At the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, there was a good reason to be wary of mid-amateurs: six of the eight quarterfinal twosomes were 25 or older.
Mid-ams Brian Blanchard, 31, and Sam Engel, 29, both software executives from Scottsdale, Arizona, won the ninth U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship on May 29 at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, defeating Tennessee teens Blades Brown and Jackson Herrington, 2-up.
“It’s why we grind,” Blanchard said. “It’s why we’re out there after work until it gets dark, grinding all day. I think he has a little more confidence than me, but here we are. I appreciate Sam for bringing his really strong confidence this week and helping the team to victory.”
Added Engel: “Having your partner there with you, it’s a good place to start. We both definitely believe in our games, but having the support is nice. It’s hard to qualify for USGA championships, and if you don’t have your best, best stuff, you go home. There’s a lot of really great players. We brought it this week, and obviously awesome to ultimately bring home the hardware.”
It marked the eighth time that mid-amateurs advanced to the championship match, with 2021 being the outlier.
Blanchard, who devoted himself to golf after graduating from Arizona State and landing a job, and Engel, who played collegiate golf at Cal State Northridge and dabbled in professional mini-tours, were making their Four-Ball debut.
Brown, 17, of Nashville, is a member of the new U.S. national development team and the Tennessee Golf Association’s junior and men’s player of the year in 2023. Herrington, 18, of Dickson, will attend the University of Tennessee in the fall. Both were headed to suburban Atlanta for today’s U.S. Open final qualifying.
Blanchard and Engel took a 2-up lead with birdies on the 13th and 14th holes of the Wissahickon Course before Brown and Herrington birdied the par-4 17th to close their deficit to one hole. With mid-am moxie, Blanchard and Engel birdied the par-4 18th to claim the title.
“I didn’t look up or research who we were playing all week,” said Engel, the 2023 Arizona Mid-Amateur champion. “I thought Brian and I were a really strong team. There was no reason for us to get in our own heads about who we were playing. We know we’re playing great players; we’re at a USGA championship.”
Nonetheless, Brown and Herrington were impressive.
“Those boys are awesome, awesome players, and we know that they have super bright futures ahead of them,” Engel said. “We wanted our chance to make them remember playing Sam and Brian.”
Medalists Robbie Ziegler, 33, of Tualatin, Oregon, and Zach Foushee, 29, of Lake Oswego, Oregon, shot a tournament record-tying 16-under-par 126 that included a 62 in Round 1. They lost in the round of 16 to Michiganders Bradley Bastion, 39, of Shelby Township, and Anthony Sorentino, 46, of Rochester Hills, 1-up.
The common denominator of the 25-and-older crowd’s collective strength is the large dose of golf savvy between the temples.
“When match play starts, you can throw the number by the name out the window,” Todd White, 56, the reigning U.S. Senior Amateur champion from Spartanburg, South Carolina, said of match-play seeding. He teamed with Nathan Smith, 45, a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in advancing to the round of 32.
“It’s like the NCAA basketball tournament with parity now,” White said. “There are so many good players, and the quality of the field is so deep that once match play starts, I don’t look at anything as an upset.”
Smith, who will captain the U.S. Walker Cup team next year at Cypress Point, and White were joined by Scott Harvey, 44, of Greensboro, North Carolina, and Todd Mitchell, 42, of Bloomington, Illinois, the 2019 champions, as the only sides to play in all nine U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championships.
RESULTS
Pete Kowalski