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U.S. dominates singles, opens an 8-4 lead after first day of Walker Cup

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 04:50:34 +0000

Maverick McNealy is congratulated by his caddie Cesar Baltazar on the 17th green following McNealy’s victory over Scott Gregory at the 2017 Walker Cup. (Copyright USGA/JD Cuban)

ByJohn Strege

It was a star-spangled banner afternoon for the U.S. Walker Cup team on Saturday, the Americans closely following a script, had there been one.

After playing Great Britain & Ireland to a 2-2 tie in morning foursomes, the U.S. won six of eight singles matches in the afternoon and will take an 8-4 lead into Sunday morning foursomes on the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” U.S. captain Spider Miller said. “Braden [Thornberry] flipped his match, Mav [McNealy] flipped his match, Norman Xionx flipped his. Yeah, I’m very pleased. It was a huge momentum change for us. We were down, 5 to 3, at one point.”

The GB&I team has an experience advantage in foursomes, given how often its players play that format in Europe. But when the U.S. played them to a draw, the talent advantage took over.

The U.S. team features seven of the top 12 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, while the GB&I team has only two of the 12. Of those seven Americans, six won their matches, including McNealy, their highest-ranked player at No. 2. McNealy came from behind to beat Europe’s highest ranking player, Scott Gregory (seventh in the WAGR), 3 and 1, to close play for the day.

In the morning, McNealy had teamed with Doug Ghim to defeat David Boote and Jack Davidson, 5 and 4, in their foursomes match.

McNealy was 2 down through 11 holes, but eventually squared the match by holing a 16-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 78-yard, par-3 15th hole. He won five of the last six holes, including the last three.

So, two years after going 0-2-1 in the seven-point U.S. loss in the Walker Cup at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, McNealy has evened the score, going 2-0 on Day 1.

“This is big for me,” McNealy said. “I really, really wanted to play well this week, for my teammates, for my country, for Captain Miller. And it’s a great start today, but there’s a lot of golf left and those guys are playing awesome so we got to keep the pedal down.”

Thornberry, the NCAA individual champion from the University of Mississippi, delivered the first American point in singles, a 2 up victory over Harry Ellis. Thornberry was 1 down with three holes to play, but won all three, the last when he hit his 6-iron approach shot from 200 yards to inches of the pin at 18.

“I pushed it a little bit, but we’re not going to tell anybody that,” he said of the match-winning 6-iron. “But it was fun and I’m just glad I could get the victory.

“I was getting a little behind the eight ball there on about 13 and I told myself to just stay patient, maybe he’ll make a little mistake and I can capitalize and I can throw some birdies in there, which was what I was able to do. I hit a good wedge in there on 14, and Captain Spider came up to me and gave me a pat on the back and told me I could do it, and I kind of took that and rode it.”

Xiong, the Western Amateur champion, was three down through five holes in his match with Connor Syme, squared it at 10 and took the lead for good at the 12th hole, winning 2 and 1.

Collin Morikawa took a 1 up lead on the first hole, never trailed and defeated Paul McBride, 3 & 2. Will Zalatoris was a 2 up winner over Matthew Jordan, and Ghim defeated David Boote, 2 and 1.

Los Angeles Country Club member Stewart Hagestad, the reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, suffered one of two U.S. singles losses, 3 and 2. Cameron Champ, meanwhile, was routed, 6 and 4, by Robert McIntyre of Scotland.

“The feeling in the camp is one of disappointment, really,” GB&I acting captain Andrew Ingram said, “although we are disappointed we still think we can win. We just had a team meeting the feeling is strong in the camp.”

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Doc Redman rallies to win ‘an incredible match,’ defeats Doug Ghim on 37th hole

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 04:00:49 +0000

Doc Redman poses with the trophy during the final round of match play of the 2017 U.S. Amateur at The Riviera Country Club. (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)

By John Strege
Here in the entertainment capital of the world, steps from the renowned Sunset Blvd., on a course with a Hollywood pedigree, two amateurs put on a show worthy of their surroundings.

Doc Redman, a Clemson sophomore, even delivered a dramatic ending befitting the stage, the United States Amateur Championship at Riviera Country Club. He came back from 2 down with two to play, then defeated Texas senior Doug Ghim with a conceded birdie on the 37th hole that followed 36 holes of entertaining punching and counterpunching.

Spider Miller, the captain of the U.S. Walker Cup team, called it “the greatest match that I’ve witnessed in my four years of following intently the amateur game.”

Ghim called it “an incredible match. We didn’t give each other anything all afternoon. We worked for everything. It’s match play, right? It was do or die for him, and he did it.”

Redman’s own summation: “We were both playing so well. I played really well on that back nine, and he stuck with me shot for shot, and I stuck with him. It was about never giving up and believing in myself. You never know what can happen.”

You never know. The remarkable comeback Redman authored included his holing a downhill 60-foot putt for eagle at the par-5 17th hole, followed with his holing a 10-foot birdie putt at 18, winning both holes and sending the match to overtime.

On the extra hole, the par-4 10th, Ghim drove left and into a terrible lie in the “hay,” as he called it. “I had never been in that area all week,” he said. “I didn’t even know there was hay there.”

His following shot put him in more trouble, his ball finding the bunker that fronts the green, leaving an extremely difficult shot to a shallow green sloping away from him. His third shot went into a bunker behind the green.

He wound up conceding Redman’s birdie putt, an anticlimactic ending, but given everything that preceded it, it did nothing to detract from the entertainment value of the match.

“It was a lot of fun to be a part of it,” Ghim said. “As disappointed as I am not to win, I still had a lot of fun. I’m definitely gong to look back at this as one of the best accomplishments that I’ve had and move on.”

Neither player led by more than two holes. Redman held a 1-up lead following the morning 18, increased it to 2 up by holing a long birdie putt on the second hole of the afternoon 18. Ghim evened the match with a par at the 11th hole, the 29th of the match and went ahead with another par on the 13th hole. He increased the lead to 2 up at the 16th hole.

At the par-5 17th, the 35th hole of the match, Redman faced a 60-foot eagle putt, while Ghim had a six-foot birdie putt.

“All that was going through my head was about making the putt and putting a good stroke on it,” he said. “Honestly, I was just going, ‘You’re going to make this, you’re going to make this.’ ”

Still, the likelihood of his doing so was remote and it seemed inevitable that Ghim was going to prevail, but Redman’s putt darted into the hole for an eagle to win the hole.

“I wouldn’t be entirely truthful to say that I expected him to make the putt, but I did entertain the possibility,” Ghim said. “When it did go in, it was like, ‘Wow, OK. That’s quite a blow.’ I reminded myself that i was still 1 up with one to go.”

At the 18th hole, Ghim hit an anemic approach that stopped short of the green, while Redman hit his approach to about 10 feet of the hole. Ghim’s pitch shot left him with a short par putt that was for naught when Redman holed his birdie putt.

“I didn’t hit a particularly great iron shot coming into 18,” Ghim said, “but I thought I did just that with the chip. I chipped it close enough. I felt like I did everything that I could to force him to make incredible shots. He stepped up and did it. And kudos to him. I’m very happy for him.”

Redman was similarly gracious toward Ghim. “I would just like to congratulate Doug as well. He played awesome. He’s such an awesome competitor and deserves all the praise in the world as well.”

They both do, for putting on a memorable and dramatic performance in an area that more than most has an appreciation for great entertainment.

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