Maridoe Amateur: Field cut in half ahead of Friday's marathon

December 3, 2020 | by Brayden Conover of AmateurGolf.com

Logan McAllister (Photo via Oklahoma athletics)

32 players remain after another chilly day at Maridoe Golf Club, as players vie for Walker Cup consideration

32 players remain at the Maridoe Amateur, after day one of match play at Maridoe Golf Club. The Round of 64 got underway at 8:00 a.m. central time on Thursday as chilly temperatures lingered in the Dallas metroplex. Following a six-man playoff, Noah Woolsey (Washington) and Devon Bling (UCLA) nabbed the final two match play spots to face the top two seeds, William Holcomb (Sam Houston State) and Leo Oyo (Oklahoma State). Woolsey, after waking up well before the rooster crowed, took the stroke play medalist Holcomb all the way to closing 18th. Finding himself two up through No. 7, Woolsey gave way to Holcomb as the Bearkat closed out the match with four wins on the final 11 holes to take the match 1 up. Holcomb next faces off against Coastal Carolina’s Zach Taylor. Related: Maridoe Amateur: Will Holcomb claims medalist honors Bling drew the two-seed Oyo, but unlike Woolsey, Bling managed to win just a single hole, the 15th (No. 7). Oyo took care of business, winning 4&2 to move on to Friday’s Round of 32. He will face Ole Miss’ Jackson Suber. There were multiple schools with a nearly full lineup invited to play at Maridoe this week. The Oklahoma Sooners were just one shy of fielding a full five-man squad had Quade Cummins not opted to make his first PGA Tour start at the Mayakoba Classic. As for the four that are on property at Maridoe, the Sooners may be a force come the spring season. Logan McAllister picked up the most lopsided win on the day with a 7&6 win over Maxwell Ford. McAllister picked apart the Georgia signee, not allowing Ford to win a single hole on the day. The Sooner junior will face Iowa’s Alex Schaake in the Round of 32. As their teammate cruised, Patrick Welch and Jonathan Brightwell also won their matches. Welch, who won the individual championship at the East Lake Cup earlier this fall, won his Bedlam match over Oklahoma State sophomore Brian Stark 4&3. Brightwell, the Sooner graduate transfer, also nabbed a 4&3 victory, over Stanford freshman Karl Vilips. Oklahoma’s lone loss of the day came from Garett Reband by way of NC State’s Benjamin Shipp who took a 1up win after 19 holes. The other half of the Red River Rivalry also had their fair share of players in the field this week. The Texas Longhorns had two wins over Pepperdine as Parker Coody won 4&2 over Joe Highsmith and Travis Vick got the best of Joey Vrzich, 3&2. The Longhorn teammates will put their camaraderie aside as they will face off against each other Friday morning. Texas point man Cole Hammer had a date with Arizona State’s Cameron Sisk but had to exercise the ‘student’ part of being a student-athlete before his round of 64 matchup. Hammer had to knock out a final before teeing it up against Sisk. The back and forth match lived up to the hype, but unfortunately for Hammer, it was Sisk who got the 1up win. No word as to how the Longhorn managed to score on his final exam. A pair of U.S. Junior champions won their opening-round matches. Arizona State commit Preston Summerhays took out Shane Ffrench 4&3 while Stanford's Michael Thorbjornsen beat George Duangmanee 2 up. Thorbjornsen will next face McClure Meissner (SMU), who had the longest match of the day, a 23-hole win over Alex Goff (Kentucky). One of the best matches set up for the Round of 32 is between Sisk’s Sun Devil teammate Chun An Yu and Baylor’s Ryan Grider. Both players have had recent success at Maridoe as Yu took a runner-up finish at the Maridoe Invitational in October while Grider held the lead following the second day of the Maridoe Collegiate. If Vegas had odds on the match, Yu would be the favorite as he is WAGR’s No. 1 player and the 2019 AmateurGolf.com Player-of-the-Year. But, if you like upsets, keep an eye on Grider Friday morning. The Round of 32 will begin at 8:00 a.m. central time on Friday with the Round of 16 played in the afternoon.

Results: Maridoe Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts
Win	Luke Potter	Encinitas, CA	1000
Runner-up	Preston Summerhays	Scottsdale, AZ	700
Semifinals	Chris Gotterup	Little Silver, NJ	500
Semifinals	Ryan Grider	Lewisville, TX	500
Quarterfinals	Jonathan Brightwell	Charlotte, NC	400

View full results for Maridoe Amateur

About the Maridoe Amateur

Maridoe Amateur: Field cut in half ahead of Friday's marathon

This tournament was introduced in 2020 to provide top-ranked players a chance to contend for a Walker Cup berth. The original format was grueling, a U.S. Amateur-style competition with 54 holes of stroke play followed by a 64-player match- play brack...