-- USGA
Erin, Wis. (Aug. 25, 2011) -- Bobby Leopold,
26, of Cranston, R.I., continued his improbable
march through the match-play bracket,
defeating 2011 USA Walker Cup Team member
Harris English by a 4-and-3 margin in
Thursday’s second round of match play at the
2011 U.S. Amateur Championship at 7,660-
yard, par-72 Erin Hills.
Defending champion Peter Uihlein, 21, of
Orlando, Fla., also moved into Friday’s round of
16 by defeating South African Dylan Frittelli, 5
and 4.
Leopold, the oldest player remaining in the
championship, never trailed in the match. After
halving the opening two holes, including
matching birdies to open the round, English,
22, of Thomasville, Ga., bogeyed the par-4
third to hand Leopold an early 1-up lead.
“The start was huge for me,” said Leopold, an
insurance producer who was raised in England.
“I made a good putt on one. We decided we
needed to make four, five or six birdies for the
round to stay ahead of Harris. To get that one
off the bat and match his, it was kind of like
‘OK, we can compete with this guy.’”
Earlier in the day, Leopold, who advanced to
match play by surviving a 20-for-4 playoff, had
defeated stroke-play medalist Gregor Main, 2
and 1.
“I’m trying to keep it all in perspective,” said
Leopold of his success. “Everyone’s good.
Harris is a really good player. He won a
Nationwide Tour event. You could say giant
killer, but everyone can win on a given day and
beat each other.
“Harris didn’t have his best day, probably, and
I had a good day. That’s golf. That’s the way
it pans out. It’s a crazy game.”
Uihlein, who will represent the United States
on his second Walker Cup Team in September,
trailed early, twice falling 1 down over the first
four holes.
“You are going to have stretches of holes
where things don’t go your way,” said Uihlein,
who won the 2011 Hogan Award as the
nation’s top collegiate golfer. “You have to
grind and keep fighting. The first six holes I
didn’t make a thing. I just wanted to keep
going and make good strokes and hope they
would eventually start falling and they
did.”
A birdie on the par-4 seventh sparked a string
of five consecutive holes won for the
Oklahoma State University senior. Uihlein
pointed to his birdie on No. 7 as the moment
that turned the match in his favor.
“The first six holes were a grind,” said
Uihlein. “On seven, when I made that putt, it
felt big for me to have a putt go in and have it
going the rest of the day.”
Uihlein will next face his 2010 USA World
Amateur Team Championship teammate Scott
Langley, of St. Louis, Mo. Langley, the 2010
NCAA champion while at the University of
Illinois, eliminated Mitch Sutton, of Canada, 4
and 3.
In a meeting of 2011 USA Walker Cup
teammates, Patrick Cantlay, 19, of Los
Alamitos, Calif., defeated Russell Henley, 22, of
Macon, Ga., in a hard-fought, 21-hole battle.
Henley held the lead for the majority of the
match, which was dormie with two holes to
play. However, back-to-back birdies by
Cantlay at 17 and 18 sent the match into
extra holes.
The 19th hole provided perhaps the highlight
of the championship thus far, with both players
converting long eagle putts to extend the
match. It was a moment that elicited a
reaction from the normally stoic Cantlay.
“I let out a yell on one after I made my eagle
and that’s probably the most excited I’ve ever
been on the golf course in my life,” said
Cantlay, an incoming sophomore at UCLA who
received the 2011 Nicklaus Award as the NCAA
Division I Player of the Year.
Cantlay ultimately won the match when Henley
bogeyed the 21st hole. Henley, however, was
not disappointed with his championship run.“I
felt like I made a good run,” said Henley, a
University of Georgia graduate who won the
Nationwide Tour’s Stadion Classic at UGA in
May. “I didn’t hand anything to anybody, and
that’s what I’m proud of – never giving
up.”
Patrick Rodgers, 19, of Avon, Ind., another
member of the USA Walker Cup Team,
advanced with a 6-and-4 victory over
Jonathan Garrick, 17, of Atherton, Calif. The
sixth USA Walker Cup player to advance to
match play, 20-year-old Chris Williams from
Moscow, Idaho, was defeated by Max Buckley,
21, of Rye, N.Y., 1 up.
Tom Lewis, 20, who held the first-round lead
at the 2011 British Open Championship and
finished as low amateur, and Jack Senior, 23,
two Englishmen who will represent Great Britain
and Ireland at next month’s Walker Cup Match,
both advanced to the round of 16. Lewis
defeated 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur champion
Cory Whitsett, while Senior dispatched 2010
Junior Amateur runner-up Justin Thomas.
The first round of match play, which was
delayed due to weather on Tuesday, was
completed Thursday morning. The third and
fourth rounds will be conducted Friday.
The 2011 U.S. Amateur Championship consists
of 36 holes of stroke play followed by six
rounds of match play, with the championship
scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole final on
Sunday.
The U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national
championships conducted annually by the
United States Golf Association, 10 of which are
strictly for amateurs.
Erin, Wis. -- Results of the second round of
match play at the 2011 U.S. Amateur
Championship, played at 7,760-yard, par-72
Erin Hills.
Upper Bracket:
Bobby Leopold, Cranston, R.I. (142) d. Harris
English, Thomasville, Ga. (142), 4 and 3Jordan
Russell, College Station, Texas (140) d. Bryson
Dechambeau, Clovis, Calif. (141), 5 and 3Peter
Uihlein, Orlando, Fla. (137) d. Dylan Frittelli,
South Africa (140), 5 and 4Scott Langley, St.
Louis, Mo. (137) d. Mitch Sutton, Canada
(140), 4 and 3John Peterson, Fort Worth,
Texas (139) d. Stephan Jaeger, Germany
(142), 1 upMax Buckley, Rye, N.Y. (141) d.
Chris Williams, Moscow, Idaho (139), 1
upPatrick Cantlay, Los Alamitos, Calif. (140) d.
Russell Henley, Macon, Ga. (135), 21 holesTom
Lewis, England (139) d. Cory Whitsett,
Houston, Texas (137), 19 holes
Lower Bracket:
Blake Biddle, St. Charles, Ill. (134) d. Peter
Williamson, Hanover, N.H. (140), 2 upKelly
Kraft, Denton, Texas (141) d. Andrew Putnam,
University Place, Wash. (138), 3 and 2Patrick
Rodgers, Avon, Ind. (136) d. Jonathan Garrick,
Atherton, Calif. (139), 6 and 4Sunil Jung, Korea
(137) d. Tim Madigan, Rio Rancho, N.M. (140),
5 and 4John Hahn, Las Vegas, Nev. (139) d.
Beau Hossler, Mission Viejo, Calif. (135), 2
upJack Senior, England (140) d. Justin Thomas,
Goshen, Ky. (138), 4 and 3Ben Geyer,
Arbuckle, Calif. (135) d. Chase Wright, Muncie,
Ind. (139), 4 and 3Jordan Spieth, Dallas, Texas
(137) d. Lee Bedford, Cary, N.C. (140), 2 and
1
Pairings for Friday’s third round:
Upper Bracket7:30 a.m.: Bobby Leopold,
Cranston, R.I. (142) v. Jordan Russell, College
Station, Texas (140)7:40 a.m.: Peter Uihlein,
Orlando, Fla. (137) v. Scott Langley, St. Louis,
Mo. (137)7:50 a.m.: John Peterson, Fort
Worth, Texas (139) d. Max Buckley, Rye, N.Y.
(141)8 a.m.: Patrick Cantlay, Los Alamitos,
Calif. (140) d. Tom Lewis, England (139)
Lower Bracket:
8:10 a.m.: Blake Biddle, St. Charles, Ill. (134)
v. Kelly Kraft, Denton, Texas (141)8:20 a.m.:
Patrick Rodgers, Avon, Ind. (136) v. Sunil
Jung, Korea (137)8:30 a.m.: John Hahn, Las
Vegas, Nev. (139) v. Jack Senior, England
(140)8:40 a.m.: Ben Geyer, Arbuckle, Calif.
(135) v. Jordan Spieth, Dallas, Texas (137)