Baltimore Country Club (East Course) · Lutherville, Md. · Aug. 29–Sept. 3, 2026. This story covers the Round of 64; follow our live scoring and coverage hub for match-play updates all week.
Match play at the 71st U.S. Senior Amateur wasted no time turning the bracket upside down. Stroke-play medalist and No. 1 seed Trae Cassell, who had run away with medalist honors by seven shots a day earlier, was eliminated in the Round of 64 by No. 64 seed Niketan Desai of Zambia. It made Cassell the first medalist to lose his opening match since Tim Hogarth in 2021 at the Country Club of Detroit. He had company at the top: 2024 champion and No. 3 seed Louis Brown was beaten by D Scott Mackesy, the No. 62 seed who had been the first man through Monday morning's 13-for-3 playoff. Both Desai and Mackesy carried their playoff momentum straight into first-round upsets.
An early USA–GB&I flavor
With the Walker Cup looming this weekend in the Republic of Ireland, Monday offered a fitting preview. In the marquee transatlantic pairing, 2019 champion Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Ga., rolled to a 5-and-4 win over Ireland's Jody Fanagan — the 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur runner-up and a member of the victorious 1995 GB&I Walker Cup team. Royak, 66 and making his 10th championship appearance, took the lead with a birdie at the second and never let go, stacking back-to-back birdies at the ninth and 10th before closing at the 14th. “Jody is a great player. He didn't give me a whole lot,” Royak said. “It was the best I've played since I got here.” It was the day's largest margin of victory.
David Vaclav, 59, of Flat Rock, Mich., handled another Irishman, Gerard Connolly, 4 and 3 in his championship debut. Vaclav won the first five holes before Connolly rallied with wins at the eighth and ninth; Vaclav steadied himself, taking the 10th and rolling in a 12-foot birdie at the par-3 13th to restore a 5-up cushion. “I kind of lost it there for a couple holes,” Vaclav admitted. “Golf is a hard game. I fought through the end.” He advances to face Tony Wise on Tuesday — and will go without a caddie the rest of the way after his son Tyler, on the bag for stroke play and Monday's match, returned home for work.
Segal survives, Fly rolls on
Longtime PGA Tour caddie Corby Segal, 55, provided the day's wildest finish. The Santa Clarita, Calif., resident, making his championship debut, built a 5-up lead over Greg Kennedy only to watch Kennedy win the 14th through 17th to trim it to 1 down. Segal steadied himself, striping an 8-iron into the last and making par to close it out. “I feel like I had him dormie with a lot of holes to play and I didn't close it out like I should have,” Segal said. “I had to clutch up... and I was able to get away with it.” Segal, who caddied for Charlie Wi at this summer's U.S. Senior Open and has looped for Briny Baird, Brandt Jobe and Tom Hoge, has his 17-year-old son Dallas on the bag this week — fittingly, his 17th USGA championship. He'll meet Steve Harwell in the Round of 32.
Also through: 71-year-old Buzz Fly of Memphis, the oldest man in the field, who ousted Joel B Johnson 1 up.
Notable
The 13-for-3 playoff took three holes. Mackesy advanced first as the No. 62 seed with the lone birdie at the first; Marc Ehudin of Maryland and Zambia's Niketan Desai claimed the 63 and 64 seeds. Defending champion Michael McCoy and 2025 runner-up Greg Sanders both failed to advance — and Mackesy and Desai then knocked off Brown and Cassell, respectively.
California led all states with nine match-play qualifiers, followed by Georgia (eight) and Florida (five). Five USGA champions reached the Round of 32: Tim Hogarth (1996 U.S. Amateur Public Links), Jack Larkin Sr. (1979 U.S. Junior Amateur), Bob Royak (2019 U.S. Senior Amateur), Jeff Wilson (2018 U.S. Senior Amateur) and Todd White (2023 U.S. Senior Amateur, plus the 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball alongside current USA Walker Cup captain Nathan Smith).
Two matches went beyond regulation. John D. Wright edged Randy Haag at the 19th, and in the last match on the course, Round 1 leader Andy Bernatovicz outlasted John Brellenthin, also at the 19th. Mark Small of Frankfort, Ill., played with heavy motivation, honoring his late brother Scott — a 25-year Lutherville resident nicknamed “The Music Man” — and beat Ray Morton 3 and 2. “There was a bag tag from this course on his golf bag,” Small said. “That was a sign that I need to be here.”
What's next
Match play continues Tuesday with the Rounds of 32 and 16. The first match is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. EDT, with the Round of 16 slated for 1 p.m. The quarterfinals and semifinals follow Wednesday, and the 18-hole championship match is Thursday. Admission is free and spectators are encouraged to attend.
