North and South: top seeds dominate round of 32 at Pinehurst

June 30, 2022 | by Sean Melia of AmateurGolf.com

David Ford (Credit: Lewis Simpson)

Medalist Karl Vilips moves on and local hopeful is knocked off; Ford twins on semi-final collision course

Match play can typically be a dangerous place for top seeds, but in the 16 matches on Thursday morning at Pinehurst No. 2, 14 of the top seeds moved on to the round of 16.

Medalist Karl Vilips continued his impressive run, grabbing the lead early against Leo Oyo on the second hole and never relinquishing it.

Related: Vilips is medalist as North & South Amateur heads to match play

Round two record-breaker, Jackson Koivun, backed up his 63 on course No. 2 with a 2 and 1 victory over Nick Robillard. Koivun played the first four holes in two under par and grabbed an insurmountable 3 up advantage.

One of the more interesting storylines involves a pair of twins. Maxwell Ford and David Ford are two wins away from a match-up in the semi-finals. David Ford, who was medalist in the US Four-Ball this year beat 2022 US Four-Ball champion and 2021 North and South semi-finalist Chad Wilfong 2 and 1.

Maxwell took down Owen Avrit 2 and 1 also.

“It’s totally different in match play, but as long as it doesn’t use any energy for me to think about him, it’s fine to let my mind wander to where his match is at or check the leaderboard,” David Ford said. “I definitely want him to win and I want to see him in the semifinals. I want him to go as far as he can, and I’ll be watching him. I’m sure he’ll be doing the same.”

The 21 seed, Nick Lyerly, blitzed Xavier Marcoux with three straight birdies on hole Nos. 5-7. Marcoux found himself five down after 11 and began chipping away, but ran out of holes and fell 2 and 1.

It's been a busy month for Maxwell Moldovan. After a U.S. Open appearance and the Northeast Amateur last week, it doesn't appear he's losing steam. He battled to make the top 32 with a stellar closing score of 32 in the second round on Wednesday.

He toppled the 3 seed from North Oaks, Minn., 3 and 2 and never trailed in the match after winning the third and sixth holes with birdies.

For a lot of the morning, Caleb Surratt was on the ropes. He shot a 37 on the front nine and was 3 down at the turn. Surratt won five of the eight holes they played on the back nine and won 2 and 1.

Sadly, the hopes for a local champion were squelched when Evans Lewis knocked of last year's runner-up Jackson Van Paris.

The final match on the course was between Ian Siebers and Johnathan Griz. It was quite the duel, as they needed 21 holes to decide a winner. Both players could only muster up a 1-up lead throughout the match. Siebers held the lead standing on the 16th tee, but Griz won the 16th. A par on 17 gave Siebers the lead again, but a bogey on the 18th gave Griz the hole and a second life.

In the end, Siebers held off Griz to move onto the round of 16. Those matches will begin on Friday morning and the round of 8 will take place on Friday afternoon.

Karl Vilips (Credit: John Patota)

Round 16 Results

No. 1 Karl Vilips d. No. 32 Leo Oyo, 3&2

No. 16 Luke Clanton d. No. 17 Sam Jean, 4&3

No. 8 David Ford d. No. 25 Chad Wilfong, 2&1

No. 9 Evan Vo d. No. 24 Luke Dossey, 6&4

No. 4 Maxwell Ford d. No. 29 Owen Avrit, 2&1

No. 13 Ben Woodruff d. No. 20 Boyd Owens, 4&2

No. 5 Jackson Koivun d. No. 28 Nick Robillard, 2&1

No. 21 Nick Lyerly d. No. 12 Xavier Marcoux, 2&1

No. 2 Ross Steelman d. No. 31 Joshua Bai, 2&1

No. 15 Ben James d. No. 18 Caleb Von Arragon, 1up

No. 7 Caleb Surratt d. No. 26 Peter Fountain, 2&1

No. 10 Thomas Morrison d. No. 23 Jayden Ford, 4&3

No. 30 Maxwell Moldovan d. No. 3 Frankie Capan, 3&2

No. 14 Ian Siebers d. No. 10 Jonathan Griz, 21 holes

No. 6 Davis Bryant d. No. 27 Dongjin Park, 3&1

No. 11 Evans Lewis d. No. 22 Jackson Van Paris, 4&3

Results: North & South Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts
Win	Luke Clanton	Miami Lakes, FL	1000
Runner-up	Tommy Morrison	Dallas, TX	700
Semifinals	Nick Lyerly	Salisbury, NC	500
Semifinals	Maxwell Moldovan	Uniontown, OH	500
Quarterfinals	David Ford	Peachtree Corners, GA	400

View full results for North & South Amateur

About the North & South Amateur

North and South: top seeds dominate round of 32 at Pinehurst

The North & South Amateur Championship is the longest consecutively run amateur tournament in the United States. Its past winners list includes names like Walter Travis, Francis Ouimet, Billy Joe Patton, Jack Nicklaus and Curtis Strange. The field is...