Jimmy Ellis (USGA Photo)

Ellis is ranked No. 465 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.

Ellis, who claimed the 2024 Florida State Amateur to get a spot in this year’s field, carded a 9-under-par 61 at stroke-play co-host Chaska Town Course on Tuesday – and coupled with his 1-under 71 at Hazeltine National Golf Club – registered a 36-hole total of 10-under 132 to best Duke University rising sophomore Ethan Evans, of Mercer Island, Wash., by a stroke. Evans, 20, played his final nine holes (Chaska Town Course’s outward nine) in 29 strokes en route to a 7-under 63.

Three others shared third at 7-under 135: first-round co-leader Paul Chang of the People’s Republic of China; 2023 USA Walker Cupper David Ford of Peachtree Corners, Ga.; Luis Masaveu of Spain, who qualified for this year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon and finished 78th. Chang (71) and Ford (68) played Hazeltine, while Masaveu fired a 65 at Chaska Town Course, which is 697 yards shorter.

Ellis, a Ohio University graduate, became the first mid-amateur (25 years and older) to garner medalist/co-medalist honors since Neil Raymond, then a 27-year-old from England, was co-medalist with Brady Watt in 2013 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. The last solo mid-am medalist was Jeff Wilson in 2010 at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

His 132 total was one off the championship mark set by Hayden Wood in 2017 at The Riviera Country Club and stroke-play co-host Bel Air Country Club, in Los Angeles. Five others have posted 132 in the championship, including 2013 USA Walker Cupper Bobby Wyatt at Cherry Hills Country Club/CommonGround Golf Course in suburban Denver.

“That’s pretty crazy,” said Ellis, competing in his second U.S. Amateur and sixth USGA championship. “It’s just a blind squirrel. I literally made everything today. I bet if we play this tournament 100 times, there is zero percent chance I would be the medalist.

“[My goal this week was] just try to sneak into match play and try to upset some big name. That would have been the cool thing to do. But this is just weird.”

The championship now moves to Hazeltine National Golf Club for the match-play portion. The cut for match play came at even-par 142, and a 14-for-11 playoff will determine the final spots in the draw on Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m. CDT.

Those at 6-under 136 included Oklahoma Christian rising junior Leandro Mihaich of Argentina and 2024 University of Louisville graduate Sebastian Moss of Houston, Texas. Evans’ college teammate and 2023 U.S. Junior champion Bryan Kim, of Brookeville, Md., first-round co-leader and Ole Miss rising junior Tom Fischer, of Birmingham, Ala., Vanderbilt standout Jackson Van Paris, of Pinehurst, N.C., and Auburn fifth-year senior Carson Bacha, of York, Pa., finished at 5-under 137.

Ellis, a Pittsburgh, Pa., native, has always been a solid golfer, good enough to play at the Division I level at Florida Gulf Coast and later Ohio University when he realized he wasn’t going to play the game for a living. But it wasn’t until COVID hit in 2020 that his game began to take off. He won the Pennsylvania Open and Pittsburgh Open, and two years later qualified for the 2022 U.S. Amateur. Two of his three U.S. Mid-Amateur starts have come in that time as well (he also played in 2014).

Because he works from home, Ellis, his wife Erin and two young children (Palmer, 7 and Lyla, 4) moved to northeast Florida, falling in love with Atlantic Beach, and the year-round golf opportunities. At Atlantic Beach Country Club, he regularly plays with junior phenom Miles Russell, a 15-year-old lefty who was the 2023 American Junior Golf Association’s Player of the Year and now a member of the USGA’s inaugural U.S. National Junior Team.

While he rarely beats Russell – “I make him sign the scorecards when I do beat him” – it has helped sharpen Ellis’ game. In June, he carded a final-round 64 to win the Florida Amateur and garner a spot in the U.S. Amateur. For the first time this year, the USGA awarded exemptions to winners of state/Allied Golf Association amateur championships.

After a tough putting day at Hazeltine in Monday’s first round, Ellis quickly found a liking to Chaska’s putting surfaces, registering 10 birdies against a lone bogey. His 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th came up just short and he settled for a 61.

Evans, who started on No. 10 at Chaska Town Course, was even par through eight holes – one birdie and one bogey – before a 4 on the par-5 18th got things rolling. The runner-up in this year’s NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, who finished fifth in the Sunnehanna Amateur and made the 36-hole cut in the recent Western Amateur, then birdied six of his final nine holes.

“It was a combination,” said Evans of his putting and ball striking. “It’s definitely gettable…I kept it in play, and then from there it’s pretty straight forward. Greens are soft, hit some good approach shots and then got a few putts to go in towards the end, which was nice.”

Masaveu’s 65 included an eagle-3 on the par-5 ninth, where he laced a 5-iron from 237 yards to 15 feet. He posted three more bogeys on the inward nine for a bogey-free 65.

“I’m really happy,” said Masaveu, who made the cut in last month’s Open Championship and finished 78th. “Yesterday, Hazeltine was really tough. I started out okay, 2 over when I made the turn, and from there I focused, started playing well, and today I did the same. I was putting a lot better, and I was just missing it in the right spots, which is what’s most important on courses that are this difficult.”  

Ford overcame an early bogey on the par-4 second by playing 5-under golf over his final 16 holes. That included a clutch par save on the par-5 seventh after watching his 6-iron second shot find the penalty area. The lefty, who is No. 8 in the WAGR, came into the week on a bit of an uptick after what he deemed an inconsistent summer. At the Southern Amateur, he was happy to put together four 68s, and in the past three weeks, he’s seen some good signs of a turnaround.

“Just doing a few things well every day,” said the rising University of North Carolina senior. “Just being really consistent with my body and really consistent with my swing. Doing a lot of swing maintenance. Honestly, just preparing my body and my mind like it’s a tournament every day. And it’s been working.”

Chang took note of how much firmer Hazeltine played compared to his practice round over the weekend. Thanks to an opening-round 64, he was able to use Tuesday’s round as a run-through for match play.

There was plenty of drama on the other end of the spectrum as well. World No. 1 Gordon Sargent opened stroke play with a 2-over 72 at Chaska Town Course, the “easier” of the two stroke-play courses. Chaska played just more than five strokes easier on Day 1 and was 4.5 strokes easier in Round 2. An early bogey on No. 12 – his third hole of the day – had the Vanderbilt University rising senior thinking he might be headed for a premature exit from a championship where has never advanced past the Round of 64. Then he played 4-under golf over his final 15 holes to qualify for match play, including three consecutive birdies from No. 13.

“Yeah, it’s definitely nice to play your way into some form a little bit,” said Sargent, who missed the cut in this year’s U.S. Open and Open Championship. “I haven’t played a ton this summer, honestly, so it’s hard to really tell how your game feels at home [in Birmingham, Ala.] just hitting balls on the range and stuff. Just getting some reps in and seeing good shots, putting them together and building some confidence.”

World No. 2 Luke Clanton, fresh from a solo fifth-place finish in this past weekend’s PGA Tour Wyndham Championship, backed up a first-round 69 with a 2-under 70 to post 3-under 139.

What’s Next

The 14-for-11 playoff for the final match-play spots will take place at 7:30 a.m. CDT, starting on No. 10 at Hazeltine National Golf Club and then moving to Nos. 17 and 18, if necessary. Those holes will be repeated should the playoff go longer than three holes.

The Round of 64 will commence at 8 a.m. off the first tee at Hazeltine. For fans wishing to attend, tickets are available for purchase. Golf Channel has live coverage from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT, with Peacock streaming simultaneously. The broadcast will re-air on Golf Channel from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Notable

Those in the 14-for-11 playoff includes Minnesota native Gunnar Broin, 2024 U.S. Open qualifiers Ashton McCulloch and Omar Morales, who also finished runner-up in 2024 Latin America Amateur Championship, 2024 Iowa Amateur champion Nate McCoy, the son of 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Mike McCoy, and incoming Stanford University freshman Ratchanon Tk Chantanuwat, who shot a 68 at Hazeltine on Tuesday. Broin, a University of Kansas fifth-year senior, caddies at Hazeltine National and plays regularly at Chaska Town Course. He tripled his opening hole of stroke play at Hazeltine on Monday and battled back to shoot even-par 142, including a 2-under 68 at Chaska Town Course on Tuesday.

The other five Minnesotans in the field did not advance: 2024 Sunnehanna Amateur champion and recent University of Minnesota graduate Ben Warian, Sam Udovich, Jacques Wilson, Nate Deziel and Jacob Pedersen.  

Other notables to advance were 2023 USA Walker Cuppers Ben James, and Preston Summerhays, 2024 U.S. Open qualifiers Jackson Buchanan, and Brendan Valdes, and U.S. National Junior Team members Henry Guan and Tyler Mawhinney, who is fresh from winning last week’s Canadian Amateur to earn a spot in the field. Guan’s 105-yard hole-out with a 56-degree wedge on the par-4 eighth – his 17th of the round – at Chaska Town Course led to an even-par 70 (141 total).

Besides Jimmy Ellis, two other mid-amateurs advanced: Bobby Massa and Christian Brand. McCoy and Omar Tejeira Jaen are in the playoff.

USGA champions who failed to advance to match play included 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Trevor Gutschewski, three-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad, 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Matthew McClean, 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Todd White, 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Rusty Strawn, 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Matt Parziale, 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion Kiko Francisco Coelho, and 2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champions Brian Blanchard and Sam Engel.

Other notables who did not qualify were U.S. National Junior Team members Blades Brown, Miles Russell, Tyler Watts (2024 U.S. Junior Amateur runner-up) and Michael Riebe, plus unanimous college player of the year and world No. 2 Jackson Koivun, 2024 U.S. Open qualifiers Colin Prater and Parker Bell (2023 U.S. Amateur semifinalist), John Daly II (son of two-time major champion), 2024 Western Amateur champ Ian Gilligan, 2021 Latin America Amateur champion Aaron Jarvis, 2024 NCAA Division I individual champion Hiroshi Tai, and Godfrey Nsubuga, the first player from Uganda to ever play in a USGA championship.

Andrew Goodman, of Norman, Okla., had a 15-stroke turnaround but wound up one stroke shy of the playoff after posting a 6-under 64 at Chaska Town Course. But Ethan Fang, of Plano, Texas, managed to get himself in the playoff by going 14 strokes lower than Monday with a 64 at Chaska Town Course.