U.S. Amateur Golf Tournament, Pinehurst
Aug 20, 2008
Matt Hill pulled off the U.S. Amateur Championship's biggest first-day shocker on Wednesday, defeating All-American and U.S. Walker Cupper Jamie Lovemark 1-up at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club's No. 2 course.
Hill, 19, of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, and an N.C. State sophomore, won the opening hole and led through the 10th hole. Lovemark won the 11th and 13th holes to take a 1-up lead. Hill won the 14th hole to square the match, and then lost the par-3 15th hole. He won the 17th and 18th hole to pull off the upset.
Lovemark, a University of Southern California junior, reached the semifinals of the North and South Amateur Championship in July, and was considered one of the favorites heading into the week.
The 108th U.S. Amateur Championship started anew Wednesday morning with the 64-player match play bracket.
And while the first tee time went off at 8 a.m., the bracket will not be complete until a 26-man playoff for the final two spots is played out. Five foursomes and two fivesomes went out starting at 7:30 a.m.
The playoff could take awhile, given that the second, third and fourth holes ranked as the second, seventh and ninth hardest holes during the match-play qualifier. Should the playoff extend beyond the fourth hole, it continues to holes Nos. 14-18.
The 26-man playoff was the second largest in U.S. Amateur history.
Ross Beal, Jack Newman, the reigning U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, and Jason Bittick birdied the first hole to reduce the playoff to three playing for two spots. The three players then bogeyed the 492-yard, par-4 second hole.
Bittick, 40, a former Marine, made par 4 on the third hole to claim the 63rd spot in the match play field.
“I had packed up my things last night thinking that I might be gone, but it looks like I get to stick around another day,” said Bittick, who listened to Linkin Park on his iPod in between shots.
Beal and Newman then made par on the fouth hole and par on the fifth playoff hole, the 226-yard, par-3 14th hole, which played as the most difficult hole in the match-play qualifier.
Beal claimed the match play bracket's 64th slot with a par on the 378-yard, par-4 15th hole — the playoff's sixth hole.
“I think anything can happen in match play. I’m just happy to be there,” Beal said.
Here's a rundown of those area players who advanced to match play:
Barden Berry, 22, Kinston (UNC)
Brandon Detweiler, 21, Akron, Pa. (N.C. State)
Jeff Edelman, 20, Southlake, Texas (Duke)
Matt Hill, 19, Canada (N.C. State)
Kevin O'Connell, 20, Cary (North Carolina)
Ross Beal, 23, of Uniontown, Ohio, missed a 3-foot par attempt on his 36th hole Tuesday, finishing the match-play qualifier at 5-over 145.
“I thought I had missed the cut right there,” said Beal, who would then get into a 26-player playoff for the final two match play spots.
In Wednesday morning's playoff, his approach on the first hole at No. 4 stopped within 3 feet.
“I don’t even know how I made that one, my hands were shaking so badly," Beal said. "This event is unlike any other I’ve ever played. I was all over the place yesterday, but scrambled my way around making a bunch of putts.”
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