Golf News for Golf Lovers

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Medalists advance to round of 16 at US Amateur

August 15, 2013AP - Sports

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) -- Qualifying medalists Neil Raymond and Brady Watt advanced to the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur Championship at The Country Club.

The pair tied for the lead in stroke play and moved on to play the next round Thursday afternoon. The semifinals are Saturday and 36-hole championship Sunday.

Raymond is bidding to become the first Englishman to win the Amateur since 1911. He defeated Zachary Olsen of Cordova, Tenn., 2 and 1.

Watt, trying to become the second Australian winner, beat Seth Reeves of Duluth, Ga., 3 and 2.

Raymond moves on to face Australian Nathan Holman. Watt faces Canadian Charlie Hughes.

Also advancing was Stanford's Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind. He recently was selected to the U.S. Walker Cup team.

Stroud, Fisher share Wyndham lead at 64

JOEDY McCREARY (AP Sports Writer) August 15, 2013AP - Sports

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- Chris Stroud doesn't want any rust in his game for the PGA Tour's playoffs. Ross Fisher just wants to make it that far.

Stroud and Fisher each shot 6-under 64 on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Wyndham Championship.

Eight players - defending champion Sergio Garcia, Matt Jones, Robert Garrigus, Jordan Spieth, Trevor Immelman, Morgan Hoffman, Patrick Reed and Andrew Svoboda - shot 65.

John Senden and Stuart Appleby were among the five players at 66 at the final tournament before golf's postseason begins next week.

It was the highest score for an opening-round leader since the tournament returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008.

Stroud had eight birdies during his best round of the year, which came at the Donald Ross-designed course that had vexed him through the previous five years.

''I've even told people I love this golf course,'' Stroud said. ''I have no idea why I don't play well here.''

Stroud could've easily skipped this week and rested up for the playoffs. He arrived at No. 48 on the points list and - unlike so many other players here this week - is assured of a spot in the playoff field.

He has played this tournament every year since the crosstown move but made it to the weekend only once - tying for 73rd last year.

After missing the cut at PGA Championship by a stroke, he said he ''told my caddie, 'I got to play next week.'

''I'm playing too well to go home and just sit and get rusty,'' Stroud said. ''I said I want to get sharp for The Barclays. Let's go to Greensboro, low expectations since I haven't played that great here.''

Those expectations might have been raised after a strong first round in which he made a quick charge up the leaderboard with three straight birdies.

The 31-year-old Texan, who started on the back nine, stuck his tee shot roughly 2 feet from the flagstick on the par-3 seventh and sank that putt to briefly move to 7 under.

He bogeyed the next hole after sending his tee shot into a water hazard, then pushed a 5-foot birdie putt wide on the par-4 ninth and settled for a par. That capped a round that was two strokes better than his six 66s this year, most recently last month at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Fisher, a four-time winner on the European Tour who's a rookie on the PGA Tour and at No. 162 on the points list, was in the day's final threesome to start on the back nine, and he made his climb late.

''My manager said, 'You've got nothing to lose. Just go out there all guns blazing and see what happens,''' Fisher said. ''I know what I've got to do, and I've just got to go enjoy it, and if it's meant to be, it'll happen. ... I don't want it to end here.''

He eagled the par-5 fifth when he landed his approach shot about 7 feet from the flagstick and sank the ensuing putt, then joined Stroud at 6 under two holes later with a 30-foot birdie putt. He could have overtaken him, but missed a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 8 before pushing a 40-foot birdie putt a few inches wide on No. 9.

Garcia, who claimed a two-stroke victory here last year, hit 17 greens during his bogey-free round. He is trying to become the first player since Sam Snead in the 1950s to win this tournament in consecutive years.

''It was a great round today, but it's only Thursday,'' Garcia said.

The greens were a hot topic of conversation among the players. The putting surfaces are a year more mature after a 2012 conversion from bent grass to Bermuda grass in an attempt to keep them firm and true to Ross' intent.

Stroud said the greens ''roll like pool tables,'' Garrigus compared their speed to those found in major tournaments and Svoboda called them the fastest Bermuda greens he's ever played.

''It's unbelievable, the difference from where they used to be,'' Garrigus said. ''It's very refreshing.''

Some bubble players are trying to play their way into the top 125 on the points list, which would earn them spots at The Barclays next week in New Jersey.

Peter Hanson, who at No. 126 was the consummate player on the bubble, gave himself a good push with a 68. Appleby, at No. 123, is in good shape with his strong round.

But No. 129 Padraig Harrington shot a 73 to put his playoff fate in jeopardy. Immelman, at No. 148, needs a win to make it.

Jones, who is safe this year at No. 51 on the points list, can relate. He finished 126th in 2009 and 127th two years ago after rough weeks at this tournament.

''I've definitely been there before,'' Jones said. ''I know what they're going through. It's not a comfortable feeling.''

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Follow Joedy McCreary on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/joedyap

Medalists advance to US Amateur quarterfinals

August 15, 2013AP - Sports

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) -- Qualifying medalists Neil Raymond and Brady Watt each won two matches Thursday to advance to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals at The Country Club.

Raymond, trying to become the first English winner since 1911, beat Zachary Olsen of Cordova, Tenn., 2 and 1 in the morning and edged Australia's Nathan Holman 1 up in the afternoon. Watt, from Australia, topped Seth Reeves of Duluth, Ga., 3 and 2 in the morning and beat Canada's Charlie Hughes 2 and 1 in the afternoon.

On Friday, Raymond will face Canada's Corey Conners, a 5-and-3 winner over Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind.

''I don't feel like I'm a medalist. I just feel like I'm another competitor in the guys that are left,'' Raymond said. ''We've all got as much of a chance as anyone else. On the flip side, I feel really good about my game.''

He said feeling welcome has had a lot to do with his success in the tournament.

''I feel happy. I feel comfortable,'' he said. ''And to be honest, the way we've been welcomed as foreign golfers is fantastic. The crowd, the spectators, the volunteers, the staff, they've all been really good so far. I can't believe how big a crowd you've got for amateur golf, but it's all been really great to see.''

In the other upper-bracket quarterfinal, Adam Ball of Richmond, Va., will meet England's Matt Fitzpatrick. Ball routed Chelso Barrett of Surry, N.H., 6 and 5, and Fitzpatrick beat Gavin Hall, Pittsford, N.Y., 4 and 3.

Fitzpatrick, from Northwestern, is well aware he Raymond give England 25 percent of the quarterfinals as they bid for the country's first win in this tournament in over a century - and to further England's name in the international community.

''It's definitely a positive for England golf,'' he said. ''Neil has had a very good season already and as you can see it's carried on.''

In the lower-bracket quarterfinals, Watt will face 17-year-old Scottie Scheffler of Dallas, the youngest player in the quarterfinals; and Australia's Oliver Goss will meet Brandon Matthews of Dupont, Pa.

Scheffler, the U.S. Junior Amateur winner last month, made his third straight late comeback and beat Austria's Matthias Schwab 1 up, Goss topped Xander Schauffele of San Diego 3 and 1, and Matthews edged Charlie Danielson of Osceola, Wis., 3 and 2.

Watt said a strong morning round can be a key to completing the double session.

''If you play well in the morning it's a lot easier to carry it on,'' he said. ''If you sneak through in the morning and don't play well, you have to hang in there. I managed to play pretty good in the morning and felt pretty confident.''

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

England's Fitzpatrick wins US Amateur 4 and 3

JIMMY GOLEN (AP Sports Writer) August 18, 2013AP - Sports

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) -- One hundred years after British superstars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray stopped at The Country Club on their unsuccessful victory tour, Matt Fitzpatrick finished the job.

Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Amateur on Sunday, beating Australian Oliver Goss 4 and 3 in the 36-hole final Sunday to become the event's first English champion since 1911. The 18-year-old soon-to-be Northwestern freshman is the first foreigner to win any major USGA event at The Country Club, a streak that grew into a legend when Francis Ouimet beat Vardon and Ray here in the 1913 U.S. Open.

''It's fantastic and it's nice to be the first (in) a while,'' Fitzpatrick said. ''I guess it's great to go down in history. That's sort of what everyone wants in golf, wants to achieve. ... It's just fantastic, and I feel great.''

Fitzpatrick never trailed in the final match, taking the lead for good on the second hole of the afternoon round - the 20th of the day - and going 2 up one hole later. Goss cut it to one on No. 9, but fell behind two again on the 10th hole when he lipped out on a 4-foot putt.

Fitzpatrick went 3 up on the 14th hole and then on No. 15, where he had won four of his previous five matches, he was short of the green and Goss was off the back.

Goss' chip missed the hole by about 6 inches and rolled 3 feet past, while. Fitzpatrick two-putted from the closely mown area leading up to the green, hitting his second from less than 6 feet. When Goss missed his par putt, the two shook hands and Fitzpatrick hugged his brother, Alex, who was caddying for him.

''It was nice to win 4 and 3 again today,'' Fitzpatrick said. ''It's kind of a strange thing. I did have a feeling that I could close it out.''

Fitzpatrick, who was the low amateur last month in the British Open, got a gold medal for his victory along with exemptions into the 2014 U.S. and British Opens - where he will be paired with defending champions Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose - and a likely invitation to the Masters. His name will be inscribed on the Havemeyer Trophy alongside five-time winner Bobby Jones, three-time winner Tiger Woods and two-time winners Jack Nicklaus and Ouimet.

It's the first time Englishmen have won the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in the same calendar year.

And it was a victory 100 years in the making.

Vardon was already a five-time British Open champion - and Ray had won in 1912 - when the 1913 U.S. Open was delayed several months so they could play in it. Ouimet, who lived across the street and caddied at the club, was an unheralded amateur whose playoff victory over the British pros became the foundational event in American golf and turned The Country Club into the Plymouth Rock of putting.

With his 10-year-old caddie - turned lifelong friend - Eddie Lowery, Ouimet's victory helped spread the sport beyond the realm of gentlemen and foreigners and turned the historic course into a veritable Plymouth Rock of putting.

A century later, Fitzpatrick came to The Country Club and became the first English champion of the U.S. Amateur since Harold Hilton in 1911. And he did it with his 14-year-old caddie - an irony that wasn't lost on the Fitzpatrick brothers or the 5,200 in the gallery that followed them along the 7,188-yard, par-70 course.

''I also think it's quite strange that I had my little brother on the bag, and most people have been saying we're a bit like Ouimet and Lowery,'' said Matt Fitzpatrick, who came into the tournament as the No. 2 amateur in the world. ''We're both really small. I kind of see the resemblance.''

Goss beat stroke play co-medalist Brady Watt in the semifinal and then drafted his fellow Australian as a caddie for the final. The 19--year-old Goss, who plays college golf at Tennessee, also gets an exemption into the U.S. Open and a likely invitation to the Masters.

''I've definitely got a couple weeks that I'll keep open in my schedule,'' Goss said. ''If someone told me at the start of the week I was going to have the opportunity to play the Masters and the U.S. Open next year, I'd be speechless. I wouldn't be able to believe it.

''I was there this year after a college tournament - we got Monday tickets to the practice round - and it was golf heaven. It's the greatest thing I've ever seen,'' he said. ''I stood there, and I was like, how do they play under this kind of pressure and with the difficulty of the golf course. But I'm really excited to be able to play there next year.''

USGA adds 5 to complete Walker Cup team

August 18, 2013AP - Sports

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) -- The USGA has completed the Walker Cup team with the addition of five golfers.

Those making the team are:

-U.S. Amateur Public Links and Western Amateur champion Jordan Niebrugge,

-Four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Nathan Smith,

-2012 U.S. Amateur runner-up Michael Weaver,

-Bobby Wyatt, a member of Alabama's 2013 NCAA championship golf team, and

-Todd White, who has competed in 11 USGA championships, including four U.S. Amateurs and one U.S. Open.

The 10-player team will represent the United States in the 44th Walker Cup against Britain and Ireland on Sept. 7-8 at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y.

Previously named to the team were Max Homa, Michael Kim, Patrick Rodgers, Justin Thomas and Cory Whitsett.

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