September 2023Colorado Golf

MainLOOKING BACK ON U.S. AMATEUR WEEK A look back at a unique national championship at Cherry Hills; Dunlap‘s 12-birdie performance in U.S. Am final puts him in record book with TigerBy: Gary BainesCherry Hills Country Club hosted the 123rd U.S. Amateur Championship last month and the players, venue and fans did not disappoint. 19-year-old Nick Dunlap, the University of Alabama golfer who’s ranked No. 9 in the world among amateurs, made an amazing 12 birdies in 33 holes on Sunday to defeat Ohio State’s Neal Shipley 4 and 3 in the title match.Dunlap, who won the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2021, joined Tiger Woods as the only golfers to have won both the Junior Am and the U.S. Amateur. Actually, Woods won each of those championships three times.“Just to be in the same conversation as Tiger is a dream come true,” Dunlap said. “It’s something I’ve worked my entire life for.This is “the biggest day of my life.”To read more about the Final Match,Call to Action ButtonHIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKFan Count Reportedly Reaches 20,000 for the Week: Jim Hillary, the general chairman of the 123rd U.S. Amateur, said that in “very loose numbers” over 6,000 people attended the championship on Sunday, with around 20,000 coming for the week. By all accounts, the crowds were large by U.S. Am standards.“I don’t think it could have been any better,” Hillary said in general when asked how the championship went. “We had wonderful weather, great crowds. We had a great final pairing. Today we had the artist and the engineer, and today the artist won.” Champion Dunlap was certainly impressed by the attendance.“The crowd that Cherry Hills brought, I got to kind of turn around and looked a couple times, and I imagine there was a couple thousand people out there watching, and it was just awesome to be in the middle of it.” In addition, more than 2,000 kids participated in the Junior Experience activities. About 2,500 hats, 1,500 sleeves of balls and five sets of junior golf clubs were given away in that regard.In Retrospect: Looking back on a memorable week, here are some of the highlights of the 123rd U.S. Amateur:

The par-4 18th hole has always been very formidable, between its length, the lake to the left of the fairway, and a slope-y green. But it was no problem for Gordon Sargent, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, in round 1 of stroke play as he holed out for eagle from 175 yards with a 9-iron.
Two days later, Sargent made an early exit from the championship as two players ranked among the top 10 amateurs in the world — and both from Alabama — squared off, with Dunlap defeating Sargent, 2 and 1.

Two Colorado residents (Connor Jones and Colin Prater) made match play at a U.S. Amateur for the first time since 2016 — and were joined in the round of 64 by University of Colorado golfer Dylan McDermott
In the round of 64, Jones prevailed on his 22nd birthday before falling in the round of 32 to Dunlap. The last Coloradan to have lost in the U.S. Am round of 32 was Wyndham Clark (in 2016), this year’s U.S. Open champion.
Meanwhile, 2019 CGA Player of the Year Davis Bryant, a former teammate of Jones’ at CSU, played in his final event as an amateur, falling short of advancing to match play.
Four Coloradans shared the honor of hitting the first shots of the U.S. Amateur on Monday — Jones, Colin Prater, Pat Grady and Jack Castiglia. Jones tied for eighth place in stroke play out of the 312-player field.

Blades Brown, a 16-year-old from Nashville, matched the course record at Colorado Golf Club (8-under-par 64) and became the youngest medalist in the 123-year history of the U.S. Am. At CGC, he carded two eagles, eight birdies and four bogeys on Tuesday of the event.
In another oddity, there was no playoff for the final match-play positions as an even 64 players made the cut by finishing at even par or better. The last time that happened in the U.S. Am was in 2000. And to add to the odds-defying feat, the other USGA event held in Colorado this year, the U.S. Girls’ Junior, also didn’t need a playoff.

Making the rounds early at Cherry Hills were some fascinating historic artifacts from the USGA Golf Museum & Library. Among them:
Arnold Palmer’s visor from the 1960 U.S. Open, which he tossed high in the air on the 18th green after winning the championship for the first and only time; a program from the 1960 U.S. Open; a 9-iron Jack Nicklaus used in winning his first USGA championship, the U.S. Amateur at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs in 1959; a ball and a scorecard Bobby Jones used during the 1930 U.S. Amateur — which he won as part of his Grand Slam that year and Jones’ champion’s medal for that U.S. Am triumph.

Two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad came within a stroke of qualifying for match play after carding a sextuple-bogey 10 on the fifth hole at Colorado Golf Club during Monday’s opening round of stroke play. Hagestad went 77-67 in bowing out.

The caddie for Bryce Lewis of Hendersonville, Tenn., was no stranger to U.S. Amateurs at Cherry Hills Country Club. After all, Steven Fox, you might remember, won the 2012 U.S. Am at “Cherry,” prevailing against a formidable field as the No. 63 seed. This week, Fox was looping for Lewis, a fellow resident of Hendersonville.

On Thursday, former U.S. Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau, an eight-time PGA Tour winner who recently shot a final-round 58 to win a LIV Golf event, made a surprise appearance at Cherry Hills. Not only did he take in some of the action, but he grabbed a persimmon driver and tried to duplicate Arnold Palmer’s feat of driving the green on the 346-yard first hole in the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. On one of his tries, DeChambeau’s ball finished pin high, just into the rough.
“It’s fun to know where you’ve been, where you’ve come from and the emotions I had back then, how nervous I was,” DeChambeau told Golfweek, regarding returning to a U.S. Amateur site. “I have empathy for these guys. I’ve lost four times and I won the U.S. Amateur once, so I understand the defeat, the power of defeat and the grace of victory. It’s a cool thing. When you lose, for me I felt empowered. ‘I had it, I can do it, I can keep going.’ And then when I won, it was so humbling just to feel that and be a part of the Masters and really what gave me this passion.”

John Marshall Butler and Paul Chang played a memorable round-of-16 match that spanned two days. On Thursday night, it finished tied on the 18th hole in near darkness as portable lights were brought out to illuminate the final green. The next morning, Butler advanced by making a par — to Chang’s double bogey — on the first extra hole, No. 10 at Cherry Hills.

Before Saturday’s semifinals, Cherry Hills Country Club announced the presentation of $500,000 each to three youth organizations with Colorado connections — the Evans Scholars Foundation, the Colorado chapters of the First Tee, and the Palmer Scholarship Foundation.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Shipley capped off a comeback after being 3 down through 10 by almost holing out for eagle on the 17th hole’s island green, where his approach shot spun back 30 feet and came within 6 inches of the hole. He high-fived fans in the crowd and claimed an action-packed 2-and-1 victory.

Ruling

For the second time this summer at a Colorado-based USGA event, Christie Austin and husband Bob played officiating roles in the finals. They refereed the title match at last month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Air Force Academy, with Bob handling the first 18 holes and Christie the second. Then on Sunday at the U.S. Am at their home course of Cherry Hills, Christie officiated the first 18 holes of the championship match, with Bob acting as a forward observer. Bryan Lewis of South Haven, Mich., who serves on the USGA Executive Committee, refereed the final 15 holes on Sunday.

ShipleyNotable: Peyton Manning, the quarterback who helped the Broncos to their Super Bowl 50 victory, was spectating on Sunday. Manning was the honorary chair for the championship, and his kids served as standard bearers during the final match. … Both the head coaches for Dunlap and Shipley at Alabama and Ohio State, respectively, were on hand during Sunday’s finals, as were some teammates of the finalists. … About 1,100 volunteers helped make the 2023 U.S. Amateur run smoothly this week. … After the championship ended, the team was finalized for the U.S. Walker Cup squad that will play Great Britain & Ireland Sept. 2-3 at St. Andrews in Scotland. All of the team members played in this U.S. Amateur: Dunlap, Sargent, David Ford, Caleb Surratt, Nick Gabrelcik, Austin Greaser, Stewart Hagestad, Ben James, Dylan Menante and Preston Summerhays.
How Coloradans Fared: Here are the results for the players with strong Colorado ties who competed in the U.S. Amateur:ROUND OF 32 ON THURSDAYNick Dunlap of Tuscaloosa, Ala., def. Connor Jones of Westminster, 4 and 2
ROUND OF 64 ON WEDNESDAYConnor Jones of Westminster def. Vicente Marzilio of Argentina, 4 and 3Ryggs Johnston of Libby, Mont. def. Colin Prater of Colorado Springs, 21 holesJackson Koivun of Chapel Hill, N.C. def. CU golfer Dylan McDermott of Granite Bay, Calif., 1 up
STROKE PLAY ON MONDAY AND TUESDAYAdvanced to Match Play8. Connor Jones of Westminster, a CSU golfer 68-70–13826. CU golfer Dylan McDermott 72-69—14138. Colin Prater of Colorado Springs 74-68–142
Failed to Advance139. Davis Bryant of Aurora 76-73–149139. Pat Grady of Westminster 75-74–149173. Jack Castiglia of Lakewood 74-77–151173. Future CU golfer Brandon Knight 77-74–151233. Nick Nosewicz of Aurora 75-80–155268. Blake Trimble of Denver 76-82–158268. Future CU golfer Parker Paxton 77-81—158278. Gavin Hagstrom of Fort Collins 78-81–159295. Cole Nygren of Longmont 80-82–162For all the results from the U.S. Am,Call to Action Button-1693247747 About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. He was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.comSeptember CoverExecutive Director’s MessageCGA Member ZoneRULES OF GOLFREVOFeature_CommunityTravelUNEEKORInside The RopesSwing TipOn the Cover_Youth on CourseWellness TipColorado GolfOutside the RopesA Closer LookSpirit of the GameRMGCSAGearFeatured Member Club