Hitchner Is 5 Under for 16 Holes, Advances to U.S. Am Semis

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PARAMUS, N.J. -- On Wednesday morning, as the match-play part of the U.S. Amateur was about to begin, Derek Hitchner didn't even know whether he would be in it. He had shot 72-74--146 in 36 holes of medal play and was one of 15 players tied for 54th place. That meant a playoff -- 15 guys for the last 11 spots -- was going to be required to complete the field for match play.

The playoff began on the 148-yard, par-3 15th hole at Ridgewood Country Club, and that was where it ended. Hitchner was one of the 10 players who made par, and there was one birdie.

A few hours later, Hitchner, the No. 59 seed, was in danger of being eliminated from the tournament once again. With their Round of 64 match tied and one hole to go, his opponent, the No. 6 seed, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, had hit his tee shot into the trees. Hitchner hit his drive into the middle of the fairway on Ridgewood's 458-yard, par-4 18th hole. From his position in the rough, with trees blocking the way to the green, de Chassart could only punch his second shot back into the fairway and was 100 yards short of the green in two.

Hitchner, the 2021 Minnesota State Amateur champion -- and MGA Player of the Year -- then yanked his second shot into the left greenside bunker. With his chances for advancing suddenly improved, de Chassart hit his wedge shot to 7 feet, and he was inside Hitchner after his bunker shot came up 8 feet short of the hole. But Hitchner made his par putt, and de Chassart missed his, giving Hitchner a 1-up victory.

It was a lot of drama for one day. 

Match play is inherently stressful, but in the two days since the first round of matches, Hitchner has kept the stress pretty much to a minimum -- and he will be playing in the U.S. Amateur semifinals on Saturday afternoon. 

On Friday, he won his third match in a row by a score of 3&2. This time, it was the No. 51 seed, Shea Lague, that he beat. 

Hitchner started their quarterfinal encounter by making a birdie on the first hole (387 yards, par 4). Lague, an 18-year-old who will be a sophomore at San Diego State this fall, countered with a birdie at the par-5 third (594), and he won the par-4 fourth (437) with a par.

That was the first time in any of his four matches that Hitchner has trailed, and the deficit didn't last long. The soon-to-be fifth-year senior at Pepperdine -- Hitchner received All-American honorable mention for his 2021-22 season --  won the 469-yard, par-4 fifth with a par, and he pulled ahead for good two holes later, with a birdie at the 474-yard, par-4 seventh. Hitchner went 2 up when he birdied another long par 4, the 496-yard ninth, and he made his fourth birdie of the day at Ridgewood's monster par 3, the 11th, which was playing 256 yards on Friday. 

Lague hit a sensational tee shot at the 274-yard, par-4 12th and had a putt of only about 12 feet for his eagle. But Hitchner made his birdie putt from 14 feet, and Lague missed the 12-footer for eagle. So Hitchner was still 3 up. 

It looked as though he was about to go 4 up at the par-5 13th (617 yards). He had a short putt for his par, and Lague was lying 3 in a bunker, with the green running slightly away from him The bunker shot would have gone at least 10 feet past the hole -- but it slammed into the pin and dropped into the cup for an improbable birdie.

Instead of being 4 up, Hitchner was now 2 up with five holes to play.

Lague performed a little more magic at the 14th. After hitting his second shot into a nasty lie behind the green, he did well jjust to get the chip to within 15 feet of the hole. Hitchiner was inside of 3 feet for his par putt. But Lague made his putt, saved par and was still only 2 down.

Then came the 15th, which was playing only 135 yards on Friday. The 15th hole at Ridgewood had been good Hitchner all week. He parred it the one time he played it in the stroke-play qualifying (one round of qualifying was played at Ridgewood, and the other at Arcola), and parred it again in the playoff. He won it with a par on Thursday morning in his Round of 32 match against Josh Gliege (No. 38). On Thursday afternoon, he won it with a birdie in his 3&2 Round of 16 victory over Justin Biwer.

On Friday, Hitchner took advantage of the 15th one more time, with a gorgeous tee shot that hit the pin, which was pretty much tucked into the right front corner of the green. He then converted his birdie putt from 7 feet to go 3 up with three holes to play. It was his sixth birdie of the day and got him to 5 under par.

The former Minnesota state high school champion from Blake (he set the tournament scoring record with his winning 36-hole total of 10-under 134 in 2016 at Ridges @ Sand Creek) then halved the par-4 16th, and that was all he needed for another 3&2 victory.  

He will play the No. 34 seed, Ben Carr at 2:20 (Eastern time)  in the second of the two semifinal matches Saturday afternoon. 

Carr, who will be a fifth-year senior at Georgia Southern, reserved his place in the semis with a 2&1 victory over Alex Price (No. 26). Price was an unlikely quarterfinalist. Not only was he from a Division III school, Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va., but he came into the tournament with a World Amateur Golf Ranking of 1212 -- and a bad back, the result of an old hockey injury. Nevertheless, he managed to beat the 2022 U.S. Junior champion, Wenyi Ding, in 23 holes on Wednesday, and the No. 7 seed, Christopher Lamprecht, in the Round of 32 on Thursday. 

In his match against Price, Carr was 4 up after 11 holes and seemingly on his way to fairly comfortable victory. Price cut the deficit to 3 down by winning the 12th with a birdie, but on the 413-yard, par-4 14th hole, the left-hander with the quadruple-digit world ranking clanked his tee shot off to the right and into the rough, and immediately grabbed his back. His second shot was well short of the green. Carr's tee shot was in the fairway, and it looked as though the match would be over in a couple of holes. But Carr pull-hooked his second into the deep, tangled rough to the left of the green -- and then hammered his chip shot across the green and into the rough on the other side. The next chip shot wasn't all that great, either, and Carr went on to lose the hole with a double bogey 6.

Having just hit his second shot at the 14th exactly where he shouldn't have, Carr did the same thing with his tee shot at the 15th, shoving it into a bunker to the right of the green. He failed to get his next shot onto the green and wound up conceding Price's birdie putt. His lead was now down to 1 up.

But Carr, whose WAGR is No. 70, was able to steady his nerves and started hitting good shots again. He parred the 16th hole, and on the 570-yard, par-5 17th, he hit 3-wood second shot just short of the green and got his first putt to within 3 feet of the cup. Meanwhile, Price was thrashing around in the rough, couldn't make better than a 6 and conceded the birdie -- and the victory -- to Carr.

In Saturday's other semifinal, it will be the only player left from the top half of the draw, No. 16 seed Dylan Menante and No. 36 Sam Bennett, beginning at 2 o'clock. 

Menante, who is No. 8 in the WAGRs, took on the No. 56 seed, Nicholas Gross, in the quarters, and was 2 down after three holes. But Menante, a two-time All-American at Pepperdine -- and teammate of Hitchner's -- who is transferring to North Carolina for his senior year, won four holes in a row with birdies (including concessions), from the fifth through the eighth. He also won the 10th with a par. Gross, a 15-year-old from Downington, Pa., with a world ranking of 552 -- mainly because he's so young and hasn't played in all that many of the elite amateur tournaments yet -- birdied the long par-3 11th and was 2 down with seven holes remaining. But he lost the short par-4 12th to Menante's par, and Menante closed him out, 4&3, with a birdie at the 15th.

The player with the highest WAGR in the tournament was No. 2 Ludvig Aberg (the No. 42 seed). He lost 1 down to Ricky Castillo (No. 23) in the Round of 64. But Sam Bennett is No. 3 in the WAGRs, and he's still going strong, having beaten four players all of whom had WAGRs in the top 30 -- Nicholas Gabrelcik (13), Fred Biondi (27), David Puig (10) and Stewart Hagestad (9).

(As for Hitchner and his WAGR, it's No. 51 -- with a bullet!)

Bennett and Hagestad, the two-time -- and reigning -- U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, both went par-par-birdie to start their match. The 31-year-old Hagestad won the 504-yard, par-4 fourth with a par, but that was the last hole he won. Bennett won the 225-yard, par-3 sixth with a birdie, and after halving the seventh with a birdie, he won the eighth with a bogey and went 1 up. The Texas A&M All-American went 2 up when he won the long par-3 11th with a par, and 3 up when he won the 14th with a birdie. 

On the 15th, Bennett hit his tee shot to 2 feet, and Hagestad had to make a 12-footer for his birdie just to stay alive. He was still 3 down, however, and when he lipped out a 15-footer for birdie at the 16th, Bennett had a 3&2 victory. Bennett, who was 5 under in both of his victories on Thursday -- 6&5 over Biondi and 4&2 over Puig -- was 3 under against Hagestad on Friday.


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

Quarterfinals

(16) Menante def. (56) Gross 4&3

(36) Bennett def. (21) Hagestad 3&2

(34) Carr def. (26) Price 2&1

(59) Hitchner def. (51) Lague 3&2