- USGA Photo
Tulsa, Okla. (August 24, 2009) – Tim Jackson, 50, of Germantown, Tenn., shot a 2-under-par 68 Monday at Southern Hills Country Club to lead the morning wave of the first day of stroke play at the 2009 U.S. Amateur.
Jackson, a career amateur who led the 2009 U.S. Senior Open after 36 holes while setting scoring records, registered three birdies against one bogey on the 7,093-yard, par-70 course that has hosted three U.S. Opens among five other USGA championships.
Jackson, who won the 1994 and 2001 U.S. Mid-Amateur championships, was a stroke better than Matthew Broome, 20, of Barrington, R.I., John Peterson, 20, of Fort Worth, Texas and Will Strickler, 23, of Gainesville, Fla., all of whom shot 1-under-par 69 on the 7,331-yard, par-70 Cedar Ridge Country Club, which is being used for the stroke play portion of the championship.
“Just over the last six weeks I’ve started really putting the ball the way I used to putt it,” Jackson said. “And I think that’s been the difference. I changed to a cross-handed grip back in April. This guy I was working with, he begged me to go cross-handed and said, ‘Just try it for one year and at the end of the season you can tell me, we’ll decide if you want to go back.’ I don’t think I’m going back. It’s been really good for me.”
Jackson, a real estate investor, is playing in his 13th U.S. Amateur and he was a quarterfinalist in 1994 and 1995. At the U.S. Senior Open, where he finished tied for 11th three weeks ago, he shot the lowest round by an amateur (first-round 66), lowest 72-hole score by an amateur (288) and lowest score by any player in the first 36 holes (133), tying six others for the record. He also set a record for most strokes under par through 36 holes, shooting 11 under par.
Jackson’s 68 was the only sub-par score at Southern Hills. Broome, Peterson and Strickler shot the only sub-par rounds at Cedar Ridge.
Pete Kowalski is a Manager of Communications for the USGA. E-mail him with questions or comments at pkowalski@usga.org.
ABOUT THE U.S. Amateur
The U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA
championship, was first played in 1895 at
Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island. The
event,
which has no age restriction, is open to
those
with a Handicap Index of 2.4 or lower. It is
one
of 14 national championships conducted
annually by the USGA, 10 of which are
strictly
for amateurs. It is the pre-eminent
amateur
competition in the world.
Applications are typically placed online in the spring
at www.usga.org.
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