Women's NCAA Division I Rankings -- April 29
April 29, 2024
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. -- Sometimes a golf swing just starts to work. That was what happened for Ross Steelman during the second round of the stroke-play portion of the Western Amateur this week. He opened the tournament with a 1-over-par 72 at Exmoor Country Club on Tuesday. But he began to make progress on the back nine Wednesday (he started on the 10th hole), shooting a 2-under 34.
Then the game became easy for the 21-year-old from Columbia, Missiouri. He birdied three of the first six holes on the front nine Wednesday, holed a wedge shot for an eagle 2 at the 363-yard, par-4 seventh hole, and parred the eighth and ninth holes for a 30, and second round of 64. On Thursday morning, he made six birdies and one bogey in a 66, and poured in another five birdies in the afternoon while shooting 68. All of which added up to a 72-hole total of 270 (14 under), and that was good enough to claim medalist honors.
For his last 45 holes of stroke play, he was 13 under par.
Steelman, who will be a senior at Georgia Tech in a few weeks, said that he hadn't been playing all that well lately, but that he and his coach have been working on his swing, and "it just kind of clicked, and I started to trust it on the back nine yesterday (Tuesday).
"I started hitting it really well, hit a couple pretty close," he noted. "Then I pitched in for an eagle (on No. 7, a 363-yard par 4), and it was off to the races from there.
Steelman finished two shots ahead of Matthis Besard, a 22-year-old from Belgium who finished his senior season at Southern Illinois University this spring. Besard matched the low score of the final round with a 66.
William Mouw, a three-time All-American at Pepperdine who capped off his junior year by tying for fifth at the NCAA Championship, one shot out of a playoff for the individual title, was tied with Steelman for the lead after 54 holes. But he closed with a 71 and slipped back into third place at 273.
Then came a five-way tie for fourth place at 275 that included Derek Hitchner, the 2021 MGA Player of the Year -- and a teammate of Mouw's at Pepperdine. Hitchner started the final round of stroke play on the outside looking in at the top 16, but he changed that by making birdies on the first two holes. He bogeyed the fourth, but got that stroke back with a birdie at the 192-yard, par-3 fifth hole, and he birdied the other par 3 on the front nine (No. 8, 211 yards), as well.
Hitchner, who won the 2021 Trans-Mississippi and the Minnesota State Amateur two weeks later -- in the week between, he finished second in the State Open -- moved into the top 10 at Exmoor by making birdies on both of the back nine par 5s, the 576-yard 11th and the 573-yard 15th, thereby matching the fourth-round 66's by Besard and Travis Vick. Hitchner is the No. 6 seed for match play.
With his 66, Vick moved up into a three-way tie for ninth at 276, and there was another three-way tie for 12th at 277. Michael Thorbjornson, who won this tournament last year, was part of that threesome, after closing medal play with a 71.
Five players tied for 15th, which meant a 7-for-2 playoff to determine the last two entrants into the match-play portion of the tournament. Austin Greaser got the first of those spots, and Adrien Dumont de Chassart, another Belgian, got the last spot by making a 20-foot birdie putt on the seventh extra hole.
Frankie Capan, the 2020 MGA Player of the Year and State Amateur champion, closed with a 68 but missed the playoff by a single stroke, with a 279.
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 Thorbjornson 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
April 29, 2024
April 29, 2024
April 29, 2024
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