UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. (Aug. 25, 2010) – Tim Jackson felt that Chambers Bay, and its requirement that players control their trajectory to work their ball around the course’s many humps and bumps, gave an advantage to experienced players. But Jackson’s run at the U.S. Amateur came to an end after some uncharacteristic mistakes.

A mistake is never costly unless the other player capitalizes on it, though. That’s what Scott Langley did, holing two crucial birdie putts to beat Jackson during the U.S. Amateur’s first round of match play.

Langley birdied the par-3 17th to take a 1-up lead, then made a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to win in 19 holes.

“To hit the shot (on the first extra hole) and to make the putt was a big relief,” said Langley, who continued his strong recent play. He won the NCAA Championship, then tied for 16th at the U.S. Open.

This is the third consecutive year Langley has made match play at the U.S. Amateur. He lost in the first round in 2008 and in the second round in 2009.

He said he feels comfortable at Chambers Bay after playing this year’s Palmer Cup, a Ryder Cup-style competition between collegians from Europe and the United States, at Royal Portrush, and playing in the U.S. Open.

“It’s the same kind of golf except over there it’s a little softer than here,” Langley said. “It’s the same kind of golf; you have to really think your way around and land shots short of the green and run them up, play using mounds and everything. I heard guys say they never played any golf like this, and I have.”

Chambers Bay played shorter and softer Wednesday, but both players played well to shoot under par in regulation. The match was all square through 16 holes. Jackson hit his tee shot over the green on the 142-yard, par-3 17th. Langley followed by hitting his tee shot to 8 feet. Jackson conceded Langley’s birdie after Jackson missed his 12-foot par putt.

Both players hit it in greenside bunkers on the 515-yard, par-4 18th. Jackson won the hole by making an 8-foot par putt.

Both players laid up on the par-5 first hole, the first extra hole of the match. Jackson hit first, pulling his wedge shot left of the green. After Jackson chipped to 10 feet, Langley holed a 12-foot birdie putt.

“We both had chances there at the end,” Jackson said. “It came down to a putt. That’s fun. You’d rather be on the top side of that, but looking back on it when I get home, I hit a lot of good shots and I competed well.”

MATCH RECAPS

Amory Davis def. Jeff Wilson, 3 and 1: Davis was the final man to advance out of the playoff for the final match-play spots Wednesday morning. Davis, who plays for Virginia, won with pars at the par-3 15th and 17th to go 3 up and win the match.

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Brad Benjamin def. Tommy McDonagh, 6 and 5: Benjamin, the 2009 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, continued his strong summer. Benjamin spent this year working on his game in South Carolina before he turns professional, and the work has paid off. He finished second at the Northeast Amateur and third at the Sunnehanna.

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David Chung def. Mike McCoy, 3 and 2: Chung has already won the Western Amateur and Porter Cup this summer, as well as last summer’s North & South. Chung’s best finish in a USGA event is runner-up at the ’04 U.S. Junior.

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Skip Berkmeyer def. Conrad Shindler, 2 up: The match was all square through 16 holes, but Berkmeyer won the final two holes with birdies, including the 515-yard, par-4 18th. Berkmeyer was runner-up to NCAA champ Scott Langley at this year’s St. Louis Metropolitan Match Play Championship. Berkmeyer has never made it past the Round of 32 in seven U.S. Amateur appearances.

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Ryan McCarthy def. Daniel Bowden, 5 and 4: Ryan McCarthy, of Australia, never trailed. He was 5 under par for the first seven holes to take a 6-up lead.

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Brent Martin def. Drew Kittleson, 19 holes: Martin made par on the first extra hole to defeat Kittleson, the 2008 U.S. Amateur runner-up. Martin was 2 up after 15 holes, but played his final three holes in 4 over to fall to all square. Martin plays at Winthrop University. He missed the cut at the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links, his only other USGA championship.

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Patrick Reed def. Daniel Zuluaga, 2 and 1: The match was all square through 14 holes, but Reed went birdie-birdie-par to close out the match. Reed was a semifinalist at the 2008 U.S. Amateur.

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Max Homa def. T.J. Bordeaux, 2 and 1: Homa, who plays for the University of California, was 2 down through 10 holes but came back to beat Bordeaux, who is from nearby Tacoma. About 250 people followed this match. Homa took a 1-up lead after birdies on Nos. 11-13.

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Eugene Wong def. Joe Saladino, 19 holes: Wong, who plays for the University of Oregon, made birdie on the first extra hole, the 542-yard, par-5 first hole, to win. Wong won the Jack Nicklaus Award this year as college golf’s player of the year. This is his first USGA championship.

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Harris English def. Jarred Bossio, 2 and 1: English was 2 down after six holes, but won the next four holes with two birdies and two pars. Bossio, who plays for Idaho, is from nearby Olympia, Wash.

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Scott Strohmeyer def. Cameron Peck, 2 and 1: Strohmeyer lost the first two holes, but came back to beat Peck, a former U.S. Junior champ who lives in nearby Olympia, Wash. Strohmeyer plays at the University of Alabama.

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Alex Shi Yup Kim def. Todd White, 1 up: Kim, who plays for UCLA, made par on the 515-yard, par-4 18th to win the hole and the match.

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Byeong-Hun An def. David Dannelly, 3 and 2: An continued his title defense with a come-from-behind victory over Dannelly, who plays for Clemson. An was 3 down through four holes, but squared the match by the eighth hole. An was 3 under par for seven holes on the back nine.

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Blayne Barber def. Kevin Tway, 1 up: In one of the heavyweight matches of the day, Barber and Tway exchanged pars over the final two holes for Barber to win, 1 up. Barber went 2 up with a birdie on the par-3 15th, but Tway birdied the next.

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Connor Arendell def. Eric Steger, 2 up: UCF’s Arendell made birdie on the 18th to clinch victory. Arendell, who has qualified for five consecutive U.S. Amateurs, advanced to the Round of 16 in 2009.

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Chan Kim def. Nick Taylor, 4 and 2: Kim made birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to close out the match. Kim, who advanced to the semifinals of this year’s Western Amateur, said he is planning to turn pro and go to PGA Tour Q-School later this year. Taylor, the Ben Hogan Award winner, is also planning on turning pro later this year.

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Joseph Bramlett def. Mike Miller, 4 and 3: Bramlett never trailed against Miller, the 2009 Golfweek Junior champ. Bramlett qualified for this year’s U.S. Open and won the Northeast Amateur.

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Tyler Sheppard def. Scott Harvey, 4 and 2: Tyler Sheppard, who plays for Abilene Christian, beat Harvey with a birdie on the 425-yard, par-4 16th. Sheppard is playing his first USGA championship.

Hudson Swafford def. Harry Rudolph III, 19 holes: Swafford was 3 up after 14 holes, but lost three of the final four holes and had to go to extra holes. Swafford got up-and-down for birdie from about 80 yards after his ball rolled down a large swale left of the green. Swafford sunk a 6-foot birdie putt after Rudolph missed his long par putt.

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Jed Dirksen def. Michael Morrison, 6 and 5: Dirksen was all square after five holes, but won six of the next eight holes. He birdied Nos. 9, 11 and 12. Dirksen attends the University of Iowa.

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Alex Ching def. Denny McCarthy, 2 and 1: Ching never trailed against McCarthy, the No. 2 player in the Golfweek Junior Rankings. Ching, who plays at the University of San Diego, was runner-up at this year’s NCAA Championship.

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Morgan Hoffmann def. Albin Choi, 2 up: Hoffmann was 1 down through seven holes, but was 3 up after he made birdie on the par-3 15th hole. Hoffmann tied for ninth at the Nationwide Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational earlier this year. Choi won this year’s Canadian Amateur.

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Richard Werenski def. Gunner Wiebe, 2 and 1: Georgia Tech’s Werenski was 4 up after 14 holes, but Wiebe won the next two holes, including a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th. Wiebe missed a 25-foot birdie putt on 17 that would’ve taken the match to 18.

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Peter Uihlein def. Cheng Tsung Pan, 2 and 1: Uihlein, who advanced to the quarterfinals at last year’s Am, came from behind after trailing Pan, a quarterfinalist at the ’07 Amateur, early in their first-round match.

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John Hahn def. Andrea Pavan, 2 and 1: The match was all square after 10 holes, but Hahn took a 2-up lead with birdies on Nos. 11 and 12. Both players bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17. Pavan, who completed his Texas A&M career earlier this year, was runner-up at this year’s European Amateur.