McDermott was near perfect Tuesday, hitting 16 greens and 12 fairways.
McDermott Advances Into Match Play At U.S. Amateur
August 15, 2023 | Men's Golf
Second Round 69 propels CU junior into Wednesday
DENVER — University of Colorado junior Dylan McDermott survived two rounds of stroke play and has advanced to the match play portion here in the 123rd U.S. Amateur.
He tied for 26th in the two-day stroke play qualifier, fashioning a 1-over par 72 Monday at Cherry Hills Country Club and carding a 3-under 69 Tuesday at Colorado Golf Club. His gross total of 2-under 141 was one of just 49 players who finished under par out of the 312 attempting to make it to match play, of which the top 64 earned a spot in the bracket. All competition from here through Sunday's finals will be at Cherry Hills.
He has been seeded 33rd for the match play, and will have his first match on Wednesday against No. 32 seed Jackson Koivun; they will tee off on No. 1 at 9:10 a.m. MDT. Koivun is a freshman at Auburn and was the No. 1 recruit as rated by the AJGA (No. 3 by Golf Channel) in the 2023 class. The winner in the second round will face the victor of the No. 1 vs. No. 64 seeds, Blades Brown vs. Benton Weinberg on Thursday.
McDermott's 69 was one of just 34 recorded Tuesday, and he did it by hitting 12 fairways and 16 greens, with the two he missed he was on the fringe so he was putting all afternoon. This was his second time qualifying for the U.S. Amateur; he did so last year, shaving 11 strokes off his score from the 2022 event held just outside New York City in northern New Jersey.
He had a pretty good idea of what he needed to do to advance. He started his second round at 1-over par, but was tied for 78th at the time so he was fairly confident he'd move up into the 64 spots that would qualify for match play.
"It was good (about his confidence)," he said. "Being able to play there the week before the tournament as well as in the practice round really prepared me for the course. It wasn't a 'bombers' course, it was more of wedge-to- short iron course, which really fits my game. If you were hitting those well, you could control where you placed it and manage the firmness of the greens."
On to match play, in which he has a 4-1-1 record in college playing in two Wyoming Match Play Championships; that included a 3-0 mark last February. He's optimistic that he can continue his competitive play.
"I'm feeling pretty good overall, I played well at Cherry Hills," he said. "I would have a little lower of a score, but I had two putts I missed for par were around five feet, and I just got a little sloppy. But I believe I have everything I need, I just need to go out and do it."
Brown, a 16-year old from Brentwood Academy in Nashville, Tenn., and California junior Sampson Zheng shared medalist honors with 7-under 136 scorecards. Brown shot the low round of the qualifying rounds Tuesday with an 8-under 64 on Colorado Golf Club's course, as he had eight birdies and two eagles; four bogeys prevented him from a 60.
Zheng had the third-best scoring average in the Pac-12 Conference last season with a 69.94; McDermott was right behind him in fourth with a 70.12 mark. Arizona State junior Preston Summerhays, who had the second-best average (69.79), turned in an even-par 143 to tie for 50th. The Pac-12 stroke champion and No. 2 ranked amateur in the world, Michael Thorbjornsen (69.26) withdrew from the event last month after suffering a stress fracture in his back.
Three others with CU ties competed this week, but all missed the cut. Pat Grady, an '09 alum and former assistant coach, tied for 139th with a 75-74—149 effort (6-over par), while incoming freshman recruit Brandon Knight tied for 173rd (77-74—151, +8). The other is a committed recruit who plans to sign with CU in November; NCAA rules prohibit mentioning him by name, but he fared well as one of the few high schoolers that qualified to travel to Colorado.
McDermott is the 12th known CU player to advance to the match play portion of the U.S. Amateur; the previous 11 are practically a "Who's Who" list among past Buffaloes, starting with Dale Douglass (1959), Tom Lee (1978), Steve Jones (1980), Terry Kahl (1981), Matt Potter (1987), Jonathan Kaye (1992), Scott Petersen (1992), Ben Portie (2001), Justin Bardgett (2009), David Oraee (2015) and his fellow teammate, Justin Biwer (2022).
Douglass, Potter, Oraee and Biwer advanced the furthest, all winning two matches before being eliminated in the third round (the round of 16).
He tied for 26th in the two-day stroke play qualifier, fashioning a 1-over par 72 Monday at Cherry Hills Country Club and carding a 3-under 69 Tuesday at Colorado Golf Club. His gross total of 2-under 141 was one of just 49 players who finished under par out of the 312 attempting to make it to match play, of which the top 64 earned a spot in the bracket. All competition from here through Sunday's finals will be at Cherry Hills.
He has been seeded 33rd for the match play, and will have his first match on Wednesday against No. 32 seed Jackson Koivun; they will tee off on No. 1 at 9:10 a.m. MDT. Koivun is a freshman at Auburn and was the No. 1 recruit as rated by the AJGA (No. 3 by Golf Channel) in the 2023 class. The winner in the second round will face the victor of the No. 1 vs. No. 64 seeds, Blades Brown vs. Benton Weinberg on Thursday.
McDermott's 69 was one of just 34 recorded Tuesday, and he did it by hitting 12 fairways and 16 greens, with the two he missed he was on the fringe so he was putting all afternoon. This was his second time qualifying for the U.S. Amateur; he did so last year, shaving 11 strokes off his score from the 2022 event held just outside New York City in northern New Jersey.
He had a pretty good idea of what he needed to do to advance. He started his second round at 1-over par, but was tied for 78th at the time so he was fairly confident he'd move up into the 64 spots that would qualify for match play.
"It was good (about his confidence)," he said. "Being able to play there the week before the tournament as well as in the practice round really prepared me for the course. It wasn't a 'bombers' course, it was more of wedge-to- short iron course, which really fits my game. If you were hitting those well, you could control where you placed it and manage the firmness of the greens."
On to match play, in which he has a 4-1-1 record in college playing in two Wyoming Match Play Championships; that included a 3-0 mark last February. He's optimistic that he can continue his competitive play.
"I'm feeling pretty good overall, I played well at Cherry Hills," he said. "I would have a little lower of a score, but I had two putts I missed for par were around five feet, and I just got a little sloppy. But I believe I have everything I need, I just need to go out and do it."
Brown, a 16-year old from Brentwood Academy in Nashville, Tenn., and California junior Sampson Zheng shared medalist honors with 7-under 136 scorecards. Brown shot the low round of the qualifying rounds Tuesday with an 8-under 64 on Colorado Golf Club's course, as he had eight birdies and two eagles; four bogeys prevented him from a 60.
Zheng had the third-best scoring average in the Pac-12 Conference last season with a 69.94; McDermott was right behind him in fourth with a 70.12 mark. Arizona State junior Preston Summerhays, who had the second-best average (69.79), turned in an even-par 143 to tie for 50th. The Pac-12 stroke champion and No. 2 ranked amateur in the world, Michael Thorbjornsen (69.26) withdrew from the event last month after suffering a stress fracture in his back.
Three others with CU ties competed this week, but all missed the cut. Pat Grady, an '09 alum and former assistant coach, tied for 139th with a 75-74—149 effort (6-over par), while incoming freshman recruit Brandon Knight tied for 173rd (77-74—151, +8). The other is a committed recruit who plans to sign with CU in November; NCAA rules prohibit mentioning him by name, but he fared well as one of the few high schoolers that qualified to travel to Colorado.
McDermott is the 12th known CU player to advance to the match play portion of the U.S. Amateur; the previous 11 are practically a "Who's Who" list among past Buffaloes, starting with Dale Douglass (1959), Tom Lee (1978), Steve Jones (1980), Terry Kahl (1981), Matt Potter (1987), Jonathan Kaye (1992), Scott Petersen (1992), Ben Portie (2001), Justin Bardgett (2009), David Oraee (2015) and his fellow teammate, Justin Biwer (2022).
Douglass, Potter, Oraee and Biwer advanced the furthest, all winning two matches before being eliminated in the third round (the round of 16).
Players Mentioned
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