First Day of U.S. Amateur Starts—and Ends—with a Bang

Colorado’s Jones soars, while an eagle lands at 18

by Jon Rizzi

Of the 312 competitors in this week’s 123^rd U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, 11 have Colorado connections. And no matter the place each one of them eventually finishes, four of them—Colin Prater of Colorado Springs, Patrick Grady of Longmont, Connor Jones of Westminster and Jack Castiglia of Lakewood—can always say they started first.

With the first tee time on the first of two days of stroke play, Prater led his threesome off the 395-yard first at Cherry Hills with a shot into the creek snaking along the right fairway. The former UCCS player would save par with a clutch approach and putt.

Grady, who had the inaugural honors from Cherry’s 449-yard 10^th, also made par, while 22 miles away, at the stroke-play companion course of Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Jones bombed one on the 647-yard par-5 opener at the same time Castiglia, a UNC grad, launched his initial drive on the par-4 10^th. Both carded pars as well.

Pars were harder to come by as the round progressed. Castiglia fired a 2-over 74 on the par-72 Colorado Golf Club layout. By the end of the morning’s session at Cherry, Grady had ground out a 4-over 75, with Prater coming in one shot better at a 3-over 74.  They were joined by University of Colorado sophomore Dylan McDermott of Granite Bay, Calif., who carded a one-over 72, and Longmont’s Cole Nygren, who struggled to an 80.

The hometown hero honors belonged to Jones, who estimates he’s played Colorado Golf Club “probably 20 times.” He not only teed off first there, he also held the overall lead at 5-under after a birdie on the par-4 10^th.

The Colorado State senior finished at 4-under, eventually tied for fourth overall behind University California’s Sampson Zheng, who fired a 6-under, and a pair of phenoms at 5-under—the University of Virginia’s Ben James and Arizona State’s Ryggs Johnston.

Jones tallied seven birdies on the 7,560-yard course but went 3-over on holes 11 and 17, the two par 3s on the back nine.

“It wasn’t the best golf in my life,” he said after the round. “It was good, solid. I am just trying to get to match play, not really thinking about shooting a 63 or 64. You are just trying to make a bunch of pars and sprinkle in a few birdies.”

In the afternoon rounds, the remaining five Colorado players were led by reigning Colorado Match Play Champion Nick Nosewicz of Aurora, who had advanced to the round of 32 in the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur at the Parker course. This time around, Colorado Golf Club didn’t bring him the same magic, as he finished at 3-over.

Also at Colorado Golf Club, Jones’ former Colorado State teammate Davis Bryant carded a 4-over to tie for 155^th and CU freshman Brandon Knight of Pleasanton, Calif., finished a stroke behind Davis, tied for 181^st.

At Cherry Hills, Blake Trimble of Denver also shot 5-over and Gavin Hagstrom of Fort Collins finished with a 7-over 78.

A Tale of Two Courses

On the first day of the 123^rd Amateur, players who competed at the Colorado Golf Club accounted for 13 of the top 15 overall scores, with 31 players (19.9 percent) breaking par there, compared to 13 (8.3 percent) at Cherry Hills. The par-72 stroke-play companion course produced an average score of 1.29 shots lower, versus par, than the par-71host-course layout, which defended par with dense, four-inch rough and subtly breaking glasslike greens.

For much of the day, the Cherry Hills course proved a formidable challenge for the top-ranked amateur in the world. Going into the par-5 17^th, Vanderbilt University’s Gordon Sargent stood at 2-over, tied for 110th with number-four-ranked David Ford. But after a birdie on 17, Sargent made the most of a 312-yard drive. With 175 uphill yards to the hole, Sargent pured his 9-iron and jarred an eagle—much to the delight of the gallery around the green—to finish the round with a 1-under 70 and a T36 finish.

On Tuesday the players switch courses for another full day of golf that will end with the 64 players advancing to the match play portion of the championship having “only” the William Flynn-designed course to contend with.

For all the scores from Monday’s action, click here.

EXTRA HOLES….Not far from where Sargent ended his round with a flourish lies Cherry Hills’ outdoor pool complex, the home this week for the Junior Experience Pavilion—Cherry Hills’ outreach to get youth involved in golf through play, employment, internships and scholarships. Hundreds of kids arrived for the first day. They chipped to a green floating in the pool, got lessons in hitting bays, participated in fun, STEM-related golf contests, experiments, experiences and much more. All kids 17 years old and younger can participate with a paying adult. Tickets are $25.

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Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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