Top 10 Matches From 2024 USGA Championship Season

Over the course of the USGA’s 10 amateur competitions, a total of 566 matches are contested. Add in this year’s Curtis Cup Match at Sunningdale Golf Club, in England, and 586 head-to-head showdowns were played.

Of course, there can be only one champion from each of these national championships. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t spirited matches along the way. We now highlight the 10 best from 2024.

Evan Beck def. Michael Buttacavoli (U.S. Mid-Amateur, Round of 16, 21 holes)

The eventual winner had a trio of challenging matches at Kinloch Golf Club before finally producing a 9-and-8 victory in the 36-hole final. Against the recently reinstated amateur from Florida, Beck needed to summon all of his talent to avoid an early exit. One down going to No. 18, the co-medalist and No. 2 seed managed to force extra holes with an exquisite pitch that hit the flagstick and stopped inches away to set up a conceded birdie. Three holes later, another birdie sent the Virginian to the quarterfinals.

Nadene Gole def. Brenda Corrie Kuehn (U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, semifinals, 19 holes)

Three down after 11 holes and 2 down thru 14, the 2023 runner-up Kuehn managed to rally to tie the match, registering birdies on the par-5 15th and par-4 17th holes – the latter from 25 feet. On 18, Kuehn had a chance to win but missed a 12-footer while Gole, the owner of a chocolate business in Australia, got up and down for par to force extra holes. Then Gole showed why she entered the championship as the top-ranked player in the field according to the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking® by hitting her approach from a sidehill lie in the rough on the 19th hole (No. 10 at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle, Wash.) to just a few feet to set up a winning birdie. The next day, Gole defeated 2022 champion Shelly Stouffer in the final.

Lauren Greenlief def. Ashley Zagers (U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, Round of 32, 20 holes)

Trailing by a hole going to the 18th at Brae Burn Country Club, in West Newton, Mass., the 2005 champion needed to summon some magic to force extra holes and stay alive. Her approach found the fringe in the back of the green. With Zagers already in for a conceded par, Greenlief coaxed her 30-foot downhill birdie putt into the hole. Two holes later, Greenlief walked off with a victory. Her run would eventually end in the semifinals.

Bobby Massa (left) put on a nine-hole show in the U.S. Mid-Amateur semifinals at Kinloch Golf Club against Drew Kittleson. (USGA/Logan Whitton)

Bobby Massa def. Ashton McCulloch (U.S. Amateur, Round of 16, 23 holes)

The 36-year-old personal trainer from Dallas, Texas, holed a 25-foot birdie on the fifth extra hole to eliminate the 2023 Canadian Amateur champion and 2024 U.S. Open qualifier as darkness began to envelop Hazeltine National Golf Club. Birdies were rare in the match as Massa was the equivalent of 2 over par, while McCulloch, a Michigan State standout, was 3 over.

Massa def. Drew Kittleson (U.S. Mid-Amateur, semifinals, 4 and 3)

It’s rare to find a great match that ends before 18, but this particular encounter merits such a mention. Massa shot the equivalent of 6-under-par 29 on the outward nine of Kinloch G.C., which included an eagle-2 on the 328-yard, par-4 sixth hole (15-footer). Kittelson, the 2008 U.S. Amateur runner-up and two-time U.S. Amateur Four-Ball runner-up (with Drew Stoltz), was playing well enough to win almost any other match, making four birdies over the first nine holes. Things slowed down considerably after that with Massa registering just one birdie over the final six holes, making him 7 under when the match concluded on the 15th green. The next day, he was beaten by Evan Beck in the 36-hole final.

Jackson Buchanan def. Luke Clanton (U.S. Amateur, Round of 32, Round of 32)

Clanton, a junior at Florida State, came into the 125 th U.S. Amateur as the hottest amateur player on the planet, having University of Illinois 15 and 16 in front of a crowd north of 500 peopleGene Elliott def. Jerry Gunthorpe (U.S. Senior Amateur, Round of 64, 21 holes)

A rematch of the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur final at the Country Club of Detroit took on the same narrative except this time the match required three extra holes. In the 2021 final, Elliott had not led until his winning par on No. 18. This time around, had to survive a morning playoff just get into the draw and the Iowa native never led his Michigan opponent until the third playoff hole. Elliott’s birdie on the 14th hole tied the match and it remained that way until Gunthorpe bogeyed the par-3 21st. It was another heartbreaking defeat for Gunthorpe, who gave No. 1 seed and eventual champion Todd White a tussle in the Round of 64 a year earlier at Martis Camp as the 64 seed, losing 1 down.

Trevor Gutschewski def. Rich Wills (U.S. Junior Amateur, Round of 64, 23 holes)

The first match of the championship at historic Oakland Hills Country Club’s South Course turned into the only one to go extra holes, and helped propel Gutschewski to the title. The Omaha, Neb., native built a 3-up lead thru 10 holes, but Wills, of Cramerton, N.C., would win the next three – two with birdies – to tie the match. Gutschewski would eventually carry a 1-up lead to the 495-yard 18th hole, where Wills’ par was good enough to force extra holes. Both competitors birdied Nos. 19, 20 and 22 before Gutschewski’s par at the 23 rd was good enough to reach the final 32. He would knock off medalist Blades Brown in the Round of 32 and another U.S. National Junor Team member, Tyler Watts, in the championship match to become first Nebraskan to claim the U.S. Junior Amateur.

Medalist Maria Jose Marin showed plenty of moxie in defeating SEC rival Anna Davis in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women's Am. (USGA/Kathryn Riley)

Maria Jose Marin def. Anna Davis (U.S. Women’s Amateur, quarterfinals, 21 holes)

Two college phenoms went toe-to-toe in a memorable last-eight match at Southern Hills Country Club. Neither Marin, a rising sophomore at the University of Arkansas and the stroke-play medalist, or Davis, a lefty and rising sophomore at Auburn University, led by more than a hole. Marin trailed going into the par-4 18th when Davis could muster no better than a double-bogey 6, sending the match to extra holes. Each competitor parred the first two holes until Davis again ran into trouble on the 376-yard, par-4 21st hole, No. 12 at Southern Hills. Her approach from the rough found the penalty area near the green, leading to another double-bogey 6. Marin had her birdie putt conceded.

Asterisk Talley def. Lottie Woad (Curtis Cup, Sunday singles, 3 and 2)

Even though the USA suffered its first defeat to Great Britain & Ireland in eight years, 10.5-9.5, one 15-year-old phenom made quite a final statement in singles at Sunningdale Golf Club, in England. GB&I captain Catriona Matthew put out the team’s stalwart, world No. 1 and 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion Lottie Woad in the opening match on Sunday against Asterisk Talley, the wunderkind from Chowchilla, Calif. Everyone on property not wearing red, white and blue expected the Englishwoman and Florida State All-American to prevail. It didn’t happen. Talley never trailed the entire match, using an eagle-3 on the par-5 10th to earn a point for the Americans, playing the equivalent of 4-under-par golf over the 16 holes. Woad would be the recipient of the McCormick Medal for being the leading player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, but Talley, whose first name means “Little Star” in Greek, became a major one over the three-day biennial competition.

Honorable mention

Asterisk Talley def. Gianna Clemente (U.S. Girls’ Junior, semifinals, 3 and 1), Talley was 9 under par over the 17 holes
Rianne Malixi def. Talley (U.S. Girls’ Junior, final, 8 and 7), Malixi shot the equivalent of 14 under par over the 29 holes
Jack Hall def. Mike Henry (U.S. Senior Amateur, Round of 64, 25 holes), Matching the second-longest match in championship history, Hall, of Savannah, Ga. outlasted Henry, of Bloomington, Ill., when the latter found the penalty area off the tee on the par-4 seventh hole at The Honors Course.
Brian Blanchard/Sam Engel def. Blades Brown/Jackson Herrington (U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, final, 2 up), the two mid-amateurs from Arizona never trailed and played 6-under golf against the talented Tennessee teens.
Meghan Stasi def. Kelsey Chugg (U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, Round of 64, 1 up), In a battle of past champs, the 4-time winner (Stasi) rallied from 3 down with 5 to play, capping the match with a birdie on the par-3 17th hole.
Garrett Engle def. Henry Guan (U.S. Amateur, Round of 64, 25 holes), Engle, with his unorthodox grip, outlasted the Texan and U.S. National Junior Team member with a winning par on the par-5 seventh hole at Hazeltine National G.C.; the two had tied the previous eight holes.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.