McDonald survives wild finish, will meet Majma in loaded OGA State Amateur quarterfinals
By Ken MacLeod
If Will McDonald makes his third consecutive trip to the Oklahoma State Amateur Championship final match, he will remember Monday’s second-round stresser against Ben Stoller of Owasso as a huge hurdle cleared.
Stoller, who will be a senior at Kansas State with two years of eligibility remaining, made a birdie on the difficult 17th hole to take a 1 up lead into the 18th, a difficult uphill par-4 of 495 yards. His drive there barely crept into the deep Bermuda rough left of the fairway and he could only advance his second shot to within 75 yards of the green. He didn’t get up-and-down while McDonald split the fairway with his drive and put his second shot pin high. The resultant par sent the match to extra holes.
Playing the par-5 first hole, Stoller pulled his second shot left and the ball either bounced hard off a slope left of the green into a stream or was never found in the rough on the hillside. He took a drop, pitched up 25 feet past the hole, then drained the putt for par. McDonald missed a short birdie effort and the match went on.
McDonald, of Oklahoma City and the 2023 champion and 2024 runner up in this event, prevailed when Stoller missed a par putt on the par-3 second hole.
“That was crazy,” McDonald said, shaking his head. “I knew, being match play, that he would probably make that putt. He didn’t deserve to lose that ball in the first place.”
He said his only previous extra hole experience was a match against Jordan Wilson in the OGA Junior Amateur that went 25 holes, and he won that won as well.
For his perseverance, McDonald will face Edmond 16-year-old Emerson Majma, who edged Conrad Walcher 1 up in the second round after a 3 and 1 victory over Will Hennessee of Tulsa and Seton Hall in the opening round. Majma survived a 13-man playoff for one of the final eight spots after shooting a 74 in the qualifying round Monday but has been on point since and ended the match against Walcher with a birdie on the par-4 16th.
The other three quarterfinals Wednesday morning will be equally compelling.
Ian Davis, the 2022 champion, defeated Stephen Carney, the 2010 and 2012 champ, 3 and 2 in the second round. Davis made five birdies and one bogey in the match, playing much sharper than he was in the first round where he survived 1 up in 19 holes against Carson Scrymgeour of Tulsa and Northeastern State University.
He will have his hands full Wednesday with Cameron Cheek of Owasso and the University of Oklahoma, who blew away Hudson Hobbs 5 and 4 and Mike Hearne 6 and 5.
Collin Bond of Norman and Oklahoma State advanced past the only “senior” in the field in Dustin Wigington 2 and 1. He will meet Tripp Anderson, a member of the home schooled golf powerhouse Oklahoma Storm that includes Majma. Anderson moved into the quarters with a 4 and 3 victory over Ainslie Stanford III of Edmond.
The final quarterfinal will pit a pair of former OSU teammates in Gaven Lane, a starter on OSU’s recent run to the NCAA Championship, against Grant Gudgel of Stillwater, who this summer transferred to Iowa.
Lane rolled into the third round with a 5 and 4 victory over Carson Wright of Norman and Cameron University. Gudgel survived in 20 holes against tenacious mid-amateur Heath Myers of Kingfisher, he 2024 OGA Mid-Amateur champion.
Brutally hot conditions with heat indexes soaring over 100 degrees will continue through the championship final Thursday morning. Complete results and live scoring are here.
Highlights from OGA State Amateur. Photos by Rip Stell
