Jake Shuman (Credit: USGA/Steven Gibbons)
Mother Nature continues to wreak havoc on the 41st U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. Sunday’s storm dumped 4 inches of rain on Erin Hills and 5.3 inches at stroke-play co-host Blue Mound Golf & Country Club in Wauwatosa, nearly 30 miles to the southeast, requiring a massive cleanup effort.
This was especially the case at Blue Mound, where 20 pumps were utilized to extract standing water from bunkers and fairways. Staffers from nine nearby facilities aided in the herculean task of making the course playable.
The second round of stroke play, which was completely wiped out on Sunday, resumed at 11:30 a.m. CDT on Monday at Erin Hills and 30 minutes later at Blue Mound, with the morning wave completing 36 holes. Those in the afternoon wave started their second rounds – two groups at Blue Mound didn’t start – but won’t finish until Tuesday, when the field will be trimmed to the low 64 scorers for match play at Erin Hills. Any necessary playoff would take place on Tuesday at Erin Hills, starting on No. 10.
The lengthy weather suspension led 12 competitors from the starting field of 264 to withdraw either Sunday night or Monday so they could return to their jobs and families.
Alex Beson-Crone, the superintendent at Blue Mound, sent out a text when he arrived on property at 3:15 a.m. on Monday: “There is zero chance we are playing golf today.”
Eight hours later, Beson-Crone, his senior assistant Dan Vater, and their team of 19 had Blue Mound ready for Round 2.
“They had a really good approach,” said John Petrovsky, the manager of education for the USGA Green Section, who spent 20 years in golf maintenance before joining the Association last December. “They knew where they needed to move water so that other areas would begin draining.”
A similar scenario took place at Erin Hills, where Zach Reineking, the director of course maintenance, said his staff of 18 began pumping water at 2 a.m. and overcame some early morning rain.
“You’ve got to go hats off to the grounds crew and the USGA, and everybody who probably hasn’t slept,” said
Jake Shuman, 26, of Boston, Mass., who carded a bogey-free, 4-under par 66 at Blue Mound to share the clubhouse lead for medalist honors at 7-under 134. “I haven’t seen rain like that in probably ever. The greens were perfect. [They were] still fast and still pretty firm. It’s pretty impressive.”
Shuman, a financial planner who regained his amateur status in March after retiring from professional golf in 2020, was joined at the top by fellow 26-year-old
Sam Jones, of New Zealand, who shot a 4-under 67 at 7,309-yard, par-71 Erin Hills, the site of the 2017 U.S. Open. Jones came to Wisconsin after helping New Zealand finish in a tie for 34th in the World Amateur Team Championship in France Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
Jones, the winner of the 2019 New Zealand Amateur and 2022 New Zealand Stroke Play Championship, posted six birdies against two bogeys.
“[It] was just getting the driver in play,” said Jones. “I hit a lot of fairways, was hitting wedges in, and was hitting it relatively close, inside of 10 feet for my birdies. My best one was on No. 6, the long par 3. I hit a good 5-iron in there from 217 to 12 feet and rolled that one in.”
Shuman, a Duke University graduate who advanced to match play in the 2012 and 2013 U.S. Junior Amateurs, birdied Nos. 5, 6, 14 and 16, but said the key to the round was making a couple of critical up-and-down pars from 6 to 8 feet on a couple of par 3s.
First-round leader and defending champion
Stewart Hagestad, of Newport Beach, Calif., had a late tee time at Erin Hills. He opened with a 6-under 64 at Blue Mound on Saturday.
What’s Next
The suspended Round 2 of stroke play will resume at 7:30 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, with any playoff for the final match-play spots to follow at Erin Hills, starting on No. 10. The Round of 64 is expected to begin on Tuesday at a time to be determined.
ABOUT THE U.S. Mid-Amateur
The U.S. Mid-Amateur originated in 1981 for the
amateur golfer of at least 25 years of age, the
purpose of which to provide a formal national
championship for the post-college player. 264
players
begin the championship with two rounds of sroke
play
qualifying held at two courses, after which the low
64
(with a playoff if necessary to get the exact number)
advance to single elimination match play.
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