Colorado University Athletics
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Buffaloes Gear Up For U.S. Amateur
August 11, 2023 | Men's Golf, Alumni C Club
Current Team Members McDermott, Knight among four with CU ties at Cherry Hills next week
This is the third in our debut bi-monthly series on the Colorado Men's Golf Program. Features will be varied, from alumni interviews to topics of the day, etc. This feature also serves as a preview to next week's U.S. Amateur.
Four Buffaloes, two current team members, one alum and one future committed recruit (which NCAA rules prohibit mentioning by name) set to compete beginning Monday in the 123rd U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club and Colorado Golf Club in Denver. So we will also take a look back at some of the top performances by a few Buffaloes in the event, considered the top amateur golfing event in the world.
The current Buffaloes are junior Dylan McDermott, who led the team in 36 statistical categories last season including setting 10 team records, and incoming freshman Brandon Knight. The alum is Patrick Grady, who lettered four times between 2005 and 2009 and was an assistant as well as a volunteer coach for eight years under head coach Roy Edwards. The unnamed committed recruit will be a senior in high school this fall and plans to sign with CU in the November letter-of-intent period.
"We have quite the crew competing in the U.S. Amateur with four Buffs in the field," Edwards said. "Dylan has established himself as one of the top amateurs in the world and Brandon has been on quite the tear as well coming into his freshman year. We couldn't be more excited for Pat, who was our volunteer assistant coach the past three seasons after serving as our full-time assistant since 2015. We can't comment on any other Buffs who may be playing."
Grady turned professional after completing his eligibility in 2009 and reapplied for his amateur status, which was granted last summer. Associate head coach Derek Tolan, who played four seasons with Grady, feels he has a great chance to make some noise next week.
"Pat is arguably the most talented player I've ever seen from tee to green," Tolan said. "I wouldn't be shocked if he played deep into the week. Being able to accomplish what he has while having a career and two young daughters is simply amazing, but I am not surprised."
Tolan also echoed Edwards' comments on the current Buffaloes.
"Coach Edwards is correct in saying Dylan has established himself as a top amateur in the world," he said. "He has the toughness required to make a run at this championship. And Brandon is as skilled as anybody in the field. He is a tremendous ball striker and is highly competitive. It will be such a positive for him to be playing in an event of this magnitude before he starts what will certainly be a remarkable college career."
McDermott, who is the 139th-ranked amateur in the world in the latest WAGR rankings that were updated Wednesday, is making his second appearance in the U.S. Amateur. He missed the cut last year in New Jersey with a 74-78—152 (10-over) scorecard that tied him for 151st out of the 312 players. The other three are all making their first-ever appearance in the U.S. Amateur.
They will join 46 previous Buffs who qualified and played in the tournament, 11 of whom advanced out of the stroke play qualifiers that reduced the massive field, 312 players in recent memory to 64 for match play.
Four Buffaloes qualified out of the stroke play portion and won two matches, but all fell in the third round (the round of 16 since 1973).
Dale Douglass is the first-known Buffalo to qualify for a U.S. Amateur, doing so the summer right after his senior year in 1959. There was no stroke play that year, as the match play field started with over 200 players, several getting first round byes in the overall eight-round event. Douglass easily won his opening match over Craig Volhaber, a member of the Notre Dame golf team, 5 & 4, and then cruised to a 4 & 3 win over Bill Schaller, a former Wisconsin State Amateur champion. His third-round match was a nail-biter, eventually losing 1 up to Orville Goens of Des Moines, Iowa. He made up a one-hole deficit on five occasions to pull even, the last time nailing a 13-foot birdie on No. 16, but Goens birdied the 613-yard 17th and that turned out to be the difference. Newspaper accounts said Douglass complained several times that Goens often distracted him by whistling while he was trying to putt.
Jack Nicklaus beat Goens in the next round (5 & 4) and went on to be the eventual champion, winning in a rout over Dudley Wysong, 8 & 6. A record 1,696 at the time competed nationally to earn a spot to travel to Colorado Springs to compete at the Broadmoor (East Course), which at the time was one of the longer ones in the nation for a par-71 at 7,010 yards.
It would be 38 years before the next Buffalo, Matt Potter, would advance out of stroke play and make it as far as the third round, as he did so in 1987. He carded a 75-74—149 in stroke play to tie for 31st on two courses in Jupiter, Fla. (Jupiter Hills Club and Jupiter CC). In the first round, he defeated University of California freshman Ben Furth 3 & 2; in round two, he edged Kevin Troyer on the 19th hole after a see-saw battle throughout. He then dropped the round of 16 match against the eventual champion, Arizona State senior-to-be Billy Mayfair, 6 & 5. Potter was done in by seven bogeys and not really by Mayfair, and he was constantly in the bunkers; Mayfair only had one birdie when the match ended after 13 holes. Mayfair had just been named the winner of the Fred Haskins Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer for the '86-87 season.
Again, a record number of entries at the time were recorded (4,084).
In 2015, the just graduated David Oraee turned in the best-ever score in the stroke play portion of the Amateur, with back-to-back 67's for a 10-under 134 at Olympia Field (Ill.) Country Club's two courses; he finished second, one back of medalist Australian Brett Coletta and thus earned the highest-ever seed – No. 2 – for the match play competition by a Buffalo. In the first round of match play, he bested St. Mary's sophomore Johnny de los Reyes 2 up; he won his second round match by the same score over North Carolina State senior David Cooke. Oraee then dropped the third round match against another recent graduate, UAB's Paul Dunne, 3 & 2. SMU's Bryson DeChambeau was the champion that year when a record 7,047 golfers tried to get to Illinois.
And last year (2022), after completing a sensational freshman season in which he led the Buffs in 24 categories, Justin Biwer was the fourth-known Buffalo to reach the round of 16. He tied for 21st in the stroke play (70-73—143, +2) between rounds played on par-71 Ridgewood Country and par-70 Arcola Country clubs in the shadow of New York City. In the first round, he defeated Khavish Varadan, a junior on the UAB golf team, 2 & 1, rallying from two holes down with six to play. In round two, he posted another 2 & 1 win over Walker Isley, a junior on the North Carolina-Wilmington team. He never trailed in that match, nursing a one- or two-hole advantage throughout after he birdied the par-3 second hole on Ridgewood. He lost in the third round to Pepperdine senior Derek Hitchner, 3 & 2; Biwer fell two holes down from the start but could only cut Hitchner's lead to one hole once, after he birdied No. 12.
Texas A&M senior Sam Bennett won the '22 U.S. Am, and he went on to be low amateur in the Masters this past April, tying for 16th overall. The number of entries last year was 7,749, the second-most in U.S. Amateur history. That was topped only by 7,920 in 1999, 7,811 in 2021 and 7,762 in 2001.
There was a brief period from 1965 through 1972 where the match play format was scrubbed and the event was strictly stroke play. Two Buffs fared well during that stretch. In 1967, Jim English was a sophomore at CU at he tied for 38th with a 78-75-76-78—307 score (27-over par) at the Broadmoor West Course in Colorado Springs. He was tied for 14th after the first 18 holes and 24th at the midway point, but the course played so tough it was hard to make up any ground on the final day in which two rounds were played (only seven subpar scores in those 36 holes). There were 1,784 entrants in that year's U.S. Amateur, and Robert Dickson, a former Oklahoma State golfer and a private in the U.S. Army at the time emerged as the champion with a 1-over 285. No one was under par, and only 18 golfers topped the 300 mark.
In 1972, Bill Mussleman, a '68 CU graduate who led the Buffaloes to the Big Eight title and an eighth place finish in the NCAA Championships, tied for 33rd overall with a 74-79-74-76—303 total (19-over par) at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club. Once again, the final round played tough, and Musselman was hard pressed to improve on being tied for 31st through three rounds. That year, the entries grew to a near-record 2,295 and Vinny Giles won with a 1-over 285 scorecard, besting two players by three strokes, including Ben Crenshaw. A historical note this year, the U.S. Amateur coincided with the '72 Olympic games in Munich; Mark Spitz was in the process of winning seven medals in swimming, and three days after the conclusion of the golf, the terrorist attacks took place, shaking the world.
Here are the known Buffaloes who have participated in the U.S. Amateur through the years (if anyone is missing as detailed USGA records are not available before 2002), please E-mail with information to david.plati@colorado.edu):
Four Buffaloes, two current team members, one alum and one future committed recruit (which NCAA rules prohibit mentioning by name) set to compete beginning Monday in the 123rd U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club and Colorado Golf Club in Denver. So we will also take a look back at some of the top performances by a few Buffaloes in the event, considered the top amateur golfing event in the world.
The current Buffaloes are junior Dylan McDermott, who led the team in 36 statistical categories last season including setting 10 team records, and incoming freshman Brandon Knight. The alum is Patrick Grady, who lettered four times between 2005 and 2009 and was an assistant as well as a volunteer coach for eight years under head coach Roy Edwards. The unnamed committed recruit will be a senior in high school this fall and plans to sign with CU in the November letter-of-intent period.
"We have quite the crew competing in the U.S. Amateur with four Buffs in the field," Edwards said. "Dylan has established himself as one of the top amateurs in the world and Brandon has been on quite the tear as well coming into his freshman year. We couldn't be more excited for Pat, who was our volunteer assistant coach the past three seasons after serving as our full-time assistant since 2015. We can't comment on any other Buffs who may be playing."
Grady turned professional after completing his eligibility in 2009 and reapplied for his amateur status, which was granted last summer. Associate head coach Derek Tolan, who played four seasons with Grady, feels he has a great chance to make some noise next week.
"Pat is arguably the most talented player I've ever seen from tee to green," Tolan said. "I wouldn't be shocked if he played deep into the week. Being able to accomplish what he has while having a career and two young daughters is simply amazing, but I am not surprised."
Tolan also echoed Edwards' comments on the current Buffaloes.
"Coach Edwards is correct in saying Dylan has established himself as a top amateur in the world," he said. "He has the toughness required to make a run at this championship. And Brandon is as skilled as anybody in the field. He is a tremendous ball striker and is highly competitive. It will be such a positive for him to be playing in an event of this magnitude before he starts what will certainly be a remarkable college career."
McDermott, who is the 139th-ranked amateur in the world in the latest WAGR rankings that were updated Wednesday, is making his second appearance in the U.S. Amateur. He missed the cut last year in New Jersey with a 74-78—152 (10-over) scorecard that tied him for 151st out of the 312 players. The other three are all making their first-ever appearance in the U.S. Amateur.
They will join 46 previous Buffs who qualified and played in the tournament, 11 of whom advanced out of the stroke play qualifiers that reduced the massive field, 312 players in recent memory to 64 for match play.
Four Buffaloes qualified out of the stroke play portion and won two matches, but all fell in the third round (the round of 16 since 1973).
Dale Douglass is the first-known Buffalo to qualify for a U.S. Amateur, doing so the summer right after his senior year in 1959. There was no stroke play that year, as the match play field started with over 200 players, several getting first round byes in the overall eight-round event. Douglass easily won his opening match over Craig Volhaber, a member of the Notre Dame golf team, 5 & 4, and then cruised to a 4 & 3 win over Bill Schaller, a former Wisconsin State Amateur champion. His third-round match was a nail-biter, eventually losing 1 up to Orville Goens of Des Moines, Iowa. He made up a one-hole deficit on five occasions to pull even, the last time nailing a 13-foot birdie on No. 16, but Goens birdied the 613-yard 17th and that turned out to be the difference. Newspaper accounts said Douglass complained several times that Goens often distracted him by whistling while he was trying to putt.
Jack Nicklaus beat Goens in the next round (5 & 4) and went on to be the eventual champion, winning in a rout over Dudley Wysong, 8 & 6. A record 1,696 at the time competed nationally to earn a spot to travel to Colorado Springs to compete at the Broadmoor (East Course), which at the time was one of the longer ones in the nation for a par-71 at 7,010 yards.
It would be 38 years before the next Buffalo, Matt Potter, would advance out of stroke play and make it as far as the third round, as he did so in 1987. He carded a 75-74—149 in stroke play to tie for 31st on two courses in Jupiter, Fla. (Jupiter Hills Club and Jupiter CC). In the first round, he defeated University of California freshman Ben Furth 3 & 2; in round two, he edged Kevin Troyer on the 19th hole after a see-saw battle throughout. He then dropped the round of 16 match against the eventual champion, Arizona State senior-to-be Billy Mayfair, 6 & 5. Potter was done in by seven bogeys and not really by Mayfair, and he was constantly in the bunkers; Mayfair only had one birdie when the match ended after 13 holes. Mayfair had just been named the winner of the Fred Haskins Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer for the '86-87 season.
Again, a record number of entries at the time were recorded (4,084).
In 2015, the just graduated David Oraee turned in the best-ever score in the stroke play portion of the Amateur, with back-to-back 67's for a 10-under 134 at Olympia Field (Ill.) Country Club's two courses; he finished second, one back of medalist Australian Brett Coletta and thus earned the highest-ever seed – No. 2 – for the match play competition by a Buffalo. In the first round of match play, he bested St. Mary's sophomore Johnny de los Reyes 2 up; he won his second round match by the same score over North Carolina State senior David Cooke. Oraee then dropped the third round match against another recent graduate, UAB's Paul Dunne, 3 & 2. SMU's Bryson DeChambeau was the champion that year when a record 7,047 golfers tried to get to Illinois.
And last year (2022), after completing a sensational freshman season in which he led the Buffs in 24 categories, Justin Biwer was the fourth-known Buffalo to reach the round of 16. He tied for 21st in the stroke play (70-73—143, +2) between rounds played on par-71 Ridgewood Country and par-70 Arcola Country clubs in the shadow of New York City. In the first round, he defeated Khavish Varadan, a junior on the UAB golf team, 2 & 1, rallying from two holes down with six to play. In round two, he posted another 2 & 1 win over Walker Isley, a junior on the North Carolina-Wilmington team. He never trailed in that match, nursing a one- or two-hole advantage throughout after he birdied the par-3 second hole on Ridgewood. He lost in the third round to Pepperdine senior Derek Hitchner, 3 & 2; Biwer fell two holes down from the start but could only cut Hitchner's lead to one hole once, after he birdied No. 12.
Texas A&M senior Sam Bennett won the '22 U.S. Am, and he went on to be low amateur in the Masters this past April, tying for 16th overall. The number of entries last year was 7,749, the second-most in U.S. Amateur history. That was topped only by 7,920 in 1999, 7,811 in 2021 and 7,762 in 2001.
There was a brief period from 1965 through 1972 where the match play format was scrubbed and the event was strictly stroke play. Two Buffs fared well during that stretch. In 1967, Jim English was a sophomore at CU at he tied for 38th with a 78-75-76-78—307 score (27-over par) at the Broadmoor West Course in Colorado Springs. He was tied for 14th after the first 18 holes and 24th at the midway point, but the course played so tough it was hard to make up any ground on the final day in which two rounds were played (only seven subpar scores in those 36 holes). There were 1,784 entrants in that year's U.S. Amateur, and Robert Dickson, a former Oklahoma State golfer and a private in the U.S. Army at the time emerged as the champion with a 1-over 285. No one was under par, and only 18 golfers topped the 300 mark.
In 1972, Bill Mussleman, a '68 CU graduate who led the Buffaloes to the Big Eight title and an eighth place finish in the NCAA Championships, tied for 33rd overall with a 74-79-74-76—303 total (19-over par) at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club. Once again, the final round played tough, and Musselman was hard pressed to improve on being tied for 31st through three rounds. That year, the entries grew to a near-record 2,295 and Vinny Giles won with a 1-over 285 scorecard, besting two players by three strokes, including Ben Crenshaw. A historical note this year, the U.S. Amateur coincided with the '72 Olympic games in Munich; Mark Spitz was in the process of winning seven medals in swimming, and three days after the conclusion of the golf, the terrorist attacks took place, shaking the world.
Here are the known Buffaloes who have participated in the U.S. Amateur through the years (if anyone is missing as detailed USGA records are not available before 2002), please E-mail with information to david.plati@colorado.edu):
Buffaloes In The U.S. Amateur
(Match play: reached round of; stroke play from 1965-72; #--qualified pre-CU career ^--qualified post-CU career)
1959 Dale Douglass (lost in third round)
1966 ^Les Fowler (79-78—157; missed cut)
1967 Jim English (78-75-76-78—307; tie-38th)
^Les Fowler (78-82—160; missed cut)
^Tad Polumbus (84-87—171; missed cut)
1972 ^Bill Musselman (74-79-74-76—303; tie-33rd)
1978 Tom Lee (no stroke play; lost in first round)
1980 Steve Jones (76-74—150; lost in second round)
^M.J. Mastalir (81-80—161; missed cut)
1981 Terry Kahl (75-79—154; lost in first round *
1982 Darrell Knight (76-85—161; missed cut)
1984 ^Davis Driver (76-75—151, missed cut)
Todd Wood (78-77—155; missed cut)
Matt Potter (81-77—158; missed cut)
1985 ^M.J. Mastalir (84-84—168; missed cut)
1987 Matt Potter (75-74—149; lost in third round)
1988 Mike Glaesel (73-80—153; missed cut)
1989 #Scott Petersen (75-78—153; missed cut)
1990 #Scott Petersen (72-78—150; missed cut)
D.J. Morris (76-78—154; missed cut)
1992 Jonathan Kaye (72-73—145; lost in second round)
Scott Petersen (76-69—145; lost in second round)
1994 John Luoma (80-69—149; missed cut)
Mike Troyer (81-72—153; missed cut)
1998 Paul Robinson (77-71—148; missed cut)
Matt Call (76-74—150; missed cut)
Norton Rainey (79-78—157; missed cut)
1999 Matt Zions (74-83—157; missed cut)
Matt Call (78-80—158; missed cut)
^Dirk Fennie (83-80—163; missed cut)
Brandon Tompkins (82-82—164; missed cut)
2000 Ben Portie (82-75—157; missed cut)
2001 Ben Portie (66-72—138; lost in first round)
#Derek Tolan (75-74—149; missed cut)
2002 Derek O'Neill (83-71—154; missed cut)
#Derek Tolan (77-71—148; missed cut)
2003 Edward McGlasson (77-72—149; missed cut)
2005 Edward McGlasson (79-70—149; missed cut)
2006 Ryan Anderson (74-76—150; missed cut)
Blake Moore (78-79—157; missed cut)
2008 Michael Baird (70-80—150; missed cut)
2009 Justin Bardgett (70-78—148; lost in first round)
Derek Tolan (72-73—145; missed cut)
2010 #Beau Schoolcraft (80-75—155; missed cut)
2011 Drew Trujillo (77-76—153; missed cut)
2014 Ethan Freeman (74-81—155; missed cut)
2015 David Oraee (67-67—134; lost in third round)
Spencer Painton (71-74--145; missed cut)
2017 ^Kenny Coakley (75-75—150; missed cut)
John Souza (77-77—154; missed cut)
2020 Daniel O'Loughlin (77-74—151; missed cut)
2021 #Robby Keilch (83-71—154; missed cut)
Adam Matteson (72-74—146; missed cut)
2022 Justin Biwer (70-73—143; lost in third round)
Dylan McDermott (74-78—152; missed cut)
The Buffaloes will be among the 312 golfers competing in Denver, which is returning to Colorado for the first time since 2012 and for the fifth time overall. Two days of stroke play will take place beginning Monday (Aug. 14) at Cherry Hills Country Club and Colorado Golf Club. After the field is cut to 64 players, five days of match play commencing Aug. 16 lead up to a 36-hole championship match at Cherry Hills on Sunday, Aug. 20. Cherry Hills also hosted the event in 1990 and 2012, with the Broadmoor doing so the first two occasions in 1959 and 1967.
Players Mentioned
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