Brad Dalke, Curtis Luck all square after 18 holes of U.S. Amateur final

          By Brentley Romine

Brad Dalke and Curtis Luck are all square after 18 holes of the 2016 U.S. Amateur final. (USGA)

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Michigan – Brad Dalke was supposed to throw out the first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game Saturday night at Comerica Park. However, a rain delay pushed back the start of the game, and Dalke decided to head back to his residence for the week, but not before he got to tour the ballpark and meet some Tigers players, including Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera.
Ah, the perks of being a U.S. Amateur semifinalist.
Of course, the perks of being a U.S. Amateur champion are even better (a British Open invite and a handful of likely PGA Tour exemptions adding onto Masters and U.S. Open invitations), and that’s what Dalke and Curtis Luck are playing for Sunday at Oakland Hills Country Club. Through 18 holes of their championship match, the score is how they started, all square.
Luck, a 20-year-old Australian who won the Western Australian Open, a pro event, in May, got out to the early lead by winning the par-4 opening hole with an up-and-down par. He dropped Nos. 3 and 5 with bogeys, but each time got a hole back. He stretched his lead to 2 up with par at the par-4 11^th after Dalke couldn’t get up-and-down from behind the green.
A day earlier, Dalke, a 19-year-old sophomore at Oklahoma, birdied the par-3 13^th to switch the momentum in his semifinal match against Jonah Texeira. On Sunday, he made a very difficult two-putt par to cut Luck’s lead in half. Two holes later, Dalke squared the match back up with par at the par-4 15^th.
A birdie from 6 feet on the par-4 16^th, where Dalke had closed out his last two matches, gave Dalke his first lead. But Luck made a tough two-putt for par on the par-4 18^th hole to knot the match back up at the break.