Women's NCAA Division I Rankings -- April 29
April 29, 2024
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. -- Derek Hitchner played 39 holes at Exmoor Country Club on Friday in two matches at the Western Amateur, and it wasn't until the 37th hole of the day that anyone in either of his matches managed to get a 2-up lead. Unfortunately for Hitchner, it was his quarterfinal opponent, William Mouw, who established that lead. Mouw, who was Hitchner's teammate at Pepperdine, won the 573-yard, par-5 15th with an eagle and the 434-yard, par-4 16th with a par to go dormie. Hitchner stayed alive with a birdie at the 17th (434 yards, par 4), but Mouw secured a 1-up victory by halving the 409-yard, par-4 18th.
It was a day of first-rate golf.
In the Round of 16 Friday morning, Hitchner, who was the No. 6 seed, defeated No. 11 Connor Mckinney in 21 holes. They made 11 birdies between them, and tied three holes with birdies.
Hitchner, the 2021 Minnesota State Amateur champion and MGA Player of the Year, took the first lead when he birdied the 192-yard, par-3 fifth hole. Mckinney, an Australian who won the St. Andrews Links Trophy tournament earlier this year, responded by winning the 543-yard, par-5 sixth with a birdie, and his birdie at the 211-yard, par-3 eighth gave him a 1-up lead.
After they tied the par-4 10th (439 yards) with birdies, Hitchner leveled the match with a birdie at the 576-yard, par-5 11th. He birdied the par-5 15th, as well, but so did Mckinney. They were still tied, and so it remained until Hitchner ended the match with a birdie on the third extra hole (No. 3, 401, par 4).
The top seven seeds all won in the Round of 16, and the No. 1 seed, medalist Ross Steelman, seemed well on his way to another victory in the quarterfinals. He was 4 up on No. 9 Travis Vick after eight holes, and Vick's tee shot at the ninth hole ended up closer to the tennis courts than to the fairway. But Vick, who got the winning point for Texas in the NCAA championship match against Arizona State this spring, managed to make a scrambling par at the ninth, and he birdied five of the next eight holes to gain a 2&1 victory.
No. 15 Austin Greaser (he had to suvive a 7-for-2 playoff to get into the match-play part of the tournament) was the only lower seed to win in the morning. He beat the No. 2 seed, Matthis Besard 3&2. And he did it again in the afternoon, beating No. 7 Kelly Chin 1 up. Chin took an early 2-up lead, but Greaser, a two-time All-American at North Carolina, won the par-5 sixth with a birdie, the par-3 eighth with a par, and eagled with 11th to go 1 up. Chin birdied the 13th to square the match. Just as in he Mouw-Hitchner match, Greaser went 2 up by winning the 15th with a birdie and the 16th with a par, then lost the 17th to Chin's birdie, but he sealed his 1-up victory by halving the 18th with a par.
Mouw, the No. 3 seed, will play Greaser in one semifinal Saturday morning.
Vick will play No. 4 Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira in the other. Fernandez de Oliveira, who won the South American Amateur earlier this year, won three of the first four holes in his quarterfinal against Vanderbilt All-American Cole Sherwood and never let the lead slip below 2 up on the way to a 3&1 victory.
Western Amateur
At Exmoor Country Club
Par 71, 7,149 yards
Highland Park, Ill.
Stroke play (72 holes -- the top 16 finishers qualified for match play)
1. Ross Steelman 72-64-66-68--270 (14 under)
2. Matthis Besard 72-66-68-66--272
3. William Mouw 70-64-68-71--273
T4. Derek Hitchner 67-71-71-66--275
T4. Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira 66-72-69-68--275
T4. Cole Sherwood 68-70-70-67--275
T4. Kelly Chin 63-73-69-70--275
T4. Tommy Kuhl 69-67-68-71--275
T9. Travis Vick 75-66-67-68--276
T9. Ricky Castillo 69-71-70-66--276
T9. Connor Mckinney 70-69-68-69--276
T12. Michael Thorbjornsen 69-71-66-71--277
T12. Yuxin Lin 70-72-65-70--277
T12. Spencer Tibbs 70-69-70-68--277
T15. Austin Greaser 71-69-69-69--278* (came out of 7-for-2 playoff)
T15. Adrien Dumont de Chassart 68-72-69-69--278* (came out of 7-for-2 playoff)
Did not advance
Cohen Trollio 74-67-65-72--278
John Marshall Butler 70-69-69-70--278
Patrick Welch 72-71-65-70--278
Gordon Sargent 69-68-66-75--278
Ian Siebers 69-67-68-74--278
Frankie Capan 68-71-71-68--279
Match play
Round of 16
(1) Ross Steelman def. (16) Adrien Dumont de Chassart 5&4
(9) Travis Vick def. (8) Tommy Kuhl 2 up
(4) Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira def. (13) Yuxin Lin 6&4
(5) Cole Sherwood def. (12) Michael Thorbjornsen
(15) Austin Greaser def. (2) Matthis Besard 3&2
(7) Kelly Chin def. (10) Ricky Castillo 6&5
(3) William Mouw def. (14) Spencer Tibbs 3&2
(6) Derek Hitchner def. (11) Connor Mckinney 21 holes
Quarterfinals
(9) Vick def. (1) Steelman 2&1
(4) Fernandez de Oliveira def. (5) Sherwood 3&1
(15) Greaser def. (7) Chin 1 up
(3) Mouw def. (6) Hitchner 1 up
April 29, 2024
April 29, 2024
April 29, 2024
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