Blades Brown shot a course record 64 Tuesday at Colorado G.C. (USGA)
Blades Brown of Nashville, Tenn., has had a great summer, and he is bringing his game to the West Coast this week.
Brown won the AJGA Junior Invitational, the Huntsville.org Junior Invitational, the Wyndham Invitational, and the Tennessee Junior Amateur. He finished third at the North and South Junior Amateur and fifth at the Tennessee State Open as the low amateur.
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Brown had a roller coaster of a round to get to 7-under and tied at the top of the leaderboard. Brown bogeyed the par-5 first hole and then rattled off two birdies straight on holes No. 2 and 3. He then bogeyed holes No. 4 and 5 and birdied No. 6.
Brown then eagled the short par-4 No. 8 and birdied Nos. 10, 11, and 12. He added another bogey on No. 13 and then eagled No. 16 and birdied Nos. 17 and 18.
On the day, he had eight birdies, two eagles, four bogeys, and just four pars. This all added to an 8-under 64.
“I was told the U.S. Am is like one level down from the U.S. Open,” said Brown. “To be able to shoot 8 under here is awesome. It really gives me confidence in my game and my practice.”
Brown, who is playing in his first U.S. Amateur, is the son of Rhonda (Blades) Brown, who played basketball at Vanderbilt University and was the first pick in the 1998 WNBA expansion draft. She coaches the Brentwood Academy girls’ basketball team. Brown teamed with Jackson Herrington, of Dickson, Tenn., to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in May at Kiawah Island (S.C.) Club.
The 64 was a Colorado Golf Club course record. And he did it with four bogeys.
Jackson Buchanan also shot a round of 5-under 67 to rise to 7-under total and tied for first place. Buchanan finished with seven birdies, one eagle, and four bogeys in his round.
First-round leader Sampson Zheng had a quieter round at the more difficult Cherry Hills but did what he had to do to stay at the top and tied with Brown. He shot a round of 1-under 70 with three birdies and two bogeys. Zheng shot a 6-under 66 at Colorado Golf Club n round one to hold the solo first-round lead.
Andi Xu is tied for fourth place, shooting a 3-under 68. He finished with six birdies, one bogey and one double-bogey.
Maxwell Ford was perfect for the day, shooting a 6-under 66 and recording four birdies, an eagle, and no bogeys. He sits at T4 with Caleb Surratt of Indian Hills, N.C.
Surratt also had a solid round, but it could have been even better.
Surratt's round was perfect for 16 holes, but the first and last made the difference. After bogeying the first hole, Surratt played the next 16 holes bogey-free with seven birdies to get to 8-under total and 7-under for his round. However, he double-bogeyed the difficult par-4 18th hole to shoot a 4-under 67.
Piercen Hunt is also T4 at 6-under. Hunt shot a round of 5-under 66.
The 64-player match play cut moved to even late in the day, with some notable names just missing the cut. Accomplished Mid-Amateur Stewart Hagestad and Elite Amateur Series winner Kazuma Kobori finished at 1-over, missing match play by one shot.
The match-play cut at even par ties for the lowest ever, in 2011, when the cut was even-par 142 at Erin Hills and Blue Mound Golf & Country Club in Erin, Wis.
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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