University Place, Wash. – Defending champion Beyong-Hun ‘Ben’ An, 2010 NCAA Mens’ Division I champion Scott Langley and 2009 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Brad Benjamin were among the 16 players who advanced to the third round of match play with victories Thursday morning at the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship at 7,742-yard, par-71 Chambers Bay.
Langley, 21, of St. Louis, Mo., played his second consecutive 19-hole match. After dispatching two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Tim Jackson in the first round, he needed extra holes to beat Patrick Reed, a senior at Augusta State University who led the Jaguars to the 2010 NCAA Division I team title. From the 11th hole on, every hole was won outright, with Reed making par on the 18th hole to square the match.
On the first extra hole, the par-4 first, Reed’s drive sprayed high into the dunes on the right, while Langley striped his drive down the fairway. Reed, 20, of Augusta, Ga., needed two shots to get out of the high fescue and another two shots to get on the green. Langley 5-iron approach found a bunker, but he played his third safely into the green and Reed conceded.
There’s a very fine line between me winning and him winning, said Langley, a left-handed senior from the University of Illinois who was the low amateur in the 2010 U.S. Open. I just tried to keep plugging away and put pressure on him. My putting was pretty miserable this morning, but I think my ball-striking held me up and gave me some easy pars. So if you do that enough, it puts a lot of pressure on the other guy to keep up and on the course like this it’s tough.
An, an 18-year-old Korean native living in Bradenton, Fla., advanced with a 4-and-3 win over Alex Shi Yup Kim, 20, of Fullerton, Calif. An, who became the youngest champion in U.S. Amateur history at age 17 last year, never trailed in the match. After a birdie at the par-4 11th, An tied Kim each of the next four holes for the win.
I’m hitting it well this week and I am trying to enjoy it but still stay focused. I want to focus on now but there are still three matches to the final, said An, a freshman at the University of California-Berkeley. I am just trying to make it as far as I can. If I don’t win, that stinks, but if I win, I guess it’s my turn.
Benjamin, a 2009 graduate of the University of Memphis, defeated Amory Davis, 21, of Chadds Ford, Pa., 3 and 2. The 2009 APL champion from Rockford, Ill., never trailed in his match and took a 5-up lead at the 10th.
I got off to a great start, said Benjamin, who also won the 2009 Illinois Open. I was playing really well on the front nine and then I birdied 10 to go 5 up. At that point it’s not over but it’s a matter of time if you stay on your game.
In the bottom half of the 64-player match-play bracket, Peter Uihlein, 20, of Orlando, Fla., edged Emiliano Grillo, 17, of Argentina, 2 up. The match pitted the two 2010 Copa de las Americas champions against one another – Uihlein led the USA to the team title while Grillo won the individual medal as a member of the Argentine team.
Emiliano is a great player, said Uihlein, a junior at Oklahoma State University who was a member of the winning 2009 USA Walker Cup Team. I know him and knew he was good. We both gave a few strokes away there but the way the wind was blowing, there were not going to be many birdies.
The third round of match play is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, followed by the quarterfinal round on Friday, the semifinal round on Saturday and the 36-hole final on Sunday.
The U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, which include the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Senior Open and 10 strictly for amateurs.
Story written by Pete Kowalski, manager of championship communications for the USGA. E-mail him with questions and comments at pkowalski@usga.org
Results
University Place, Wash. – Results of Thursday’s second round of match play at the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,742-yard, par-71 Chambers Bay.
Second Round
Upper Bracket
Brad Benjamin, Rockford, Ill. (145) d. Amory Davis, Chadds Ford, Pa. (149), 3 and 2
David Chung, Fayetteville, N.C. (144) d. Skip Berkmeyer, St Louis, Mo. (148), 4 and 3
Ryan McCarthy, Australia (143) d. Brent Martin, LaPlata, Md. (147), 3 and 2
Scott Langley, St Louis, Mo. (148) d. Patrick Reed, Augusta, Ga. (145), 19 holes
Max Homa, Valencia, Calif. (145) d. Carter Newman, Augusta, Ga. (149), 7 and 6
Harris English, Athens, Ga. (144) d. Eugene Wong, Canada (144), 2 and 1
Scott Strohmeyer, Tuscaloosa, Ala. (146) d. Justin Thomas, Goshen, Ky. (140), 19 holes
Byeong-Hun An, Berkeley, Calif. (147) d. Alex Shi Yup Kim, Fullerton, Calif. (148), 4 and 3
Lower Bracket
Patrick Cantlay, Los Alamitos, Calif. (137) d. Blayne Barber, Lake City, Fla. (146), 3 and 2
Connor Arendell, Cape Coral, Fla. (144) d. Chan Kim, Gilbert, Ariz. (148), 6 and 5
Joseph Bramlett, Saratoga, Calif. (143) d. Tyler Sheppard, Midland, Texas (146), 1 up
Jed Dirksen, Hampton, Iowa (147) d. Hudson Swafford, Tallahassee, Fla. (143), 2 and 1
Alex Ching, Honolulu, Hawaii (146) d. Patrick Rodgers, Avon, Ind. (137), 3 and 1
Morgan Hoffmann, Wyckoff, N.J. (144) d. Richard Werenski, South Hadley, Mass. (147), 6 and 4
Peter Uihlein, Orlando, Fla. (146) d. Emiliano Grillo, Argentina (149, 2 up
John Hahn, Las Vegas, Nev. (144) d. Arnond Vongvanij, Gainesville, Fla. (143), 5 and 4