Stiggy Hodgson and Jin Jeong among US

Amateur failures


FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE
By Ron Balicki
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Washington – It took a score of 6-over-par 149 to have a chance to advance to the 64-player match-play field at this year’s U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay.
There were 16 players tying for 57th at that number and they will return Wednesday morning for a play-off – beginning at 7:15 a.m. at the 10th hole – to determine the final six spots. Among those 16 are reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Nathan Smith, University of South Carolina standout Wesley Bryan and Carter Newman, who helped lead Augusta State to the NCAA Division I title this season.

There certainly were plenty of familiar names left off the match-play bracket after Tuesday’s second round of stroke-play qualifying.

Among the notables:
Bhavik Patel (150), a semi-finalist at last year’s U.S. Am; Bobby Wyatt (150), who this summer shot a 57 on his way to winning the Alabama State Junior title; 2009 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup member Stiggy Hodgson (150); Steve Ziegler (151), a quarter-finalist at last year’s U.S. Am; Darren Wallace (151), an All-American at Washington; former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Kevin Marsh (151); former U.S. Junior champion Sihwan Kim (156) and current U.S. Junior champ Jim Liu (151); 2009 U.S. Walker Cup member Bud Cauley (152); reigning U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Lion Kim (153); this year’s British Amateur champion Jin Jeong (153); 2009 U.S. Amateur Public Links runner-up David McDaniel (153); Georgia’s Russell Henley (154), Golfweek’s 2009-10 college player of the year; University of Virginia golf coach Bowen Sargent (156) and Buddy Marucci (162), 2007 and 2009 U.S. Walker Cup captain and 2008 U.S. Senior Amateur champion.


The first round of match play will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. The second and third rounds of match play are scheduled for Thursday, followed by the quarter-finals on Friday, the semi-finals  on Saturday and the 36-hole final on Sunday.