CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — Down goes No. 1.
The match-play portion of the 2023 U.S. Amateur began Wednesday at Cherry Hills Country Club, and with that came the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking falling in the Round of 64. However, there were numerous other events to happen on a steamy day in the Mile High City.
The youngest medalist in U.S. Amateur history, and top seed for match play, faces battles. There were players making a push for the U.S. Walker Cup team. There were also upsets and plenty of high-profile players heading home early.
Match play got off to a great start Wednesday, and there’s still plenty of golf to go.
U.S. Amateur: Photos
Here’s everything you need to know from the Round of 64 at the 2023 U.S. Amateur.
16-year-old medalist advances
Blades Brown, 16, made history Tuesday, becoming the youngest medalist in the history of the U.S. Amateur. On Wednesday, in his first U.S. Amateur appearance, he won his Round of 64 match.
Brown, the top seed at Cherry Hills, played all 18 holes but held on for a 1-up victory against Benton Weinberg. After losing the first hole, he won five of the next eight on the front nine to take a 3 up lead with nine to play.
Weinberg ended up tying the match on the 16th hole, but Brown bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 17th to go 1 up. The duo each made par on 18, securing the win for Brown.
“He was putting on the pressure,” Brown said. “I started missing fairways, and he would just hit it to like 6 feet and all of a sudden I was like, ‘OK, I need to hit it 6 feet,’ and that kind of threw me off. I just needed to stick to my game.”
Brown will face Jackson Koivun in the Round of 32 on Thursday morning.
Nick Dunlap takes down World No. 1
Nick Dunlap is exhausted.
The rising sophomore at Alabama has good reason to be. He was matched up with Gordon Sargent, ranked first in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, in the Round of 64. However, it was Dunlap coming away with a 2-and-1 win.
“This is a match that a lot of people wanted to see,” Dunlap said. “This is why I practice, to go head-to-head with someone like Gordon.”
A crowd of nearly 500 people were following the duo as they paraded across Cherry Hills. Dunlap, who won the Northeast Amateur and North & South Amateur earlier this summer, said the match felt like one for the Havemeyer Trophy and not the opening round.
“Jeff (Dunlap’s caddie) when we were walking down, he just told me to look back and embrace it,” Dunlap said. “I didn’t even see it. I couldn’t feel my hands.”
Sargent won the first hole with a birdie, and the score remained that way until Dunlap won consecutive holes on 10 and 11. Dunlap won another hole on the par-4 14th, and he and Sargent halved the next three holes to end it.
Dunlap will face Denver native Connor Jones in the Round of 32 come Thursday morning. Until then?
“Me and some reps may go whack around some putt putt,” Dunlap said. “Sounds kind of fun.”
Gabrelcik makes Walker Cup statement
In two weeks, 10 of the best American amateur golfers will head across the pond to the Home of Golf for the Walker Cup.
Nick Gabrelcik made another statement Wednesday that he should be one of the 10.
The rising senior at North Florida knocked off Jackson Van Paris, 2 and 1, in the Round of 64. Van Paris is another Walker Cup hopeful, so Gabrelcik hopes he made a statement to U.S. captain Mike McCoy.
“Captain McCoy texted me last night good luck,” Gabrelcik said. “He came out to watch me on the front nine yesterday and said my game looks good and to go out and do it. That just gave me a little boost of confidence that he was out there and he was nice enough to send me that text.
“So I just went out here and obviously it’s on the back of my head trying to impress the committee and everybody, but I’m really trying not think about it so much even though it’s really hard.”
Gabrelcik will face North Carolina’s Maxwell Ford in the Round of 32 come Thursday morning, and the chance to don the red, white and blue will surely continue to be motivation.
“It would mean the world,” Gabrelcik said. “I’ve played in three Palmer Cups, and just being able to represent the U.S. over on their soil, at the Home of Golf, it would just be the coolest experience I think I’ll ever have in my life. Regardless of where golf takes me or where I end up in life. It will be something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Brothers Ford moving on
If you don’t know them well, good luck telling David and Maxwell Ford apart.
The twins, who are set to begin their junior year at North Carolina this fall, are making a name for their golfing prowess, and it has been on full display during the first three days of the U.S. Amateur.
Maxwell earned the fourth seed after stroke play, finishing one shot out of medalist honors. David is seeded 28th. And they’re both moving on to the Round of 32.
Maxwell went out first and took down Texas’ Brian Stark, 4 and 3. Meanwhile, David won his first five holes in his 6-and-5 win against William Walsh.
They’re on the same side of the bracket, but they would both have to get through Thursday unscathed before possible meeting up in the quarterfinals on Friday.
How other co-medalists faired
There were three co-medalists after stroke play, and Jackson Buchanan was one of them. And he didn’t have an easy draw whatsoever in the Round of 64, facing Karl Vilips.
Vilips was 2 down with two to play, but a birdie on the par-5 17th pulled him within one of Buchanan. On the par-4 18th, the hardest hole on the course showed its teeth. Buchanan managed a bogey, but a triple for Vilips did him in, giving Buchanan a 2-up victory. He will face Cooper Jones/Maxwell Moldovan in the Round of 32.
Meanwhile, Sampson Zheng, the 2023 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion, was the other player who was co-medalist, and he also had a big challenge in facing Preston Summerhays.
However, Summerhays failed to get up-and-down from short of the green, and Zheng had a comfortable two putt to beat his Pac-12 conference foe, 1 up.
“Coming down the stretch was a lot of nerves,” Zheng said. “A lot of back and forth.”
Summerhays was on the bubble for making the Walker Cup team, so it will be interesting to see whether he has done enough to earn a selection.
Surratt downs 2022 semifinalist
Another one of the premier matchups in the first round was Caleb Surratt, who’s on the 2023 Walker Cup team and won the SEC Championship in the spring as a freshman, against Dylan Menante, who made the semifinals last year.
However, the match wasn’t as close as many would’ve expected.
The contest went only 13 holes, with Surratt winning six of them and Menante none. It was a 6-and-5 victory for Surratt, who was 4 up after six holes.
Menante was a hopeful for the Ryder Cup team, and he still could be on the squad even with his loss against Surratt, but he doesn’t have control over his destiny if other players were to make deep pushes into the U.S. Amateur.
Upset of the day
Yes, the No. 1 player in the world lost. No, that wasn’t the upset of the day.
That came courtesy of Grant Smith, the No. 60 seed who knocked off Piercen Hunt, who finished a shot out of medalist honors in stroke play and was the fifth seed.
Hunt led a majority of the match, then Smith birdied the par-3 12th to tie it. Hunt retook the lead on the par-3 15th, but Smith proceeded to finish birdie-birdie on Nos. 17-18 and steal the match, knocking out the No. 5 seed.
Smith will face David Ford in the Round of 32.
Round of 32 matchups
All times listed are ET
Blades Brown vs. Jackson Koivun, 10 a.m.
Gregory Solhaug vs. Matthew Sutherland, 10:10 a.m.
Bowen Mauss vs. Brendan Valdes, 10:20 a.m.
Connor Jones vs. Nick Dunlap, 10:30 a.m.
Maxwell Ford vs. Nick Gabrelcik, 10:40 a.m.
Parker Bell vs. Jacob Modleski, 10:50 a.m.
Grant Smith vs. David Ford, 11 a.m.
Ben James vs. Zach Kingsland, 11:10 a.m.
Jackson Buchanan vs. Cooper Jones, 11:20 a.m.
Calum Scott vs. Neal Shipley, 11:30 a.m.
Andi Xu vs. Cole Anderson, 11:40 a.m.
Austin Greaser vs. Connor Gaunt, 11:50 a.m.
Sampson Zheng vs. Jose Islas, 12 p.m.
Carson Bacha vs. Ryggs Johnston, 12:10 p.m.
Caleb Surratt vs. Rui Chang, 12:20 p.m.
John Marshall Butler vs. William Moll, 12:30 p.m.
TV schedule
All times listed are ET
Thursday, August 17 (Round of 16)
6-7 p.m., Peacock
7-9 p.m., Golf Channel
Friday, August 18 (Quarterfinals)
5-6 p.m., Peacock
6-8 p.m., Golf Channel
Saturday, August 19 (Semifinals)
3-4 p.m., Golf Channel
4-6 p.m., NBC
Sunday, August 20 (Championship match)
3-4 p.m., Golf Channel
4-6 p.m., NBC
