Top 10 Amateur Golf Moments of 2016
12/27/2016 | by Sam Dostaler of AmateurGolf.com
With roughly 2,000 amateur golf tournaments in our data base it wasn't easy to narrow the list but here are our top moments from 2016
(December 27, 2016) -- Once again the golf season
did
not disappoint and as 2016 comes to a close it is
time to
look back at the top-10 moments from the year that
was. With thousands of tournaments contested
worldwide over the past 12 months it is impossible
for
us to give every great moment its do but we hope
the
list we have compiled will more than suffice. So
without
further ado here are the top-10 moments from the
2016
season.
No. 10
Joseph Deraney had a breakout year in 2016 winning three Majors of Amateur Golf and positioning himself to be a force for years to come.
No. 9
Recently Bronte Law turned professional but before she did the former UCLA star left her mark on the amateur game with her biggest victory coming in July's European Ladies Championship.
No. 8
Illinois junior Dylan Meyer nearly pulled off the improbable double-double this summer, winning the Western Amateur, only to run out of steam about two weeks later in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur. In both events Meyer's outdueled Florida standout Sam Horsfield.
No. 7
When Chip Lutz won the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur a dream became a reality as he punched his ticket into the 2016 U.S. Senior Open. Once Lutz arrived at Scioto Country Club he made sure the trip wasn't short lived and as the only amateur around for the weekend he won low amateur honors. His signature moment of the week came in the second round when he shot a 1-under 69 to make the cut.
No. 6
With a drama filled 3-2 win over Stanford in the championship match Washington won their first NCAA Division I Women's Championship in program history.
No. 5
Ellen Port continued her success in USGA events, winning the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur. The victory gives her seven career USGA victories and leaves her one behind all-time women's wins leader JoAnne Gunderson Carner.
No. 4
Eun Jeong Seong made USGA history this summer when she won both the U.S. Junior Girls Championship and then the U.S. Women’s Amateur two weeks later to become the first player to hold both titles at the same time.
No. 3
Curtis Luck changed the course of his career with a week of remarkable play at the U.S. Amateur. Playing at Oakland Hills Country Club, the native of Australia won eight straight holes at one point during the championship match to win the U.S. Amateur and all the spoils of victory.
No. 2
The 2016 NCAA Division I Championship was played at Eugene Country Club and host Oregon wasn't all that welcoming to their guests. First Oregon star Aaron Wise earned medalist honors and then after winning just once the rest of the year the Ducks won a thrilling championship match over No. 1 Texas.
No. 1
Is there really any other option? The comeback victory by Stewart Hagestad in the U.S. Mid- Amateur title match is our top moment of 2016. Hagestad was 4 down with five holes to play in the match against 2014 champion Scott Harvey before rallying to tie the match on the 36th hole and then won it on the first extra hole.
HONORABLE MENTION:
-Arizona State senior and Canadian native Jared du Toit started the final round of RBC Canadian Open one- stroke back before finishing tied for ninth.
- In his final event as an amateur Bryson DeChambeau spent much of the first half of Masters week near the lead before finishing tied for 21st and as the winner of the Silver Cup.
-With one spot remaining and five players tied all Chris Crawford did was roll in a 40-foot birdie putt to qualify for U.S. Open at Oakmont.
-As a freshman Virginia Elena Carta captured the NCAA Women's Individual title.
-In the month of July nobody had a better four week stretch than Will Zalatoris of Wake Forest. Zalatoris captured the Trans-Mississippi Amateur and then a short time later the Pacific Amateur.
-Michigan sophomore Nick Carlson, playing in his home state of Michigan at the U.S. Amateur took the golf world by storm with his run to the semifinals at Oakland Hills Country Club. Carlson entered the week as a relative unknown and ranked nearly 2,000 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Joseph Deraney had a breakout year in 2016 winning three Majors of Amateur Golf and positioning himself to be a force for years to come.
No. 9
Recently Bronte Law turned professional but before she did the former UCLA star left her mark on the amateur game with her biggest victory coming in July's European Ladies Championship.
No. 8
Illinois junior Dylan Meyer nearly pulled off the improbable double-double this summer, winning the Western Amateur, only to run out of steam about two weeks later in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur. In both events Meyer's outdueled Florida standout Sam Horsfield.
No. 7
When Chip Lutz won the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur a dream became a reality as he punched his ticket into the 2016 U.S. Senior Open. Once Lutz arrived at Scioto Country Club he made sure the trip wasn't short lived and as the only amateur around for the weekend he won low amateur honors. His signature moment of the week came in the second round when he shot a 1-under 69 to make the cut.
No. 6
With a drama filled 3-2 win over Stanford in the championship match Washington won their first NCAA Division I Women's Championship in program history.
No. 5
Ellen Port continued her success in USGA events, winning the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur. The victory gives her seven career USGA victories and leaves her one behind all-time women's wins leader JoAnne Gunderson Carner.
No. 4
Eun Jeong Seong made USGA history this summer when she won both the U.S. Junior Girls Championship and then the U.S. Women’s Amateur two weeks later to become the first player to hold both titles at the same time.
No. 3
Curtis Luck changed the course of his career with a week of remarkable play at the U.S. Amateur. Playing at Oakland Hills Country Club, the native of Australia won eight straight holes at one point during the championship match to win the U.S. Amateur and all the spoils of victory.
No. 2
The 2016 NCAA Division I Championship was played at Eugene Country Club and host Oregon wasn't all that welcoming to their guests. First Oregon star Aaron Wise earned medalist honors and then after winning just once the rest of the year the Ducks won a thrilling championship match over No. 1 Texas.
No. 1
Is there really any other option? The comeback victory by Stewart Hagestad in the U.S. Mid- Amateur title match is our top moment of 2016. Hagestad was 4 down with five holes to play in the match against 2014 champion Scott Harvey before rallying to tie the match on the 36th hole and then won it on the first extra hole.
Recapping the top moments
from
the 36th #USMidAm Final. pic.twitter.com/fR1
pN
snWIE
— USGA (@USGA) September 16, 2016HONORABLE MENTION:
-Arizona State senior and Canadian native Jared du Toit started the final round of RBC Canadian Open one- stroke back before finishing tied for ninth.
- In his final event as an amateur Bryson DeChambeau spent much of the first half of Masters week near the lead before finishing tied for 21st and as the winner of the Silver Cup.
-With one spot remaining and five players tied all Chris Crawford did was roll in a 40-foot birdie putt to qualify for U.S. Open at Oakmont.
-As a freshman Virginia Elena Carta captured the NCAA Women's Individual title.
-In the month of July nobody had a better four week stretch than Will Zalatoris of Wake Forest. Zalatoris captured the Trans-Mississippi Amateur and then a short time later the Pacific Amateur.
-Michigan sophomore Nick Carlson, playing in his home state of Michigan at the U.S. Amateur took the golf world by storm with his run to the semifinals at Oakland Hills Country Club. Carlson entered the week as a relative unknown and ranked nearly 2,000 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
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