U.S. Amateur – Round of 32 – three Okies enter, but only two remain
OSU sophomore Peter Uihlein -from okstate.com
Oklahoma State sophomore Peter Uihlein only needed 17 holes in the Thursday morning round to take care of his opponent, Connor Driscoll, an move to the afternoon’s “Sweet 16″ matches. The front nine saw both Uihlein and Driscoll in a back and forth battle to gain position. Driscoll was 1-up at the turn, but birdies by Uihlein on 10 and 11 gave him the lead, which led to an eventual 2 & 1 victory for the Cowboy golfer. Uihlein will advance to the afternoon play where he will face off against Connor Arendell with a 1:25 p.m. central tee time.
Also advancing to the afternoon matches is recent graduate from the University of Tulsa, Nico Geyger. Geyger, from Chile, was paired with another foreign player, Australia’s Matt Smith in Thursday morning action. The front nine was rather close, with neither player leading by more than one stroke and Geyger just edging Smith at the turn for a 1-up lead. After winning the 11th with a birdie, Geyger capitalized on bogeys by Smith on the 12th and 13th holes to extend his lead to four. This deficit was too large for the Aussie to come back from and Geyger took the match 3 & 2 to advance to an afternoon matchup with #4 seed Ben Martin (1:35 p.m. cst).
The third match with Oklahoma ties on Thursday morning saw Oklahoma State’s Trent Whitekiller match up with recent Marquette University graduate Mike Van Sickle. Van Sickle, who has one of the longest drives in the field – that I witnessed, outmatched Whitkiller from the first tee on and took the match 6 & 5. The match that only took 13 holes proved to be one of two lopsided pairings in the round of 32.
Other rounds of note include the stroke play winner, Tim Jackson, failing to advance to the afternoon round. Charlie Holland was the 1-up victor in this match that pit the 50 year old with 15 U.S. Amateurs under his belt against Holland, a quarterfinalist in last year’s U.S. Amateur and a senior at the University of Texas. If Jackson’s name has a sense of familiarity that perhaps you cannot place, think back to the 2009 U.S. Senior Open. Jackson was the low amateur of the tournament and the 36 hole leader at the event.
The Thursday afternoon action will take the field from 16 to eight, with the quarterfinal matches set to begin at 9:30 a.m. cst on Friday morning.
