Nathan Wang (left) and Joe Neuheisel
All four top seeds managed to get through the Round of 32 of match play on Wednesday at this week's California Amateur Championship at Lake Merced GC.
But things didn't go as planned for some of the other higher seeds.
No.1 seed Joe Neuheisel, the son of Rick Neuheisel, who was the head coach of the college football programs at Colorado, Washington and UCLA, just squeaked by, defeating No.32 seed Tegan Andrews, 1-up. For Neuheisel, who won last year's Arizona Amateur, the difference was a late par win on the 17th hole.
Nathan Wang, the No.2 seed and the winner of last year's NCGA Amateur Stroke Play Championship, got a solid opening victory, defeating No.31 Calder Overfelt, 3 and 2.
Also picking up wins were Long Beach State sophomore and No.3 seed Ivan Barahona (4 and 2) and UC San Diego senior and No.4 seed Jerry Wu (3 and 2).
No.5 seed Michael Jensen, who was competing in his hometown, got eliminated via a 5 and 4 loss to Wyatt McGovern of Hillsborough.
Other upsets included No.6 seed Sam Sommerhauser falling 2 and 1 to No.27 Cade Anderson and No.7 Jack Cantlay losing on the 19th hole to No.26 Domingo Jojola. Cantlay is the younger brother of PGA Tour star Patrick Cantlay.
No.8 seed Garrett Boe also got sent packing following a 3 and 2 loss to No.25 seed A.J. Fitzgerald. In the first round of stroke play qualifying, Fitzgerald had carded a 78.
The Round of 16 will take place on Thursday. The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place Friday, with the 36-hole finale on Saturday.
QUALIFYING ROUND-UP
Arizona resident Joe Neuheisel has already won one state title, last year's Arizona Amateur.
Now, Neuheisel will have a shot at winning the California Amateur.
Neuheisel, the son of Rick Neuheisel, who was the head coach of the college football programs at Colorado, Washington and UCLA, finished as co-medalist at this week's California Amateur at Lake Merced GC, shooting a second-round 5-under 67 on Tuesday to come in at 6-under 138 in stroke play qualifying.
Also coming in at 138 was Cal-Berkeley sophomore Nathan Wang, who posted a second round day-low 6-under 66. Wang won last year's NCGA Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Poppy Hills.
Ivan Barahona, a sophomore at Long Beach State, finished third at 140 after a second-round 69.
Only the low 32 players advanced to the match play brackets. The cutline came at 2-over 146.
Wednesday will see the Round of 32, followed by the Round of 16 on Thursday. The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place Friday, with the 36-hole finale on Saturday.
ABOUT THE California Amateur
The Championship is open to amateur golfers
who have established current indexes of 4.4
and are members in good standing of the
Southern California Golf Association, the
Northern California Golf Association, or the
Public Links Golf Association of Southern
California. Nonexempt players must qualify. An
entrant may play in only one qualifying event,
even
if
the golfer
belongs to clubs in both Southern California
and Northern California. The 18-hole
qualifying
rounds will determine the qualifiers.
The championship field will play 36 holes of
qualifying at a Northern or Southern California
Location, with the low 32 golfers from that
combined field moving on to match play (with
a
playoff, if necessary, to determine the final
spots).
Two rounds each of 18-hole match play will
follow on Thursday and Friday and the 36-hole
final match will be on Saturday.
The location will rotate yearly between
Northern and Southern California locations.
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