U.S. Amateur Roundup: Hammer Proving to be Tough as Nails as Youth Prevails

Alabama vs. UCLA. Stanford vs. Vanderbilt. Texas vs. Wake Forest. Cincinnati vs. Oklahoma State.

No, it’s not college football season just yet, but the quarterfinals at the 2018 U.S. Amateur sure sound like Week 1 match-ups.

Eight players won both of their matches Thursday at Pebble Beach, a feat that certainly favored youth. No player left in the field is older than 22.

The favorite appears to be No. 2-seed Cole Hammer, the 18-year-old Texas-bound co-medalist who ran his record to an incredible 16-1 in match play this year. That record includes wins at the U.S. Four-Ball and Western Amateur, and a run to the semifinals at the U.S. Junior Amateur.

“Cole looks like he has the best short game of anyone in the field,” said FOX analyst Paul Azinger during Hammer’s 2-and-1 win over Australian Zach Murray.

Hammer is a combined 11-under in his five rounds, and has yet to shoot worse than even-par.

The highest ranked amateur in the world remaining in the bracket is No. 5 Victor Hovland, who showed no mercy in a 7-and-6 throttling of fellow Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan in the Round of 16.


Every other Round of 16 match reached the 17th green, with three of the eight needing extra holes.

Here’s what the quarterfinals looks like:

You can tune in to FS1 at 4 p.m. on Friday to catch the action!

‘I WENT TO THE COOLEST PLACE IN THE U.S. AND PLAYED THE COOLEST GOLF COURSE IN THE COUNTRY’

The clock struck midnight around noon on Thursday for Cinderella story Jackson Van Paris. The record-setting 14-year-old played 1-under through his first 12 holes, but still trailed Mason Overstreet, 1-up, in the Round of 32. The University of Arkansas golfer ultimately put away Van Paris 3-and-2.

Class started on Tuesday for the high school sophomore from Pinehurst, N.C., but he’s got a pretty good excuse lined up for missing the first week:

“I went to the coolest place in the U.S. and played the coolest golf course in the country; played the biggest amateur tournament in the world and got, I guess you’d call this 17th if I didn’t make it to the round of 16,” Van Paris said.

Overstreet lost in 21 holes in the Round of 16 to kingslayer Davis Riley, who also ousted No. 1 seed Daniel Hillier 5-and-4 in the Round of 32.

THE USGA HAD SOME FUN WITH TEE BOX CHOICES

With two rounds scheduled for Thursday, the USGA drew up some different looks at Pebble Beach:

Courtesy of the USGA
  • The fourth tee was moved up to a tempting 303 yards (Stewart Hagestad drove the green in the Round of 32 to earn a conceded 8-foot eagle)
  • The fifth tee was pushed up 50 yards across the ravine to an oceanside perch that played just 143 yards
  • The alternate 10th tee overhanging Carmel Beach to the right of the ninth green was used for the first time in USGA competition

That alternate 10th tee turns the beastly 492-yard par-4 into a potentially drivable hole that plays just 315 yards to the front edge of the green — if you are brave enough to take the short cut:

No. 10 yielded just 11 birdied through 312 players in stroke play, but Thursday’s tee created a completely different hole. Players picked up 14 birdies in just 48 attempts.

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