Chaska, Minn. – The highest and most prestigious tournament an amateur golfer can play is the U.S. Amateur Championship where the winner and runner-up receive exemptions into the 2025 Masters and U.S. Open.
Through multiple tournaments in the early summer months, Colorado Buffaloes Ty Holbrook, Brandon Knight, and Dylan McDermott secured a qualification spot along with Parker Paxton and Justin Biwer serving as alternates.
The seven-day tournament taking place at Hazeltine National Golf Club started on Aug. 12 with a 312-man field. The first two days were stroke play and the last five consisted of match play between the top 64 players from the stroke play standings.
McDermott, a senior, was the only Buff to advance to the match play with a 1-under 141. He shot a 3-under 67 in round one, birding fours holes and only bogeying one on a 354-yard par-4. A lack of birdies and a surplus of pars came with round two as he only birdied one hole, bogeyed three and parred 14 shooting a 2-over 74. His score tied him for 32nd which gave him the No. 44 seed in the match play after a 14-way playoff for the tied competitors behind him.
Knight was just one stroke away from making the cut at even par as he shot a 1-over 143. The sophomore’s first round was a rollercoaster of bogeys and birdies as he only shot nine pars. Round two calmed down as he shot an even-70 par, birding both par-5s on the second-day course.
Holbrook, Knight’s sophomore counterpart, had the highest score of the trio with a 4-over 146, tying him for 137th. His round one was promising as he shot an even-70 par, bogeying only one hole and birding one. Round two struck him hard as he bogeyed the first two holes to start the day. He finished with a 4-over 76, bogeying five holes on the back nine while birding none.
Match play started for McDermott against the No. 1 amateur in the world, Florida State’s Luke Clanton. Clanton, who earned a tour card through PGA Tour University Accelerated, finished fifth in early August’s Wyndham Championship and second in the John Deere Classic. McDermott’s hope of pulling off a miracle upset lasted through the first three holes before Clanton parred the hole 4 par-3 and McDermott bogeyed. Clanton gained a lead of five holes before McDermott grabbed one on hole 14 par-4 where he parred and Clanton bogeyed. The match would ultimately conclude on the next hole where Clanton would walk away with a 4 & 3 victory to advance to the round of 32.
The Buffs will rejoin each other in the following weeks to kick off the 2024-2025 season with their major fundraiser, Colorado Golf Day, on Aug. 26 at Boulder Country Club.
Cover photo by Lexi Hartmann/CU Athletics
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