LIVE SCORING MATCH PLAY Match Play Tree FRIDAY REPORT Neil Raymond, of England, and Brady Watt, of Australia, the top seeds in the match-play bracket, each won twice on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of match play in the 2013 U.S. Amateur Championship at the 7,310-yard, par-70 The Country Club. Raymond, 27, the oldest remaining player in the field, rallied in the closing holes to defeat Nathan Holman, 22, of Australia, 1 up. He made a 7-foot par putt on No. 15 to stay 1 down. Raymond then earned conceded birdies on the par-3 16th and par-4 17th when his opponent ran into trouble. Holman hit his tee shot into the front bunker on No. 16 and sent his approach shot over the green on the following hole. Raymond wrapped up the third-round win with a 7-foot par putt on No. 18. Watt, who fired rounds of 68 and 66 in stroke play to share medalist honors, won holes 8 and 9 with a birdie and a par, respectively, in his third-round match with Charlie Hughes, of Canada, to take a 2-up lead. But Hughes, 21, who plays at the University of Washington, made a birdie on the par-4 15th when he holed out from the back greenside bunker to slice the deficit in half. After the players halved No. 16, Hughes hooked his tee shot into the woods on the 354-yard, par-4 17th and was never able to fully recover. Meanwhile, Watt, 23, found the fairway and green en route to a conceded birdie for a 2-and-1 victory. Earlier in the day, he defeated Seth Reeves, 22, of Duluth, Ga., 3 and 2, in the second round. My aim off the tee has improved, said Watt, the No. 2 seed, who arrived in the United States for the first time on June 28. I have a lot of confidence off the tee. It gives me a lot of opportunity to get myself in the hole. [It] helps me get a lot of birdies. If you keep yourself in the fairway and keep yourself in the hole, most of the time you can get a win out there. Oliver Goss, of Australia, and Matthew Fitzpatrick, of England, each claimed Round of 16 wins as the third and fifth seeds, respectively. Goss, 19, who was a 2012 U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist, upended Xander Schauffele, 19, of San Diego, 3 and 1 THURSDAY REPORT Stroke-play co-medalists Neil Raymond, of England, and Brady Watt, of Australia were among the 32 winners in the first round of match play at the 2013 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at The Country Club (7,310 yards, par 70). Australia&aposs Nathan Holman (VIC) and Oliver Goss (WA) also progressed into the Round of 32. Watt, 22, took a 3-up lead through seven holes en route to a 5-and-3 victory over Sean Walsh, 19, of Keller, Texas. He lists his occupation as a professional cleaner and has been in the U.S. since June 28. The U.S. Amateur is his sixth competition since then. I hit it quite good off the tee, said Watt, who is No. 9 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. I was in the fairway much of the day and if I was in the rough, I had a pretty good lie. I hit a ton of greens. The 2013 U.S. Amateur Championship consists of 36 holes of stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the championship scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole final on Sunday at 9 a.m. The second and third rounds of match play are scheduled for Thursday. The U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs. Rodgers, 21, a senior at Stanford University, beat 2013 Western Amateur finalist Sean Dale, 23, of Jacksonville, Fla., 3 and 2. Rodgers is No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and was one of 15 players who survived a morning playoff involving 17 competitors to advance to match play. Six of those 15 won their first-round matches. QUALIFYING REPORT A pair of first-time USGA competitors, Neil Raymond, 27, of England, and Brady Watt, 22, of Australia posted 36-hole totals of 6-under-par 134 Tuesday to share medalist honors by three strokes at the 2013 U.S. Amateur Championship. Watt, who lists his occupation as a professional cleaner, posted a 4-under-par 66. He has been in the U.S. since June 28 and the U.S. Amateur is his sixth competition since then. “I think it&aposs cool I am the co-medalist, said Watt, who is No. 9 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. It is quite an accolade. But the tournament is just half over. His 66 included seven birdies and three bogeys. “I didn&apost have a score in mind when I got out here today, Watt said. I was just glad to get under par yesterday. The first round always sets the tone for the tournament. Raymond s round of 3-under-par 67 at 6,547-yard, par-70 Charles River Country Club included four birdies and a bogey. He employed Tommy White, a caddie who he had met just 90 minutes before his second round. Raymond had carried his own golf bag in recording a 67 at The Country Club on Monday, which was that day s low round at TCC. “When I left the club yesterday, someone asked me if I would like a caddie today, Raymond said. It was a very nice offer. Then when I heard the forecast for today and all the stuff I would have to take in the bag, I decided to use a caddie. Today, the caddie made a big difference. He was brilliant. White resides in Brookline and is currently a caddie at The Country Club, though he was a caddie at Charles River from 1995-2012. It’s very good, said Raymond of sharing the medalist honor. I know Brady pretty well. People are going to be gunning for us because our names are at the top. “I didn&apost have a score in mind when I got here today, Raymond said. I came out, took some good swings and said, let&aposs see what happens. I am delighted it all came together. Western Australian Oliver Goss finished qualifying in a tie for third place at 3-under par and Nathan Holman finished in a tie for 17th at even par to also progress to the Match Play stage. The 2013 U.S. Amateur Championship consists of 36 holes of stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the championship scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole final on Sunday at 9 a.m. The stroke-play cut came at 4-over 144, with 66 players inside that cut line. The playoff to determine the final places in the match-play field will include 17 players for 15 spots, and will begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday on hole No. 14 at The Country Club (7,310 yards, par 70). The U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs. The Country Club at Brookline has seen much golf history, including 15 USGA championships. On August 12 it will add to its lore, joining Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., as the only two clubs to have hosted the U.S. Amateur, the oldest golf championship in the country, six times. This course has great character and charm, said Ben Kimball, the director of the U.S. Amateur Championship for the USGA, at the recent Media Day. As you walk the course and study the lines of the fairways, you can easily tell that it was built by hand, with picks and shovels. They couldn’t just blast away at the rocks; they had to work with the lay of the land. This results in several holes that feature dramatic rock outcroppings, and a championship routing that for the past eight USGA championships has incorporated four holes from the club s Primrose Course, a nine-hole layout that was designed by the esteemed William Flynn and opened in 1927, joining the original Clyde and Squirrel nines. The composite championship course debuted for the 1957 U.S. Amateur in the club s 75th year as the Anniversary Course. The Country Club hosted at least one USGA championship in every decade of the 20th century, most memorably Francis Ouimet s 1913 U.S. Open victory, and most recently the 1995 U.S. Women’s Amateur. In 1963, when Julius Boros captured his second U.S. Open in a playoff, it produced a winning score of 293, three strokes higher than for any Open of the past 78 years. Steven Fox, 22, of Hendersonville, Tennessee, is the defending U.S. Amateur champion. He defeated Michael Weaver in 37 holes last year to claim the title in his first U.S. Amateur appearance. He competed for the USA at the 2012 World Team Amateur Championship, helping the USA take home the Eisenhower Trophy, and finished tied for ninth as an individual at the 2013 Copa de las Americas.
Author: USGA