The beauty of the scene at Cherry Hills Country Club on Thursday evening, as the last four holes in the last match of the US Amateur’s Round of 16 played out, was that no one wrote the script. They wouldn’t have dared to. It was too unbelievable.

A horrible break on a shot that hit the top of flagstick. A holed-out approach. Then, in something out of the scene from “The Legend of Bagger Vance”, the last hole was played in near-darkness, with the 18th green illuminated by floodlights raised by the USGA.

And there wasn’t an end with closing credits, because Auburn rising senior John Marshall Butler overcame hitting his tee shot into the water on the 18th by striping his third-shot approach to three feet to save par and force extra holes in the match that was set to resume at 8am local time on Friday.

This was already the most watchable match of the afternoon, with Paul Chang, an unranked club golfer from the University of Virginia and the most improbable story in recent USGA history, and battled back and forth with Butler, with Chang losing three different leads.

We'll see you tomorrow!

The absolutely thrilling Paul Chang vs. John Marshall Butler match will resume Friday morning on the 19th hole. #USAmateur pic.twitter.com/g9TZLOby9o

— USGA (@USGA) August 18, 2023

But that was only the appetiser to the crazy last four holes. At the par-3 15th, with the match tied, Chang’s tee shot tracked the pin too well and the ball hit the top of the flagstick and kicked back off the front of the green. But Chang made an impressive up-and-down for par to tie the hole.

Then on the par-4 16th, the golf gods rewarded Chang when his approach took a hop and jumped into the hole for an eagle that gave him a 1-up lead.

ONE BOUNCE AND IN

Paul Chang takes a 1-up lead with this incredible eagle hole out on 16. #USAmateur pic.twitter.com/mUOMR6TEQl

— USGA (@USGA) August 18, 2023

But it was back to tied when Butler responded with an approach on the par-5 17th to less than a foot a couple of feet for birdie.

This match! ???@AuburnMGolf John Marshall Butler pulls the string and nearly trickles it in! #USAmateur pic.twitter.com/lbYnj3UJyV

— USGA (@USGA) August 18, 2023

That brought the match to the 18th in quickly fading light. Sunset in the Denver area was 7.54pm, and that’s about the time they teed off. Butler appeared to hit an excellent tee shot, but his ball rolled out into the water. It seemed as bad a break as Chang’s at 16.

It looked over, with Chang simply needing to make par from the fairway. But Butler produced a stunning shot, hit ball landing on the green and rolling to three feet below the hole. Chang ended up making a nervy two-putt, and when Butler holed out his putt at 8.12pm, he let out a whoop and yelled: “C’mon!”

Butler said in the aftermath, “I’ve worked so hard for this moment, and you can’t really do anything except go out there and just try to play golf. I’ve put in the work. I’ve busted my butt, honestly, so just trying to stay out of my own way, not be too hard on myself. Get a bad break like the one on 18 or 16 where he holed out, just unbelievable stuff.”

“We both didn’t play our best, but down the stretch we both turned it on, as you can see,” Chang said. “His birdie on 17 and that par on 18, those were incredible, just incredible.”

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In many respects, it was unfortunate for the players, fans and championship that Gordon Sargent and Nick Dunlap ended up facing off on Wednesday in the first round of match play in the 123rd US Amateur. Two of the best amateurs in world — Gordon Ranked at No. 1 and Dunlap at No. 9 — ended up meeting so soon, when they were built for what would be a fantastic final, because their seedings put them there.

Sargent, the 2022 NCAA individual champion from Vanderbilt, shot two-under in stroke play to tie for 17th and get the No. 24 seed. Dunlap, a rising sophomore at Alabama and the reigning North & South champion, tied for 38th at one-under and was seeded 41st.

The seedings often are meaningless, but this time the two Alabama natives didn’t get much of a break, and in the end, it was the World No. 1 who suffered the upset at Cherry Hills Country Club outside of Denver. Sargent won the first hole and held a 1-up lead through nine, but Dunlap captured the 10th hole to tie it, took the lead with a birdie at the 11th and won the 14th en route to a 2&1 victory.

“I’m spent, man,” Dunlap, 19, said afterward. “I think this was a match that a lot of people wanted to see. Obviously he’s the No. 1 player in the world for a reason. He’s a hell of a player. Wasn’t expecting any gifts from him. Just kind of throwing punches all day long and see who could withstand them at the end.”

A good-sized crowd gathered to watch the two compete, and the players did feel like the atmosphere was like that of a final.

Moving on

The Round of 32 is set! #USAmateur pic.twitter.com/1an1lmHEdx

— USGA (@USGA) August 17, 2023

“It’s everything that you would kind of imagine. A lot of people on the first tee, entire pond was surrounded on 17. It’s just cool,” said Dunlap, who won the 2021 US Junior. “This is why I practise, to go head-to-head with somebody like Gordon. It’s an honour, and like I said, it’s why I do what I do.”

The victory continues an impressive summer for Dunlap. He won the Northeast Amateur and the next week captured one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious amateur titles in the North & South. Dunlap also qualified for the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, where he missed the cut.

Sargent, 20 and rising junior at Vanderbilt, was having his own strong year, including posting the best amateur score in the US Open and tying for 39th. He rose to No. 1 in the world in February and during his WAGR qualifying period, Sargent has posted 21 top-10s, including four victories.

Sargent and Dunlap grew up not far from each other in Huntsville, Alabama, and competed in plenty of junior tournaments together. But in a testament to their rivalry, they have not been close off the course.

“I don’t know about him, there’s maybe a mutual respect of game between us two, growing up in the same hometown,” Dunlap said. “I think we’ve always been pushed against each other, and it wasn’t until three or four days ago where it got a little bit closer. And like I said, I’ve got a lot of respect for him and looking forward to teaming up with him in about three, four weeks.”

That would be playing for the US in the Walker Cup against Great Britain & Ireland. Both have been chosen for the competition that will be played on the Old Course at St Andrews, September 2-3. They’ll get plenty of time to bond then.

In another notable match, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga’s Bryce Lewis, whose caddie was 2012 US Amateur champion Steven Fox, was beaten by 2&1 by the University of Florida’s Parker Bell.

The round of 32 will be played in the morning on Thursday, followed by the Round of 16 in the afternoon.

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