Jackson Herrington, an incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee, advanced to match play in the U.S. Amateur
photo by Tennessee Golf Association
The combination of Hazeltine National Golf Club and its stroke play co-host, Chaska Town Course, proved to be a difficult challenge for many of the golfers with Tennessee connections at the U.S. Amateur Championship this week.
But there will two among the Volunteer State contingent – Dickson’s Jackson Herrington along with Garrett Engle, a rising senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga – who will advance to Wednesday’s match play portion of the tournament.
Engle and Herrington were facing the more challenging Hazeltine track on Tuesday, but both golfers staged some late heroics to finish with two-day totals of 2-under 140, landing in a tie for 22nd as the top 64 advanced.
Herrington, the first junior golfer to claim the Tennessee State Open earlier this summer, demonstrated a veteran poise to post a round of 3-under 69 on Tuesday. With a late afternoon tee time which allowed him to see where he stood overall, the incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee knew he would need to go low or go home.
He made the turn at 1-under with two birdies and a bogey to bring him back to even par for the tournament, which became the eventual cut line. But birdies on his final stretch at 11, 15 and 16 moved him to 3-under on his round, with a bogey on 17 his only blemish on that side.
Engle opened his loop around Hazeltine on No. 10, bogeying his first hole and making the turn at even par for the tournament. The Harrisburg, Pa. native then birdied 2 to move back into red numbers, but followed that with a costly double bogey on the next hole.
Fighting for survival, Engle then staged an improbable rally. He roped a 6-iron to two feet from 241 yards for eagle at the 576-yard par 5 7th, then followed that with another birdie at No. 8. to finish at 2-under 140.
“I was feeling good after my birdie on 8 but knew I had work to do still,” Engle said. “But it definitely relieved a little pressure (making the cut).”
His gritty 1-under 71 for the day required him to dig deep and trust his swing down the stretch with advancing to match play hanging precariously in the balance.
“I’ve done stuff like this a lot where I’ve kind of been behind the 8 ball and have found a way to win or make a cut,” Engle said. “I have a lot of self-belief when I’m in those ‘have to do something’ positions and I think that kind of pushes me to do some cool things.”
With his first goal of surviving stroke play accomplished, Engle was questioned if he had allowed himself to dream of becoming the second UTC golfer to win this storied event after Steven Fox accomplished that feat in 2012.
“That would obviously be the ideal end to this week, but I’m going take it one shot at a time and one match at a time,” Engle said. “If I stay committed to everything I’m doing, I think I’ll have a chance.”
The outcome proved to be a disappointing couple of days for Nashville’s Blades Brown given the fact he became the youngest stroke play co-medalist in the tournament’s history last year as a 16-year-old and making it to the Round of 32 before being ousted.
Having posted an opening round 1-under 71 at the more challenging Hazeltine course, Brown seemed poised to make another deep run this year. But he could never solve the Chaska track.
Starting on the back nine, he went out in 2-over 37 with two birdies but also had two bogeys and a double-bogey among his scores. The front side proved to be no easier, posting three more bogeys with no birdies to close his day at 5-over 75 and finishing 4-over 146 for the tournament, four shots from the cut.
Cameron Tankersley – who was a teammate with Herrington at Dickson County High School - started strong, birdieing Nos. 2 and 3 at the Chaska course to make the turn at 2-under for the day and even par for the tournament.
But a crucial double bogey at 11 left him fighting to clear the cutline. The Ole Miss junior got one back with a birdie at 15, but closed his round of 1-under 69 with three pars for a two-day score of 1-over 143, missing the playoff by one shot.
Entering the day at even par, Tennessee Amateur champion Payne Denman took on the more difficult Hazeltine track and had a pair of birdies and bogeys on his opening nine. Two more bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine with a lone birdie left him at 3-over 75 for the day and 3-over 175 overall.
“It’s disappointing to come up short of match play, but I was happy with how I battled,” Denman said. “I didn’t have my best stuff either day but still gave myself a chance. The margin is so small between good and bad here. It was fun competing with the best amateurs in the world and I hope to be back again next year.”
Former Tennessee golfer Jake Hall, who had three-time PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings serving as a caddie this week, collected an early birdie to level his overall score to par on the week heading into his final nine. But three bogeys in succession starting at 11 vanquished his flickering hopes of making the cut as he shot 5-over 70 on Tuesday and 6-over 148 for the tournament.
JJ Zimmer, a senior transfer to MTSU this year, birdied his opening hole – No. 10 at Hazeltine – but it was the only one for his round. The Humbolt resident struggled to a 40 on his opening nine, then came home in 39 to post a 7-over 79 on the day and 7-over 149 for the week.
Stroke play Medalist Jimmy Ellis of Atlantic Beach, Fla. manhandled the Chaska course, finishing with ten birdies -including three consecutive to close his round – to shoot 9-under 61. His total of 10-under 132 was one better than Washington’s Ethan Evans who had a combined 9-under 133 for his two days of work.
There will be 14 players fighting for the final 11 spots to advance to the Round of 64 Wednesday morning, followed by the Round of 64 matches. Thursday will feature the Round of 32 and Round of 16 matches, with the Quarterfinals slated for Friday, the Semifinals on Saturday and the 36-hole Championship Final on Sunday.
Engle tees off at 9:30 EDT in his match with U.S. National Junior Team member Henry Guan from Irving, Texas, while Herrington goes off at 11:40 EDT paired with high school sophom*ore Sohan Patel of Weston, Fla.
For live scoring go to U.S. Amateur scoring.
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com
UTC's Garrett Engle had a late surge on his final nine holes to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Round of 64
photo by GoMocs.com
