Severe weather postpones final round as Jackson Koivun leads Western Amateur
Jackson Koivun (Ben Adelberg/Back of the Range Photo)
Severe weather hit Moraine Country Club on Thursday evening, forcing the suspension of the fourth and final round of stroke-play qualifying at 6:13 p.m. ET. Auburn sophomore
Jackson Koivun held a two-stroke lead over the field at 15-under total through 16 holes at the time of suspension.
Fourteen of the 54 remaining players have yet to finish and will complete their fourth-round matches beginning at 7:10 a.m. ET on Friday. The first of eight Sweet 16 matches is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Koivun is currently ranked No. 7 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.
Live coverage of the Sweet 16 matches will stream live from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Coverage will resume from 3-6 p.m. ET for the finish of the quarterfinal matches. ESPN+ subscribers in the United States, Canada (TSN+), the Caribbean, and Latin America (on Disney+) can tune in on the ESPN App, ESPN.com, and connected TV devices.
Despite the suspension, seven players have punched their ticket to the famed Western Amateur Sweet 16.
BYU redshirt junior Tyson Shelley holds the clubhouse lead at 13-under 271, carding rounds of 64 and 71 over 36 holes on Thursday. Shelley's 64 was the low round of the day on the 7,306-yard, par-71 layout. This will be Shelley's first Sweet 16 appearance.
Joining Shelley is 16-year-old Henry Guan, who becomes the third-youngest player to make match play. The Irving, Texas, native finished at 12-under 272 with rounds of 68-69-68-67.
Tennessee freshman Jackson Herrington finished at 9-under. Wright State graduate Mikkel Mathiesen, who became the first player to advance to the Sweet 16 after earning a spot in the Western Amateur field through the Sunday qualifier since it resumed in 2021, also finished at 8-under.
Mathiesen is joined at 8-under by Oregon graduate Gregory Solhaug, Florida sophomore Jack Turner, and SMU junior William Sides.
Eighteen players were in the clubhouse at 6-under or better when play was suspended.
Among those yet to complete their fourth round are Florida junior Ian Gilligan at 12-under through 15 holes and Virginia junior Benjamin James at 11-under through 15. South Florida senior Jake Peacock sits at 9-under through 17 while Arizona junior Zachery Pollo is at 8-under through 16.
First played at Glen View Club in 1899, the Western Amateur is the world’s third-oldest amateur championship, behind only the British Amateur (1885) and the U.S. Amateur (1895). It regularly attracts the top players from across the country and around the world, with past champions like Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.
The Western Amateur is one of the most demanding golf events due to its grueling combination of stroke play and match play. The field of 156 players competes in 72 holes of stroke play over three days to determine the Sweet 16 for match play.
Recap courtesy of Western Golf Association
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ABOUT THE
Western Amateur
Invitational event, and the most important
tournament in American amateur golf outside of the
U.S. Amateur. With a grueling schedule, it's quite
possibly the
hardest amateur tournament to win.
156 invited players come from across the
globe to play one of the toughest formats in
amateur golf. The tournament starts with 18
holes of stroke play on Tuesday and
Wednesday after which the field is cut to the
low 44 scores and ties. Thursday it's a long
day of 36 holes of stroke play to determine
the “Sweet Sixteen” who compete at Match
Play on Friday and Saturday (two matches
each day if you're going to the finals) to
decide the champion.
View Complete Tournament Information