Matt Parziale (USGA photo)
SOUTHAMPTON, NY (June 15, 2018) - The city of Brockton, Mass., is known for its fighters, and now its firefighter.
Matt Parziale, 31, a full-time firefighter who is the reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, became the first mid-amateur (25 and older) to make the cut in the U.S. Open since Trip Kuehne in 2003. Parziale hails from Brockton, a blue-collar town best known for producing boxing champions Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler.
Related: AmateurGolf.com Feature Interview: Matt Parziale
On Friday at Shinnecock Hills, Parziale rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to secure a weekend starting time among the game’s best, posting a 36-hole total of 7-over 147. Last fall, the USGA announced that the winners of the U.S. Mid-Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur would be exempt into the following year’s U.S. Open. Parziale became the first Mid-Am champion to be awarded the exemption.
“Golf’s hard,” said Parziale. “I mean, this game is crazy. I’m happy with the way I played and looking forward to competing this weekend.”
Parziale is among a group of three amateurs to make the cut and compete for the low amateur medal.
Rising Ohio State senior
Will Grimmer (Cincinnati, OH), playing in his second U.S. Open, leads the amateurs at 5 over par after rounds of 73-72.
LSU rising senior
Luis Gagne of Costa Rica is tied with Parziale at 7 over with rounds of 73-74.
Amateur Leaderboard
T26 73-72 (+5) Will Grimmer
T45 74-73 (+7) Matt Parziale
T45 73-74 (+7) Luis Gagne
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MC 76-73 (+9) Braden Thornberry
MC 78-72 (+10) Tyer Strafaci
MC 79-74 (+13) Doug Ghim
MC 80-74 (+14) Rhett Rasmussen
MC 81-74 (+15) Stewart Hagestad
MC 84-72 (+16) Theo Humphrey
MC 81-75 (+16) Jacob Bergeron
MC 76-81 (+17) Chun An Yu
MC 82-76 (+18) Ryan Lumsden
MC 82-76 (+18) Franklin Huang
MC 83-75 (+18) Timothy Wiseman
MC 83-75 (+18) Garrett Rank
MC 81-77 (+18) Kristoffer Reitan
MC 81-78 (+19) Noah Goodwin
MC 80-79 (+19) Harry Ellis
MC 81-78 (+19) Shintaro Ban
MC 82-79 (+21) Philip Barbaree
ABOUT THE
U.S. Open Golf Championship
The U.S. Open is the biggest of the 15 national
championships conducted by the USGA.
Open
to amateurs and professionals. Amateurs gain
entry via USGA win or runner-up finishes while having the opportunity
to qualify alongside non-exempt professionals in an 18-hole "Local' qualifying followed
by 36-hole "Final" qualifying which is affectionately known as golf's longest day.
Highly-ranked amateurs will be exempted past the 18-hole Local Qualifying. See the
USGA website for details. And if you are exempt on any level be sure to apply by the deadline anyway.
The USGA intends to make the U.S. Open
the
most rigorous, yet fair, examination of golf
skills, testing all forms of shot-making. The
USGA prepares the course after careful
consideration of 14 different factors.
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