Harrison Ott defeated 1-seed Wilson Furr in 19 holes (USGA)
The field of 32 that began the day will dwindle down to just eight by the time the sun moves past the horizon of the Pacific at Bandon Dunes.
Before the field is trimmed to eight, it must first be cut to 16. Here is how the morning session shook out as the Round of 32 comes to a close.
Stewart Hagestad
The 29-year-old Southern Cal grad continues to roll in his 10th U.S. Amateur. Hagestad, who has had an already illustrious career as an amateur, defeated
Spencer Tibbits (48) 3&1 to advance to the Sweet 16.
Tibbits, a senior at Oregon State, could not grab any momentum as Hagestad commanded a 4 up lead through the first 10 holes. Finally gaining ground with his first win of the day coming on No. 11, Tibbits trimmed Hagestad’s lead to just 1 up with wins on Nos. 13 and 14. Using his plentiful experience in match play to regain composure, Hagestad tallied wins on Nos. 16 and 17 to be the first player to punch his card into the Round of 16.
Getting (H)Ott
No. 1 overall seed and medalist
Wilson Furr survived the first round, unlike 14 other medalists have since 1992. Facing off against
Harrison Ott in the Round of 32, the Alabama senior could not continue his quest to become just the third medalist to win the match-play portion of the Amateur since 1992.
Back and forth all morning, Ott gained a 2 up advantage early with back-to-back birdies on holes Nos. 3 and 4. Turning the tide, Furr won three of four holes (10, 12, 13) to give him his first lead of the day. Furr carried the 1 up lead through the 17th. That was when Ott clutched up on the 18th, making birdie on the 560-yard par-5 to force extra holes.
Playing the 375-yard par-4 1st, Furr folded as he jotted a double-bogey six on his card to Ott’s par. The Vanderbilt product will face the hot-handed mid-am Stewart Hagestad in the afternoon session.
North & South & West
2020 North & South champion
Tyler Strafaci continued his remarkable summer Thursday morning at Bandon Dunes. Strafaci squared off against Arkansas’ Peruvian import
Julian Perico who has had one of the more consistent summers among the collegiate ranks.
Evenly matched on the front-nine, Perico took a 1 up lead on the 6th before winning the 10th to give himself a 2 up advantage. But then Strafaci found his game. Carding wins on five of the next seven holes and only losing the par-3 15th to the Razorback, Strafaci played the final eight holes at 4-under which included an eagle on the par-5 13th that gave him the lead.
Strafaci clinched a spot into the afternoon’s Sweet 16 on the 17th hole, winning the hole for a 2 up victory.
The Power of Thor
Michael Thorbjornsen must really like the West Coast. Heading to Stanford as an incoming freshman later this month, Thorbjornsen is making himself right at home just a few hundred miles to the north of Palo Alto. The future Cardinal took down Sweden’s
Hugo Townsend 4&2 after Townsend held a 2 up lead through No. 7.
Thorbjornsen simply dominated the final nine holes, winning seven of them including five of the last six, icing the match with a birdie on No. 16.
Four-Sport 4&3
Texas A&M’s
Sam Bennett continues his run at the U.S. Amateur. The former four-sport high school athlete admitted Wednesday that golf was his “least favorite” sport citing that it was the “least competitive” of the four he played growing up (basketball, baseball, tennis). The small-town Texan must have some competitive fire stirring within him this week as he took down
Clay Feagler in the same fashion that Feagler won his Round of 64 match; 4&3.
Lonely at the top
Aman Gupta, one of the last players to get into the field (he replaced Ricky Castillo who withdrew due to illness), is the only top-10 seed to advance to the third round. The No. 5 seed defeated
Jonathan Yaun and will next face Bennett this afternoon.
Related: August Madness? A statistical look at the U.S. Amateur bracket
The Round of 16 will be broadcast beginning at 6:00 pm EST on NBC’s free streaming service Peacock before switching over to Golf Channel at 7:00 pm EST
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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