Musselman Secures Medalist Honors at North & South Am
Alex Smalley (left), Cooper Musselman, and Benjamin Shipp
PINEHURST, North Carolina (June 26, 2018) - Kentucky rising senior Cooper Musselman backed up his opening round 67 with a 1-over-par 71 this afternoon, securing medalist honors and the top-seed moving into the match play portion of the 117th North & South Amateur.
Musselman began his day steadily, only bogeying the 4th hole on the front, offset by a birdie on No. 9 to bring him back to 3-under-par for the tournament. He went lower with a birdie on the 483-yard par-4 before giving a few shots back on the 16th and 17th holes.
“Sort of got a bad break off the tee on No. 16, but then hit a poor third shot and ended up making double,” Cooper explained.
He then proceeded to three-putt on No. 17 for a bogey and subsequently missed his tee shot right of the 18th fairway. But just as it looked as if we might have a three way tie for the top qualifier, the Kentucky Wildcat showed us the kind of clutch player he is, smashing a seven iron from the waste area to set up a birdie putt that he would drain for the outright lead.
“I had a good number and got it on the green to about 30-feet,” said Musselman. “…just hit a good putt and it happened to drop. I feel like that birdie will give me some good momentum heading into match play.”
Other top finishers include Duke's Alex Smalley, the recent Sunnehanna Amateur champion. Smalley is currently a shot back at 1-under-par (71-68=139).
NC State golfer Benjamin Shipp shot the lowest round of qualifying this afternoon, a 5-under-par 65 that included six birdies and only a single bogey that came on the par-5 5th hole.
Match play will begin on Wednesday, June 27th at 7 a.m. EST.
ABOUT THE North & South Amateur
The North & South Amateur Championship is the
longest consecutively run amateur tournament in
the
United States. Its past winners list includes names
like
Walter
Travis, Francis Ouimet, Billy Joe Patton, Jack
Nicklaus
and Curtis Strange. The field is made up of invited
players as well as open applications. Two rounds of
stroke
play are followed by five rounds of match play
(32
qualifiers) to determine the Champion. All stroke
& match play rounds are contested on
Pinehurst No. 2.
View Complete Tournament Information