Alex Smalley (L) shakes hands with Dylan Meyer (R) after Round of 32 match
(USGA Photo)
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI (August 18, 2016) -- Illinois
junior Dylan Meyer won the 2nd hole of his Round of 32
U.S. Amateur match and never looked back as he
defeated medalist winner Alex Smalley 4&3 at Oakland
Hills Country Club.
“I played fairly well. I wish I would strike it a little
better. This entire week I haven't been hitting the ball
well like I did at the Western," Smalley said following
his match. "It was just my short game. On this golf
course I've putted well, but my ball-striking is coming
along, and it's going to get better and better as each
day goes by.”
Meyer, the 33-seed and recent Western Amateur
winner, extended his lead to 3 up with wins on Nos. 3
and 5. Duke sophomore Alex Smalley tried to rally
winning the 9th but wins on the 12th and 13th holes
pushed Meyer’s lead to an insurmountable 4 up.
In the Round of 16 Meyer will now face No. 17 Sam
Horsfield in a rematch of the Western Amateur final
from a couple of weeks ago. Meyer won that match
3&1.
“We had a good time at the Western, and I think it's
nice. It's going to be fun," Meyer said of the rematch.
"You know, I saw he played fairly well and I played
good, too, so I think it'll be a fun one.”
Horsfield defeated No. 49 Doc Redman by a
comfortable 5&4 tally.
The match was all-square until Horsfield won the
5th and 6th holes to take a 2 up lead. The Florida
sophomore then kept the peddle to the mettle with wins
on Nos. 9, 11 and 12. Horsfield was able to pull away in
large part because of a front nine 29.
There were a handful of other upsets Thursday
morning including two-seed Dawson Armstrong who lost
4&3 to No. 31 Jonah Texeira of USC. Texeira won four
of the first eight holes in the match and was able to
sustain a comfortable lead throughout the remainder of
the match.
Five-seed Davis Riley was among the top-seeds to
fall as well. Riley, a sophomore at Alabama
dropped his match to No. 28 Curtis Luck of Australia.
Luck ran
away with he match late winning four straight holes
after the match was all-square through 12-holes.
Among the other notable players to lose Thursday
morning was reigning British Amateur winner, nine-
seed Scott Gregory who was outlasted in 19 holes by
No. 41 Nick Carlson of the University of Michigan.
After the match Carlson took about his winning
birdie, "I was just trying to stay calm on the tee
because I knew what it meant. I hit a really, really good
drive and got a good kick left that gave me a little bit of
a better angle [into the green]. I drew a good lie and
had 115, which was the perfect number for a little sand
wedge. We’ve been working on it all week and I just
executed it to about 5 feet.”
The match of the morning went to No. 44 Cameron
Young who bested 12-seed Stephen Franken in 23
holes. On the 18th hole Franken, an sophomore at NC
State, was able to tie the match after neither player had
led by more than one hole all day. Despite dropping the
18th hole Young, a sophomore at Wake Forest, was able
to recover and win the match on the fifth extra hole.
A pair of AmateurGolf.com members, California
teammates KK Limbhasut and Collin Morikawa, have
punched their tickets into the Round of 16.
Limbhasut, the eighth and highest seed remaining,
won 4&3 against
Cristobal Del Solar to advance. Wins on the 10th, 12th
and 14th holes turned a tight match into a late
runaway.
“I like this course a lot because you have to hit the
fairways in order to hit the greens," Limbhasut said of
Oakland Hills Country Club. "The rough is pretty severe
and it’s hard to hold the green with a shot from the
rough.”
Playing as the 14-seed Morikawa easily handled
Texas star Doug Ghim 5&4. Morikawa won five of the
first eight to surge ahead early.
No. 62 David Boote is the lowest seed
remaining in the field after his 3&1 win against 35-seed
Ben Schlottman. Boote turned the tide of an all-square
match after the 13th by winning Nos. 14, 16 and 17.
ROUND OF 16 MATCHES
-No. 33 Dylan Meyer vs. No. 17
Sam Horsfield
-No. 8 KK Limbhasut vs. No. 41
Nick Carlson
-No. 61 Sahith Theegala vs. No. 20 Joaquin
Niemann
-No. 28 Curtis Luck vs. No. 44 Cameron Young
-No. 31 Jonah Texeira vs. No. 50 Kyler Dunkle
-No. 26 Jimmy Stanger vs. No. 10 Luis Gagne
-No. 62 David Boote vs. No. 14 Collin Morikawa
-No. 38 Brad Dalke vs. No. 22 Bryan Baumgarten
-The USGA contributed to this story
ABOUT THE U.S. Amateur
The U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA
championship, was first played in 1895 at
Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island. The
event,
which has no age restriction, is open to
those
with a Handicap Index of 2.4 or lower. It is
one
of 14 national championships conducted
annually by the USGA, 10 of which are
strictly
for amateurs. It is the pre-eminent
amateur
competition in the world.
Applications are typically placed online in the spring
at www.usga.org.
View Complete Tournament Information