, not the hype supplied by the media
and the players at the 113th playing of the
U.S. Open.
No, it held up to the hype, or rather, strength
supplied by the USGA. Not rain, rain and more
rain could soften the course enough to hold a
player under par. Instead, Justin Rose and his
score of 1-over for what will be one of the
wildest Open weekends on record, was the
low
mark.
One of the biggest storylines from the
weekend, of course, was the play of Michael
Kim. The Cal junior and recent recipient of the
Haskins Award for the top player in college
golf
was just five shots off Phil Mickelson's third-
round lead. He started the final round in a tie
for 10th place and sights set on becoming the
first amateur to win the open since 1933.
While the amateur didn't take the title on the
100th anniversary of Francis Ouimet's
memorable and historical win, the amateurs in
the field at Merion did compete.
Here's a breakdown of the amateurs at this
year's open and how they fared:
Michael Kim |
Michael Kim, T17, Low Amateur:
The to-be junior at top-ranked Cal shot a
final-round 76 to fall back a bit but made
plenty of noise in getting within a few shots of
the leader in the third round. Kim finished 73-
70-71-76 for a weekend total of 10-over, 290.
Cheng-Tsung Pan |
Cheng-Tsung Pan, T45:
Pan, the sixth-ranked amateur in the
Golfweek/amateurgolf.com World Player
Rankings and a top collegiate golfer at
Washington, fired rounds of 72-72 to start the
U.S. Open and even held a share of the lead
early on Friday. He finished 75-76 for a total
of
15-over.
Kevin Phelan |
Kevin Phelan, T62:
The Ireland native and recent North Florida
graduate was the low amateur after Round 1,
firing a Thursday 71. He struggled a bit to
close with rounds of 77-78-74 but did make
the cut and finish 20-over.
Michael Weaver |
Michael Weaver, 64th:
The Cal senior and 2012 U.S. Amateur
runner-up, Weaver shot rounds of 74-74-78-
75--301 to finish 21-over.
Chris
Williams |
Chris Williams, MC:
In his last event as an amateur, the 2012
McCormack Medal winner shot rounds of 75-74
and missed the cut.
Steven Fox |
Steven Fox, MC:
The 2012 U.S. Amateur champion fired rounds
of 76-74 to finish at 10-over, missing the cut.
Gavin
Hall |
Gavin Hall, MC:
Heading to Texas in the fall, the New York
native fired rounds of 74-77 and missed the
cut. He holed out on the par-4 8th hole Friday
for eagle, one of the week's top highlights.
Max
Homa |
Max Homa, MC: Despite
spectacular play entering, the Pac-12 and
NCAA individual champion missed the cut with
rounds of 73-78.
Cory
McElyea |
Cory McElyea, MC: The
University of San Francisco golfer shot rounds
of 81-79.
Grayson Murray |
Grayson Murray, MC: A
recent transfer to UNC-Greensboro, Murray
shot 83-81 to finish 25-over.
For our full U.S. Open coverage, see the links
at the top of this article.
For full field results, click the links below.
ABOUT THE U.S. Open
The U.S. Open is the biggest of the 14 national
championships conducted by the USGA.
Open
to amateurs and professionals.
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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