The quartet of future championships include the 2020 US Girls’ Junior, 2034 US Amateur, 2038 US Open and 2045 US Women’s Open.

“This partnership with The Country Club gives juniors, amateurs and professionals alike the opportunity to vie for a USGA championship and etch their names in golfing history at one of the nation’s most iconic venues,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer, in a press release. “We look forward to witnessing the incredible talent and passion that will be on display in the coming years.”

One of the USGA’s five founding member clubs, The Country Club last hosted the US Open in 2022 when Matt Fitzpatrick won the title by a stroke over Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler. The Englishman also won the US Amateur when it was played for the sixth and most recent time there in 2013. Fitzpatrick joined Jack Nicklaus as the only golfer to win a US Amateur and US Open at the same club.

When the US Girls’ Junior is held in 2030 it will mark 80 years since the only previous time the championship has been played at The Country Club.

By hosting the US Women’s Open in 2045, The Country Club will become just the 23rd course to have hosted the men’s and women’s national championship. Fifteen have already done so while another seven will accomplish the feat between now and 2045 before TCC joins them.

The Country Club/USGA championships
1902 US Women’s Amateur: Genevieve Hecker
1910 US Amateur: William Fownes Jr
1913 US Open: Francis Ouimet
1922 US Amateur: Jess Sweetser
1932 Walker Cup: United States
1934 US Amateur: Lawson Little
1941 US Women’s Amateur: Betty Hicks Newell
1953 US Girls’ Junior: Mildred Meyerson
1957 US Amateur: Hillman Robbins
1963 US Open: Julius Boros
1968 US Junior: Eddie Pearce
1973 Walker Cup: United States
1982 US Amateur: Jay Sigel
1988 US Open: Curtis Strange
1995 US Women’s Amateur: Kelli Kuehne
2013 US Amateur: Matt Fitzpatrick
2022 US Open: Matt Fitzpatrick

Main image: Boston Globe

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It is a moment that will eventually be lost to time. When Nick Dunlap’s US Amateur victory at Cherry Hills Country Club is recalled in the decades to come, the conversation will turn to him matching Tiger Woods as the only men to win both the US Junior and US Amateur. Considering there have been 123 editions of the senior edition, that is a rare and remarkable feat.

As Dunlap humbly noted after he had beaten Neal Shipley, 4&3, by making 12 birdies over 33 holes on a toasty Sunday outside of Denver: “I think it’s only a third of what he’s actually done.” He is right, of course, with Woods having captured each of the two titles three times — all before the 19-year-old Dunlap was born.

Elite company ? pic.twitter.com/NApypxjTbB

— USGA (@USGA) August 21, 2023

There were plenty of times in Woods’ six championships that he was on the verge of being eliminated, and those aren’t noted much, just as Dunlap’s horrible start in this championship and what happened to change it will be forgotten.

In this case, it shouldn’t be, given the nature of Dunlap’s turnaround and the way he played so splendidly for the next six days.

A triple-bogey. A double-bogey. Five-over par through seven holes. That’s the way Dunlap will remember how he started the tournament.

Last Monday at Colorado Golf Club, which co-hosted the two stroke-play rounds, Dunlap opened the tournament with a birdie, but on the third hole he somehow managed to hit the wrong ball and, including a two-stroke penalty, made a triple-bogey.

The World’s No. 9-ranked amateur from the University of Alabama then compounded the damage with a double-bogey at the fifth and a bogey at the seventh. At five-over through seven, Dunlap was in a huge crater, considering only 64 of the 312 competitors in the field reaching the match-play portion after 36 holes.

“Whenever you get off to a rough start,” Dunlap explained in an NBC interview broadcast on Sunday, “the round could be over like that, in a snap. You don’t know what happened and you shoot and you’re out of the tournament.”

"I just learned that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it.”

Nick Dunlap’s fighting attitude carried him to victory at the 123rd #USAmateur. ?

— USGA (@USGA) August 21, 2023

Lucky for him, he had one of the savviest caddies in all of amateur golf on his bag. Jeff Curl, 44, once aspired to be a professional golfer like his father, Rod, who won once on the PGA Tour. Injuries kept the younger Curl from that dream, but he got to know Dunlap as a young kid at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.

Curl was on Dunlap’s bag for his 2021 US Junior win, and in the early rough going in the first round at CGC, the looper knew what his player needed. On the page for the eighth hole in the yardage book, Curl wrote: “This can be an amazing story if you let it happen.”

Dunlap said the words shook him out of whatever funk he was in.

“For whatever reason, something clicked. I snapped out of it,” Dunlap said.

Did he ever. Dunlap birdied the next two holes and made four more in the rest of the round to shoot even-par 72. He backed that up with a 70 the next day at Cherry Hills, tied for 38th, beat World No. 1 Gordon Sargent in the first round of match play, and won four more matches to reach the final against Shipley.

In tears as he spoke after Sunday’s triumph, Dunlap said of Curl: “Honestly, there’s no chance I’m standing here [without him]. He was a part of the US Junior, and he’s part of this. I told him one of my main goals was to make history. For him to be alongside me, it means the world, man.”

Standing near where Dunlap was celebrating with his family and teammates at Alabama, an emotional Curl said: “I didn’t quite get to where I wanted to be in golf, but to help Nick and others, there’s nothing better. It is the greatest feeling. I wouldn’t trade it for anything I’ve done, or to have gone further, in this moment.”

For much of the day, the final lived up to the anticipation of Dunlap, who’d won back-to-back big events this summer, facing Shipley, the 132nd ranked amateur who had three runners-up in prestigious events of his own.

Pittsburgh native Shipley, 22, who was trying to be the first Pennsylvanian since Arnold Palmer to win the US Am — on the layout where Arnie captured the 1960 US Open — had become a crowd favourite, thanks to his long hair, demonstrative play and the stunning shot he hit into the 17th hole on Saturday to close out his semi-final.

Sunday’s play got off to a roaring start when both birdied the first and Dunlap tacked on birdies at Nos. 2 and 5 to go 2 up. But Shipley answered with a birdie at 6, and in a flurry at the end of the first 18, Shipley tied it with a par at 15, Dunlap made a birdie on 16, and Shipley answered with a short-range birdie at 18.

The play was so stellar that the two combined for 11 birdies, including concessions — Dunlap with six and Shipley five.

With each golfer having played more than 100 holes in the week, the afternoon was not as sharp and was defined by a couple of birdies by Dunlap and miscues by Shipley.

There were a couple of classic match-play twists. Early on the front nine, Dunlap badly missed three fairways, but he won two holes while Shipley scuffled in the rough and bunkers. Both players hit the green on the 25th hole, but Shipley three-putted to give Dunlap a 3-up lead, and Dunlap widened the margin to four with a birdie at the 28th.

Shipley, who missed a short birdie putt at the par-3 30th hole, still had a bit of life when Dunlap missed the green and butchered the 31st. But Shipley hooked his approach badly on the next hole, lost and fell back again to 4 down.

Dunlap closed out the match at the par-3 33rd hole when they both made par.

Shipley, who has one season remaining at Ohio State, was clearly disappointed, but was upbeat about how he played and the consolation prize he receives—an expected invitation into the 2024 Masters as well as a spot in next year’s US Open.

“It’s pretty crazy. It’s the stuff of dreams to be doing what you’re doing, to do what I’m doing this week,” Shipley said. “Just glad I took time to soak it in every day and really enjoy it. This is likely my last Amateur, and just a really cool week and something I didn’t initially think I’d have the opportunity to do.”

Soon, Dunlap will start his sophomore year at Alabama, and he’ll no doubt be welcomed as a hero. As it is, Crimson Tide coach Jay Seawell was on hand, as were four of Dunlap’s teammates who got up early in the morning to fly in for the final.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Seawell said of his pride in Dunlap. “I think he said it best. The greatest part of being coach is to get to come along and see what nobody else sees … the hard work, the want to, the grind, the blood, sweat and tears.”

The weight of the victory will always come back to matching Woods in history. That is all the more meaningful for Dunlap, who says he has from a young age idolised the 15-time major winner.

“Just to be in the same conversation with Tiger is a dream come true and something I’ve worked my entire life for,” Dunlap said. “It’s hours and hours that nobody sees to try to get to this point and try to win this tournament. It’s just unbelievable.”

This was an amazing story, and Dunlap let it happen.

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The sunlight was fading and the Round of 16 matches were winding down on Thursday evening at Cherry Hills Country Club. After a long day, the few fans left seemed sleepy.

Then a surprise guest, Bryson DeChambeau, started doing the things that only he can do, and the buzz was back. Kids and adults gathered around the famous first tee, where in the 1960 US Open, Arnold Palmer drove the green from 346 yards away for an opening birdie in the final round that fuelled his comeback from seven shots to beat Jack Nicklaus.

As both a US Amateur and US Open champion, DeChambeau appreciates his USGA history, and he played in the 2012 Am here, shooting 67 in the opening round of stroke play before being eliminated in match play. So, there he was, in rubber-soled shoes, shorts and a T-shirt, hammering balls with a blond-headed persimmon club.

US Amateur fan Bryson DeChambeau tries to go for the Cherry Hills first green from the Arnold Palmer tee with a persimmon. pic.twitter.com/WIOTJRZuoG

— Tod Leonard (@Todleonardsd) August 18, 2023

Of course, DeChambeau was like a dog after a juicy steak. He very badly wanted to reach the green — so much so that after it first seemed like he would just hit a couple of balls, he kept asking for more. And more.

Honestly, we lost count of how many swings he took, but he really seemed to love one ball better than most. “Can’t do better than that,” he said. The problem was, nobody could see more than 350 yards in the low light.

And still … Bryson asked for another ball and promised to do show off his “long drive swing.” The coil was unbelievable.

Finally, DeChambeau was done, drawing pats on the back from the small gallery, and then he got on the back of a golf cart because he had to see if he’d reached the green. He missed it … just barely, as Golf Channel showed him finding the ball in the rough in front of the green, posing for a photo while kids circled it.

On a memorable day for so many reasons, Bryson’s cameo will rank up there.

The post WATCH: Bryson DeChambeau makes US Am cameo, absolutely kill balls with persimmon wood at Cherry HIlls appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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.”

The post This was the most bizarre and thrilling climax to a match in US Amateur history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Remember that video that made the rounds after Tiger Woods defeated Abraham Ancer at the 2019 Presidents Cup? The one that showed the 15-time major winner shaking hands with Ancer before his putt was even halfway to the hole? Despite being doctored, the internet picked it up and ran with it, partly because it was funny and partly because, while fake, it embodied Woods’ alpha dominance in a way that felt true.

On Thursday at Cherry Hills, we got the realest version of that viral clip we’ll likely ever see when Auburn senior John Marshall Butler drained this bomb on the 15th hole, raising his finger to the heavens months before his putt found the bottom of the cup. Behold the audacity.

Auburn’s John Marshall Butler with one of the earliest, cockiest finger raises on a bomb of a putt you’ll ever see at the US Am. pic.twitter.com/wdPJazm7F8

— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) August 16, 2023

The icing on the cake was Butler turning his divine finger gun into an uppercut fist-pump. You’re looking upon the work of a true master. This is a boy becoming a man right before our very eyes. And best of all? Butler went on to win his match 3 and 2, the same score by which Woods defeated Ancer back at Royal Melbourne. Coincidence? We think not.

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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.

The post World No. 1 ousted in US Amateur battle of titans appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It doesn’t quite match the lore of Arnold Palmer coming from seven shots down to beat Jack Nicklaus in the 1960 US Open, but Steven Fox and Cherry Hills are linked in the most fascinating way.

In 2012, Fox was the 127th-ranked amateur in the world and the longest of long shots to seize the US Amateur Championship at the renowned country club outside of Denver. His odds didn’t seem that much better when Fox emerged from a 17-for-14 playoff, getting him into match play as the 63rd seed among the 64 survivors.

But Fox, a Tennessee native who was heading into his senior year at Tennessee-Chattanooga, beat one favourite after another, and with his dad on the bag, the 21-year-old reached the 36- hole final. His opponent was a buddy, Cal’s Michael Weaver, and the two were so friendly that they attended a Denver Broncos pre-season game the night before their match-up.

They put on quite the show that Sunday, with Fox coming back from two holes down with two to play to extend the match. And then he captured the title by making a curling 18-foot birdie putt on the 37th hole.

No US Am winner before or since has been as low a seed to start the match-play portion of the tournament.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Fox said in the aftermath. “The whole week is like a dream to me.”

 

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The Am triumph would be Fox’s greatest achievement in golf. He got a bunch of exemptions on the PGA Tour in 2014 after turning pro, but missed all nine cuts. He subsequently played seasons on the now-Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamerica, but Fox made a total of just more than $100,000 in 72 total starts on four PGA Tour-sanctioned circuits.

Now a married father of two, Fox works in commercial real estate, but this week, he and Cherry Hills have connected again, with Fox serving as the caddie for a friend from his hometown, Bryce Lewis.

Bryce Lewis. Jeff Reed

An upcoming redshirt senior at the University of Tennessee, Lewis reached the match play by shooting 68 on Tuesday at Colorado Golf Club, the co-host site for the stroke-play portion of the event. That score, combined with the 71 that Lewis shot on Monday at Cherry Hills, put Lewis, who tied for 10th, in a far better position than Fox was in his Am.

Going into Wednesday’s Round of 64 in match play, Lewis, who is No. 37 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, was seeded 10th and set to take on No. 52-seeded Parker Bell, a University of Florida rising sophomore from Tallahassee, Florida.

In a USGA post on Instragram, cameras followed Lewis and Fox on Monday. They appeared to have an easy chemistry.

“It’s great,” Fox says at one point. “I’m here to help Bryce and hopefully get him as far as I can.”

In another moment, someone notes that it’s probably a good thing to have the former US Am champ on your bag.

“Absolutely, if you’re going to get a caddie, it was me,” Fox says with a laugh. “I mean, Colorado Golf Club, I might not be worth [much]. But here …”

They actually scored better at CGC, but now all of the remaining play will be at Cherry Hills. Is there Rocky Mountain magic for Steven Fox? Stay tuned.

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At No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and already a selection for the US Walker Cup team competing next month at St Andrews, Michael Thorbjornsen would have been among the favourites next week to contend at the US Amateur at Cherry Hills. Instead the 21-year-old rising senior at Stanford announced that a back injury will sideline him for the next few month, forcing him to miss both the US Amateur and the Walker Cup.

“I’m disappointed to share that I am unable to compete in next week’s US Amateur and upcoming Walker Cup due to a stress fracture in my back,” the Pac-12 player of the year wrote on Instagram. “My medical team has recommended a period of inactivity for the fracture to heal properly. While the timing is unfortunate, I anticipate being back to full health this fall. I’ve given it my all this summer and made some great memories. It hurts missing our national amateur championship and not representing Team USA at St. Andrews, but I’m very grateful to the USGA for the honor and their support. I can’t wait to get back with my teammates at Stanford and back on the course as soon as possible.”

 

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A post shared by Michael Thorbjornsen (@michaelt_1)

A native of Welleley, Massachusetts, Thorbjornsen has had a steady summer, led by qualifying for the US Open for the third time in his amateur career and finishing 17th at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic. (In 2022, he finished fourth at the Travelers Championship.) Last week, he reached the match-play portion of the Western Amateur after winning the title in 2021. He is also ranked No. 1 entering the 2023-24 college season on the PGA Tour University ranking, which provides a direct pathway to earning a PGA Tour card in 2024.

A year ago, Thorbjornsen was among four co-medallists in the US Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club before falling in the first round. In previous appearances, he reached the second round of match play at Oakmont in 2021 and was a quarter-finalist in 2020 at Bandon Dunes.

Thorbjornsen’s USGA success also includes winning the US Junior Amateur title in 2018.

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By John Strege
U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman and runner-up Doug Ghim both were named to the 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team that will face a Great Britain & Ireland team at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, Sept. 9-10.

USGA president Diana Murphy made the announcement in the immediate aftermath of Redman’s victory over Ghim on the 37th hole of the Amateur at Riviera Country Club.

RELATED: Doc Redman rallies to win ‘an incredible match’

Joining Redman and Ghim are Maverick McNealy, Stewart Hagestad, Braden Thornberry, Norman Xiong, Cameron Champ, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris.

McNealy is No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and the only player on the U.S. roster with previous Walker Cup experience. Thornberry is No. 3 in the world after winning the NCAA individual title and the Sunnehanna Amateur this summer. Hagestad is the reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion who in April became the first Mid-Amateur champion to make the cut in the Masters.

The captain is Spider Miller.

“It’s a committee decision,” he said, “but the committee has always held a spot for our current U.S. Amateur champion. But Doc went out and earned that spot, and I’m very proud of him. I’m looking forward to a great competition. I have a wonderful team and I’m very excited.”

Missing from the U.S. team was a second mid-amateur representative, with Scott Harvey believed to be on the short list for the team. Also on the outside looking in was LSU’s Sam Burns, college golf’s Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year honoree in June who announced he would turn pro in September in hopes of still having a chance to play on the U.S. team; Oklahoma’s Brad Dalke, the 2016 U.S. Amateur runner-up, Illinois’ Dylan Meyer, who won the 2016 Western Amateur, was a semifinalist at 2016 U.S. Amateur and is currently ranked No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

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By John Strege
Match play — once Tiger turned pro, at least — is susceptible to what often is described as vagaries, which, in golf circles, means only that anything can happen. Nonetheless, a favourite has emerged in the U.S. Amateur heading into Saturday’s semifinals.

It is Doug Ghim, 21, a senior at Texas, who was a 2-and-1 winner over Connor Syme of Scotland at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., on Friday. Ghim has momentum that includes a victory this summer in the Pacific Coast Amateur. He is the highest-ranked player left in the field, No. 7 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. And on the experience front, he once reached the final of a USGA event, the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2014.

His next opponent will be Theo Humphrey, who defeated Chun An Yu of Chinese Taipei, 1 up, on Friday. In the other semifinal match, Mark Lawrence Jr. will play Doc Redman. Lawrence defeated Dawson Armstrong, 3 and 2, while Redman beat Travis Smyth of Australia, 1 up.

Neither Ghim nor Syme were especially sharp in their match. Ghim made six bogeys, Syme four and one double bogey. Smyth had never trailed in his previous three matches, but fell behind at the third hole and never led. Ghim won the par-3 16th hole with a bogey to go 2 up, then finished it off with a par at 17.

“The wind definitely showed up today,” Ghim said, attempting to explain the quality of play. “It was a little stronger than yesterday. And whenever you’re in the quarters or the semis or the finals, its gets a little bit more nervy. I think both Connor and I had tremendous respect for each other. It just made it that much more difficult because we knew how good the other side was. Fortunately it ended up in my favour.”

Humphrey, 21, a senior at Vanderbilt, is No. 42 in the World Amateur Ranking and was the fourth seed entering match play. He is playing in his fourth U.S. Amateur.

“I’ve played many times with Doug over the past five, six years,” Humphrey said. “Doug’s an excellent player, so it should be a great challenge. I know I’ll have to play my best tomorrow.”

Lawrence, 21, who plays college golf for Virginia Tech, has to qualify as the long shot among the four semifinalists. He is No. 386 in the World Amateur Ranking, though earlier this year he won the Virginia State Amateur, a tournament his father won in 1980.

His semifinal opponent, Doc Redman, 19, is a Clemson sophomore who is No. 70 in the World Amateur Ranking. He has had a strong summer, finishing second in the Western Amateur and tied for sixth in the Notheast Amateur.

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