U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifying – Woodholme CC Results
Zachary Bauchou blistered a well-conditioned Woodholme Country Club course with club-record-matching rounds of 66-66 and easily won the medal in a sectional qualifier for the U.S. Amateur championship, July 18.The Pikesville course was played at 7,003 yards to a par of 35-37—72.
The other available places went to Tyler Herriott, current Maryland State Amateur champion from Brandywine and Old South CC, and earning his first Amateur invitation, 69-68–137, and Bart George, a previous qualifier from Arnold and the U.S. Naval Academy GC, 71-72–143. An 18th-hole birdie loomed large for George, as it sent him into a playoff with Scott Shingler, from Purcellville, Va., and Evergreen CC, who also returned 71-72–143.
The playoff went to the fourth extra hole (1-17-18-1) after the two matched pars for the first three. Shingler had a difficult approach from the right rough at the 340-yard opener and he carried a green-side bunker to 10 feet. George’s pitch left him 15 feet and, after carefully surveying the situation, he holed the putt. Shingler also took his time,but his bid slid by the cup in approaching darkness.
Bauchou, a solidly built 6-footer from Forest, Va., and a rising sophomore at Oklahoma State University. opened right up with five front-nine birdies, and stayed the course, finishing with 14 birdies, two bogeys. The effort, featuring 300-yard drives and solid ball-striking all day, was all the more impressive because the 19-year-old had finished four rounds of the Southern Amateur the day before at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., placing second.
He arrived in Baltimore in the middle of the night, got a few hours sleep and was on the first tee at 7:20 a.m. “So I hadn’t seen the course before, but for the most part I felt comfortable with it,” he said. Along the way, he birdied Nos. 1-2 both rounds and highlighted his opening afternoon nine with successive birds at Nos. 15-16-17, the last from 30 feet.
His 36-hole total was the lowest for the Baltimore area qualifier in at least 15 years, while the 66 equaled the Woodholme record first posted by Denny McCarthy in 2012. The previous 36-hole low was 134 by Mark Cusic in 2013 at Hunt Valley GC.
Herriott, 20, an Ohio University senior, cited the confidence gained by winning the MSGA Amateur last month as an important factor in his game. “Now, I believe I can get it done [when I play]. As a result, I played the best I could right from the first hole.” He marked his tour with consecutive birdies at Nos. 11-12 in the afternoon, thanks to a pair of 30-foot putts. “That got me going,” he said. “Then I made a couple of short ones before the turn, and went on to play steady on the front.”
George said, “I didn’t hit it all that well — I’ve been struggling with it the last couple of weeks — but I was able to get through it. Made a couple of long putts and the 6-footer at the end [of regulation] was big, but I didn’t think it would be enough. There were still some good scores out there. Overall, my confidence and my putting saved me.”
The championship will be held August 15-21 at Oakland Hills CC in suburban Detroit.
Reported by: John Stewart
