USGA Championship • Round of 32 Wrap

Live · Round of 16 Tuesday

Medalists Eyer, Stone Upset at U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Round of 32

Desert Mountain Club • Scottsdale, Arizona • May 16-20

Biggest Upset

Beckman/Erlandson (32) over Eyer/Stone (1)

1 up

Defender

Mawhinney/Colton roll 4&3

Alive for back-to-back

Round of 16

Tuesday 7 a.m. MST

Cochise · QFs at 1 p.m.

Live Scoring

USGA.org →

Full bracket

AmateurGolf.com Staff

May 18, 2026 · Round of 32 Recap

Tournament hub: 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Coverage · see also: U.S. Mid-Amateur · U.S. Amateur · Desert Mountain Club

The No. 32 seed beat the No. 1 seed. Twelve hours after they chipped in to force a playoff, Wisconsin teammates Jacob Beckman and Charlie Erlandson knocked out medalists Liam Eyer and Kailer Stone in the Round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball — becoming the fourth No. 32 seed in championship history to topple a top seed.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jacob Beckman and Charlie Erlandson, University of Wisconsin teammates and the last sides into the Round of 32 via Monday morning’s 8-for-3 playoff, eliminated medalists Liam Eyer and Kailer Stone 1-up in the marquee match of the opening round of bracket play Monday at Desert Mountain Club. Beckman chipped in for birdie on the 18th hole at Cochise late Sunday afternoon to force the playoff; Erlandson snapped his driver on the par-5 15th during the R32 match and finished the round without it. Eight birdies and a clutch finish later, they’re in the final 16.

The medalist upset was the headline, but it wasn’t the only Monday shock. Welsh duo Jonathan Bale and Tomi Bowen (No. 29 seed) eliminated 2024 semifinalists Will Davenport and Mike Smith (No. 4) 1-up despite a five-birdie best-ball 65 from the Floridians. Hong Kong 16-year-olds William Lisle and Darren Zhou (No. 28) took out No. 5 seed Jared Abercrombie and Max Emberson 1-up in another bottom-seed upset. And in a battle of past champions, 2024 winners Brian Blanchard and Sam Engel ousted 2022 champs Chad Wilfong and Davis Womble 2-and-1.

The Round of 16 begins Tuesday at 7 a.m. MST at Cochise, with quarterfinal matches scheduled for 1 p.m. The semifinals and 18-hole championship match are Wednesday. Sixteen sides remain.

“It doesn’t matter if you beat them by 15 in stroke play. It’s a match. It’s 18 holes of golf. Anything can happen.”

— Drew Stoltz, after surviving 1-up vs. No. 31 seed

2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship Round of 32 action at Desert Mountain Club

Round of 32 match play at Desert Mountain’s Cochise course, where the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball field was halved Monday afternoon. PHOTO · EAKIN HOWARD / USGA

Round of 32 Results: All 16 Matches

Winners in bold · Four matches went extra holes (longest: 20)

Winner	Result	Defeated
(32) Beckman / Erlandson MEDALIST UPSET	1 up	(1) Eyer / Stone
(17) Miller / Pinili	4&3	(16) Armstrong / Millard
(8) Long / Long alternates, brothers	2 up	(25) Allen / Russello
(9) Beck / Walters match-play record now 10-4	3&2	(24) Ferrari / Leibold
(29) Bale / Bowen Welsh duo · UPSET No. 4	1 up	(4) Davenport / Smith
(20) Colton / Mawhinney DEFENDING CHAMP	4&3	(13) Diehl / Scott
(28) Lisle / Zhou both 16 · UPSET No. 5	1 up	(5) Abercrombie / Emberson
(12) Edwards / Parker	20 holes	(21) Minnehan / Spampinato
(2) Kittleson / Stoltz Scottsdale · 2x runners-up	1 up	(31) Beeson / Canitano
(15) Fitzgerald / Hamel	19 holes	(18) Allan / Brame
(7) Defalco / Hoops oldest side in field	5&3	(26) Schommer / Tylke
(10) Denery / Esterline	19 holes	(23) McGuire / Watson
(3) Healy / Larkin Jr. Larkin Sr. on the bag	19 holes	(30) Benevento / Nicholas
(14) Blanchard / Engel 2024 champions	2&1	(19) Wilfong / Womble 2022 champions
(6) Dougherty / Gill	3&2	(27) Bowers / Miles
(11) B. Massa / C. Massa Dallas / Cave Creek, Ariz.	2 up	(22) Fickes / Grzywacz

Highlighted rows = upsets · Full bracket at USGA.org →

Five Stories from the Round of 32

1 · The Karma Side

Beckman and Erlandson’s impossible weekend keeps going.

Sunday afternoon, Jacob Beckman chipped in for birdie on Cochise’s 18th to get the side into Monday’s 8-for-3 playoff. Monday at 5:30 a.m., he and Wisconsin teammate Charlie Erlandson arrived at Desert Mountain, ate breakfast, warmed up, and birdied the par-3 11th in the second extra hole to claim a spot in the draw. Monday afternoon, they took out the medalists. Erlandson snapped his driver hitting his tee shot on the par-5 15th and played the final three holes without it. Eight birdies on the card. The fourth No. 32 seed in championship history to topple a top seed — and the second in a row.

2 · Past Champs Collide

2024 winners Blanchard and Engel beat 2022 winners Wilfong and Womble.

Of the eight holes played on the inward nine of the Scottsdale duo’s R32 match, seven were birdied by at least one player. Neither side held more than a 1-up lead until Brian Blanchard ended things on the 210-yard 17th with a 6-iron off a backboard to ten feet for the clinching birdie. Engel had birdied 15 and 16 to give the side a 1-up edge into the closing stretch. As Engel put it: “You’ve got to go play great golf to win. I think they pushed us to be as great as we could be.”

3 · Defender Rolls

Mawhinney and Colton stay on track for the first back-to-back.

Tyler Mawhinney — defending the title he won with Will Hartman last May — and Vanderbilt-bound partner Luke Colton birdied three of their last five holes in a 4-and-3 win over 2024 semifinalists Mac Scott and Trey Diehl. Both players know Desert Mountain better than they let on: the U.S. National Junior Team held its spring camp at Outlaw two months ago, where they played four-ball practice rounds against 2025 U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell and 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Hamilton Coleman. Mawhinney is alive for what would be the first back-to-back win in championship history — and the first to do it with two different partners.

4 · The Welsh Hot Streak

Bale and Bowen beat the No. 4 seed despite a 6-under best-ball.

Wales’ Jonathan Bale (38) and Tomi Bowen (23) produced seven birdies in a 1-up upset of Will Davenport and Mike Smith, the 2024 semifinalists who had been the only side to share the first-round lead with Kittleson/Stoltz on Saturday. Davenport and Smith posted a best-ball 65 — 6-under — and lost. Five times the sides matched birdies. Bale and Bowen birdied the par-3 17th for the decider. Bale, a 2012 Louisiana Tech grad and managing director at Goodwill Capital Management, advanced one of just two international sides still in the bracket.

5 · The Senior Run Continues

Defalco and Hoops keep the historic run alive.

Tucson’s Jeremy Defalco and Scottsdale’s Bryan Hoops — the oldest side in the championship at a combined 110 years — rolled to a 5-and-3 win over Corey Schommer and Max Tylke. No senior side has ever won the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, or even reached a final, in 10 prior editions. Defalco, a former New Mexico tennis player turned medical-sales rep, framed the strategy plainly: “I’m going first, so my thought is always to put something up there. Then put it in the 20-, 30-, 40-foot range so he can take a shot at it.” The strategy is working.

Round of 16: Tuesday’s Bracket

First match 7 a.m. MST · First quarterfinal 1 p.m. · All at Cochise

Side A	vs	Side B
(32) Beckman / Erlandson	vs	(17) Miller / Pinili
(8) Long / Long alternates, brothers	vs	(9) Beck / Walters 2025 runners-up
(28) Lisle / Zhou both 16 · Hong Kong	vs	(12) Edwards / Parker
(29) Bale / Bowen Wales	vs	(20) Colton / Mawhinney defending champ
(2) Kittleson / Stoltz Scottsdale · 2x runners-up	vs	(15) Fitzgerald / Hamel
(7) Defalco / Hoops senior side	vs	(10) Denery / Esterline
(3) Healy / Larkin Jr. Larkin Sr. on the bag	vs	(14) Blanchard / Engel 2024 champions
(6) Dougherty / Gill	vs	(11) B. Massa / C. Massa

Tuesday’s storyline matchups

Bale/Bowen vs Colton/Mawhinney. The Welsh duo just took out the No. 4 seed. The defending champion is on the other side of the match. If Mawhinney is going to make history, he has to get past the hottest international side in the bracket first.
Long brothers vs Beck/Walters. Last-minute alternates against the 2025 runners-up. The Longs got the call on May 7. Beck has a 2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur title and a 10-4 career match-play record at this championship. Strongest mismatch on the bracket on paper; most dangerous lower-seed storyline in practice.
Healy/Larkin vs Blanchard/Engel. A USGA champion is caddying for his son against the most recent U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champions. Larkin Sr. won the 1979 U.S. Junior Amateur. His son and Zach Healy ham-and-egged their way to a 19-hole win Monday. Blanchard and Engel just took out the 2022 champions in a clinic.
Hong Kong vs Edwards/Parker. Sixteen-year-olds William Lisle and Darren Zhou are the story of the bracket, eliminating two top-half seeds on their way to a R16 date with the duo that survived Monday’s 20-hole marathon.
Kittleson/Stoltz vs Fitzgerald/Hamel. The hometown twice-runners-up against the Charlotte duo that beat Lawrence Allan and Grady Brame in 19 holes Monday afternoon. Kittleson and Stoltz survived a fright Monday morning against the No. 31 seed; they don’t get to coast Tuesday either.

Sides Eliminated Monday of Note

(1) Liam Eyer / Kailer Stone — medalists at 16-under after stroke play
(4) Will Davenport / Mike Smith — 2024 semifinalists; shot 6-under best-ball Monday and still lost
(5) Jared Abercrombie / Max Emberson — ran nine birdies + eagle in Saturday's 63
(13) Trey Diehl / Mac Scott — 2024 semifinalists
(19) Chad Wilfong / Davis Womble — 2022 champions; lost to fellow past champs Blanchard/Engel
(25) Charlie Allen / Mikey Russello — Desert Mountain’s own; led 3-up through 12, lost 2-down to the Long brothers

Course Note

The USGA opted to use the lower green on Cochise’s par-4 sixth for the Round of 32, after playing the upper green during the stroke-play rounds. With the lower green in play, the hole measured 304 yards — a clear short-par-4 risk-reward decision that produced multiple winning birdies in tight matches Monday afternoon.

About the 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball

The 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Desert Mountain Club is the 11th edition of the championship and the first USGA championship held at Desert Mountain since the 1999 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The field of 128 sides was cut to 32 after two rounds of stroke play across Cochise (Par 71, 7,042 yards) and Outlaw (Par 72, 7,090 yards). All match play this week is contested at Cochise.

The winning side this week earns a 10-year exemption back into the championship, gold medals, and exemptions for each member into the 2026 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club, plus the U.S. Mid-Amateur, U.S. Junior Amateur, and U.S. Senior Amateur if age-eligible.

For tournament background, full bracket, field information, and complete daily coverage, see our 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Coverage Hub →

What’s Next

Tuesday, May 19 — Round of 16 and Quarterfinals

7:00 a.m. MST — Round of 16 begins (eight matches)
1:00 p.m. MST — First quarterfinal match
Free admission · all match play at Cochise Course

Round of 32 reporting by AmateurGolf.com Staff with reporting from USGA Communications. Coverage of the 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship continues Tuesday with Round of 16 and quarterfinal recap. Photography by Eakin Howard / USGA.