Engle, Herrington Eliminated at U.S. Amateur (2024)

In the back of his mind, Garrett Engle was hoping to conjure up some the same mojo demonstrated by Steven Fox during his improbable run through the bracket to win the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship.

While not willing to look beyond his next match in this arduous weeklong journey, you couldn’t blame Engle for entertaining those thoughts. After all, he and Fox were both products of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, had experienced similar paths in narrowly qualifying and considered dark horses among the amateur game’s elite.

But Engle’s dream of becoming the second Mocs golfer to hoist the coveted Havemeyer Trophy ended Thursday afternoon at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. After winning his Round of 32 match earlier in the day, Engle was knocked out in the Round of 16 contest, losing 4 and 2 to Noah Kent of Naples, Fla.

The other remaining Tennessee golfer who was still alive in match play, Dickson’s Jackson Herrington, was also eliminated on Thursday. Herrington staged a comeback in his Round of 32 match with Spain’s Luis Masaveu, only to be on the short end of a 1-up decision.

“To be honest, I did not have near my best stuff all week,” Engle said. “I’d give my actual play a C-minus. But to be able to make a run not having full control of my golf ball really proved a lot to me. I am very proud of my fight all week even in the loss. I fought until the end and that’s all I could do.”

Engle and Kent, who is entering his sophom*ore season at Iowa, had recently crossed paths at the Porter Cup in New York, where they were part of a three-way tie for the runner-up position at the prestigious tournament.

But the rising senior at UTC got off to a rough start in the afternoon round and never recovered. Engle logged bogeys on five of his first eight holes to quickly find himself 4-down.

Kent then moved to 5-up with a birdie on No. 11, but Engle got back a hole with a par on 13.

Down four with four holes remaining, Engle clawed back to 3-down with a birdie at 15. However, his tournament run ended when Kent birdied No. 16 to close out the win.

“I just got some bad breaks early and wasn’t able to recover from them,” said Engle, a native of Harrisburg, Pa. “I ended up getting down too much that I couldn’t come back. I definitely hit some loose shots and got punished for them. But give credit to Noah – he played great and, unfortunately, I was playing from behind all day.”

In Engle’s earlier Round of 32 match with Zach Pollo, a California native who competes for the University of Arizona, he broke a deadlocked match with a birdie on 16 then won the next hole with a par to walk away with a 2-up victory.

Engle had earlier taken a 2-up lead after a birdie at No. 5 and maintained that margin into the turn. But Pollo birdied 10 and fought back to all-square after Engle bogeyed the par-5 11^th. The golfers halved the next four holes, each recording a pair of bogeys along the way as the pressure mounted, and the match stood even with three holes remaining.

Engle then responded when it mattered most. After a good drive on 16, he hit a wedge to 10 feet and then calmly converted his birdie try to regain the lead while Pollo wrote down a par.

Recognizing that the pressure was now back on Pollo with only two holes left, Engle took no chances with his tee shot on the 185-yard par-3 17^th.

“I hit a 7-iron to the middle of green and was going to make him beat me,” Engle said. “I was then able to two-putt to close it out with a par.”

Despite his disappointment in not advancing to Friday’s quarterfinals, the impressive showing by Engle heading into this final year at UTC after transferring from Oklahoma has him excited about what lies ahead. It’s been a whirlwind summer, even this week at Hazeltine where plenty of attention was brought to Engle’s unique split-grip, the self-taught unorthodox swing that was the subject of the following story Garrett Engle "The Grip".

“I definitely have a lot of positives to take from this summer, and it’s built a lot of confidence,” Engle said. “I still have a lot to prove and I think finding that drive again has been the most beneficial thing I have going into the school year.”

Herrington also encountered a rocky start in his attempt to advance to the Round of 16. Facing the 3^rd-seeded Masaveu, who made the cut in this year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon, he could not afford to give away any holes.

Unfortunately, Herrington stumbled out of the gate, bogeying the first two holes to quickly find himself 2-down. But a birdie on No. 3 followed by a par winner on the next hole brought the match back even for the University of Tennessee rising freshman.

With the match tied thru the opening nine, Masaveu then birdied 10 and 11 to move back to 2-up. The golfers tied the next three holes before Herrington notched a pair of gutsy birdies of his own at 15 and 16 to once again deadlock the match.

But Herrington could not punctate his late comeback, playing the final two holes in 3-over par. He double-bogeyed the par-3 17^th to go 1-down as Masaveu managed a par, then missed an opportunity to extend the match when both golfers carded bogeys on the final hole.

Masaveu went on to win his Round of 16 match, defeating Thailand’s Phichaksn Maichon, 3 and 2. In a week full of upsets, the Spaniard is the lone golfer among the remaining eight contestants below a 20^th seed.

Now headed to Knoxville to start the next chapter of his golfing life, Herrington has compiled an amazing list of accomplishments this summer. He and Nashville’s Blades Brown finished runner-up at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, he became the first junior golfer to claim the Tennessee State Open, he made it to the Round of 16 at the difficult Western Amateur, and he was only one shot away from making it to the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur.

Expect big things in the future from the hefty lefty as well from Engle. They both proved this week they have the golf game to compete with anyone at any venue.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com