A Pair of 3&2 Victories Have Hitchner in the U.S. Am Quarterfinals

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PARAMUS, N.J. -- Thursday supplied further evidence that seedings really don't matter at the U.S. Amateur, in much the same way that last week proved seedings don't 
matter in the Women's Amateur, either. 

Wednesday's first round of matches at Ridgwood Country Club saw the top two seeds disappear, along with six others from the top 10. There were two rounds played on Thursday, and by the time they were done, none of the top 15 seeds was still alive. Dylan Menante, at No. 16, is the highest surviving seed going into the quarterfinals on Friday. Next is No. 21 Stewart Hagestad, who is the oldest player left, at age 31.

Hagestad, a two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion (2016 and '21), is trying to become the first mid-amateur (25 years old or older) to win the U.S. Am since nine-time MGA Player of the Year John Harris did it in 1993, at age 41.  

Hagestad, who made it to the quarterfinals two years ago, will be there again on Friday. He got there with a 2&1 victory over the No. 37 seed, Hayden Hopewell, in the Round of 16. Hagestad was 1 down at the turn, but he won the 482-yard, par-4 10th hole with a par and the 216-yard, par-3 11th with a birdie. Hopewell won the drivable, 278-yard, par-4 12th with a par to square the match. Hagestad won the par-4 14th and par-3 15th with pars but lost the 436-yard, par-4 16th to Hopewell's birdie, which reduced his lead to 1 up. 

Although he doesn't hit the ball nearly as far as some of the young bombers who are -- or were -- in the field this week, Hagestad hits it far enough, and he clinched his victory over Hopewell by making an eagle at the 585-yard, par-5 17th hole.

There may not be any top-10 seeds left in the tournament, but there are three players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings top 10, and Hagestad is one of them, at No. 9. Menante is another. The Pepperdine All-American, who is transferring to North Carolina for his senior year, is No. 8. He claimed a pair of 1-up victories on Thursday, beating No. 17 Carson Lundell in the morning Round of 32, and Ohio State All-American Maxwell Moldovan in the afternoon Round of 16.  Menante and Moldovan were tied after Moldovan birdied the 584-yard, par-5 13th, but Menante -- who plays at a commendably fast pace, in contrast to some of the other players in the field -- pulled ahead with a birdie at the par-4 16th. Moldovan won the 17th with a par, but Menante won the 467-yard 18th hole -- and the match -- with a birdie.

The highest-ranked player, according to the WAGRs, is No. 3 Sam Bennett, a Texas A&M All-American who will be a fifth-year senior in 2022-23. He's seeded No. 36. Bennett had to birdie the first extra hole (No. 1, 375 yards, par 4) just to make it past North Florida All-American Nick Gabrelcik (No. 29), 1 up,  in the Round of 64, but he cruised through his two matches on Thursday. In the morning, he faced one of the two remaining co-medalists, No. 4 seed Fred Biondi. Biondi had squeaked past the 2020 MGA Player of the Year -- and 2020 Minnesota State Amateur champion -- Frankie Capan, 1 up, on Thursday, but he had no chance against Bennett, who was 5 under for 13 holes in a 6&5 conquest. 

Bennett looked every bit like the No. 3 amateur in the world again in his afternoon Round of 32 match. It took him 16 holes this time, but he was 5 under once again, as he dispatched Arizona State All-American David Puig, the No. 45 seed, 4&2. All three of Bennett's opponents thus far have been in the WAGR's top 30. Gabrelcik is No. 13, Biondi No. 27 and Puig No. 10. Based on that, Bennett has had the toughest road to the quarters, although it didn't necessarily look that way in either of his two most recent matches.

Next up for Bennett is Hagestad, on Friday morining in the quarterfinals.

In addition to Frankie Capan, one other recent Minnesota State Amateur champion -- and MGA Player of the Year -- made it to the match-play portion of this year's U.S. Am, and Derek Hitchner has advanced to the quarterfinals, thanks to a couple of 3&2 victories on Thursday. 

Hitchner, like Capan, had to survive a 15-for-11 playoff for the last of the 64 spots in match play, and he was assigned the No. 59 seed. The 2021 State Am champ had to take it to the limit in his first match, but he won the 18th hole at Ridgewood with a par from the greenside bunker, and that was worth a 1-up victory over No. 6 Adrien Dumont de Chassart (No. 16 in the WAGRs). Capan, whose world ranking is No. 51, was 1 over in that match. 

On Thursday, he was even par and tied with No. 38 Josh Gliege after losing the par-3 11th hole to Gliege's par. But Hitchner, a former teammate of Menante's at Pepperdine and an All-American honorable mention, played the next five holes in 2 under, winning the par-4 12th with a birdie, halving the 13th and 14th, then winning the par-3 15th with a par and the 16th with a birdie to close Gliege out.

Against No. 22 Justin Biwer in the Round of 16, Hitchner won the first two holes with pars and tied the par-5 third with a birdie. He won the eighth with a birdie, to go 3 up, but lost the ninth with a bogey. (Nos. 7, 8 and 9 at Ridgewood are 490, 465 and 471 yards, and all par 4s -- and 10 is a 482-yard par 4. Those would have all been par 5s not that long ago, and they still are at a lot of courses.) 

Biwer won the short par-4 12th, and was only 1 down at that point. Hitchner sealed the victory by winning the par-3 15th with a par and the 16th with a birdie. 

"It's definitely draining," Hitchner admitted, when his second match of the day was over. "But I would say I'm just fueled by how cool this moment is, and this tournament. It means the world to me."

On Friday morning, in the quarterfinals, Hitchner will play Shea Lague, an 18-year-old sophomore to be at San Diego State and the No. 51 seed. If you go by the WAGRs, Lague is one of the three mystery guests in the quarters, because he's No. 552 in the world. Lague was 4 over through 18 holes Thursday afternoon against the last surviving co-medalist, No. 3 seed Hugo Townsend, the son of former European Ryder Cupper Peter Townsend, but he birdied the first extra hole (No. 1) to win in 19.

Another mystery guest is No. 707 in the WAGRs -- Nicholas Gross. But then he's only 15 years old. He beat a fellow prodigy, 18-year-old Luke Potter, an Arizona State recruit, 4&3 in the Round of 16. They were all square when they arrived at the 10th tee, but Gross played the next five holes in 2 under -- and won four of those holes. Gross will play Menante in the quarters.

But the biggest surprise in the quarters is the presence of Alex Price. He's the No. 26 seed, but his WAGR number is in quadruple figures -- 1212. Price is the only college player left who's from a Division III school -- Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.,  and he has a bad back, a ;product of an old hockey injury. But he knocked off the 2022 U.S. Junior Am champ, Wenyi Ding, in 23 holes on Wednesday.

Then he picked off the tallest player in the field, the monstrously long-hitting, 6-foot-8-inch Christo Lamprecht (the No. 7 seed), 1 up, in the Round of 32. He followed that with a 3&2 victory over Florida All-American honorable mention Ricky Castillo (No. 23). Price will play the No. 34 seed, Ben Carr (WAGR No. 70 in the quarters. It was Carr who ended the Cinderella Story of Andrew Von Lossow, the 34-year-old No. 63 seed who beat No. 2 seed -- and tournament favorite -- Michael Thorbjornsen in the Round of 64.

Carr, who will soon be starting his fifth year at Georgia Southern, beat Von Lossow 1 up in the Round of 32, and he had to go 19 holes to subdue Nathan Franks (No. 18) in the Round of 16.

After the double round of matches on Thursday, there will be only the quarterfinal round on Friday. The semifinals will be played Saturday afternoon, and the 36-hole final will begin Sunday morning at 8 o'clock.


U.S. Amateur

At Ridgewood Country Club (par 71, 7,403 yards) 

& at Arcola (par 70, 7,251 yards)

Paramus, N.J. 

Stroke play (the top 64 finishers advance to match play on Wednesday)

Final results

T1. Fred Biondi                              69A  69R -- 138 (-5)

T1. Luke Gutchweski                     68R  70A -- 138

T1. Hugo Townsend                      71-R  67A -- 138

T1. Michael Thorbjornsen              68R  70A -- 138

5. Gordon Sargent                        74R  65A -- 139

T6. Adrien Dumont de Chassart    70R 70A -- 140

T6. Luke Potter                              71A 69R -- 140

T6. Christo Lamprecht                   68A 72R -- 140

T9. Rasmus N. Peterson               73R 68A -- 141

T9. Benjamin James                      71R 70A -- 141

T9. Mark Power                             73R 68A -- 141

T9. Cohen Trolio                           71R 70A -- 141

Playoff (15 players will vie for the last 11 spots in match play Wednesday morning) 

T54. Derek Hitchner                    72R 74A -- 146 (made it out of the playoff with a par on the first extra hole) 

T54. Frankie Capan                    74R 72A -- 146 (also made par on the first extra hole)

Missed cut 

Carson Herron                             76A 75R -- 151

Connor Schubring                      76R 75A -- 151

Samuel Storey                             79A 73R -- 152

Owen Mullen                                77A 78R -- 155

Cecil Belisle                                 73A 83R -- 156

Gunnar Broin                               78A 80R -- 158

Jacob Pedersen                           82A 79R -- 161


Match Play (all matches are being played at Ridgewood)

Round of 64

(64) Payton Snowberger def. (1) Luke Gutschewski 20 holes

(8) Luke Potter def. (57) Nicolas Cassidy 19 holes

(56) Nicholas Gross def. (9) Cohen Trolio 3&1

(4) Fred Biondi def. (61) Frankie Capan 1 up

(36) Sam Bennett def. (29) Nick Gabrelcik 19 holes 

(60) Ford Clegg def. (5) Gordon Sargent 21 holes

(63) Andrew Von Lossow def. (2) Michael Thorbjornsen 3&2

(7) Christo Lamprecht def. (58) Garrett Wood 1 up

(26) Alex Price def. (39) Wenyi Ding 23 holes

(23) Ricky Castillo def. (42) Ludvig Aberg 1 up

(3) Hugo Townsend def. (62) JonErik Alford 4&3

(59) Derek Hitchner def. (6) Adrien Dumont de Chassart 1 up 

(38) Josh Gilege def. (27) Pietro Bovari 1 up 

Round of 32

(33) Maxwell Moldovan def. (64) Snoeberger 2&1

(16) Dylan Menante def. (17) Carson Lundell 1 up

(8) Luke Potter def. (40) Bartley Forrester 3&2

(56) Nicholas Gross def. (41) Chris Francoeur 3&2

(36) Sam Bennett def. (4) Fred Biondi 6&5

(45) David Puig def. (52) Bryce Lewis  2 up

(37) Hayden Hopewell def. (60) Ford Clegg 2&1

(21) Stewart Hagestad def. (12) Benjamin James 6&4

(34) Ben Carr def. (63) Andrew Von Lossow 1 up

(18) Nathan Franks def. (15) Connor McKinney 1 up

(26) Alex Price def. (7) Christo Lamprecht  1 up

(23) Ricky Castillo def. (55) Owen Avrit 2&1

(3) Hugo Townsend def. (30) Campbell Kremer 1 up

(51) Shea Lague def. (19) Yuxin Lin 3&2

(59) Derek Hitchner def. (38) Josh Gliege 3&2

(22) Justin Biwer def. (54) Walker Isley 2&1

Round of 16

(16) Menante def. (33) Moldovan 1 up

(56) Gross def. (8) Potter 4&3

(36) Bennett def. (45) Puig 4&2

(21) Hagestad def. (37) Hopewell 2&1

(34) Carr def. (18) Franks 19 holes

(26) Price def. (23) Castillo 3&2

(51) Lague def. (3) Townsend 19 holes

(59) Hitchner def. (22) Biwer 3&2