Walcher, Wigington survive 12-team playoff to reach match play at U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship
Two days removed from receiving more than four inches of precipitation in a 72-hour period, Plainfield Country Club and stroke-play co-host Echo Lake Country Club, in nearby Westfield, N.J., saw a return of USGA-like playing conditions for the 10th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship.
Sunshine and brisk winds that saw occasional gusts of 30-plus mph, quickly changed these two Donald Ross layouts into challenging beasts for Sunday’s final round of stroke play.
Surviving a 12-team playoff for the final two spots in match play this morning was the Oklahoma duo of Conrad Walcher and Dustin Wigington of Oklahoma City. They birdied two of the three holes they played and will advance to match play today.
Also in that playoff was the Tulsa-based team of Tyler Hunt and Chris Noel, both members at Cedar Ridge Country Club.
Two other Oklahoma teams competed but did not make the cut. JR Hurley of Norman and Heath Myers of Kingfisher shot 7 over, as did the duo of Sam Brafford and Ben Bench of Oklahoma City.
Looking for red? The whipping flags displayed the hue, but the scoring did not reciprocate. For those hanging precipitously on the match-play cut, the difficult conditions only added to the mental pressure – and possibly misery – of trying to advance.
On Saturday 48 sides posted sub-70 scores. Just 26 were recorded on Sunday.
“We got here early this morning and it’s blowing 30 [miles per hour] and the rough is U.S. Open rough on both courses,” said Nathan Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion who won the inaugural Four-Ball with partner Todd White a decade ago. He will captain the 2025 USA Walker Cup Team in September. “I thought it was the toughest setup that I could remember.”
Smith, 46, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and White, 57, of Spartanburg, one of two sides to have competed in all 10 iterations of the Four-Ball, managed a 2-under 68 at Echo Lake on Sunday, good enough to make match play at 5-under 135.
Both venues play to a par of 70.
But it was a pair of Wofford College alums who managed their games in the testy conditions to best the field and garner medalist honors. Zach Capps and Brent Whitehead, both 35-year-old Atlanta, Ga., residents, carded a 3-under 67 at Echo Lake on Sunday for a 36-hole total of 8-under 132. That was one stroke better than 2019 champions and fellow 46-year-olds Todd Mitchell, of Bloomington, Ill., and Scott Harvey, of Greensboro, N.C., who posted a 1-under 69 at Plainfield on Sunday after a championship-low 64 in Saturday’s first round at Echo Lake.
Two strokes back were 2024 medalists and University of Oregon alums Zach Foushee, 30, of Lake Oswego, Ore., and Robbie Ziegler, 34, of Tualatin, Ore., and 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up joseph Deraney, 42, of Tupelo, Miss., and Jonathan Bale, 37, of Wales.
Deraney and Bale had the day’s low round, a 65 at Plainfield.
The 132 total was the highest score for a medalist in championship history, surpassing the 130 shot by current PGA Tour winner Maverick McNealy and his ex-Stanford teammate Viraat Badhwar in the inaugural championship at The Olympic Club.
The cut for match play came at even-par 140 with 12 sides playing off Monday morning for the last two slots in the draw. That score matched the highest cut in event history (2017 at Pinehurst).
While there is a former NFL quarterback competing this week (2010 No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford), another ex-signal caller has been on the grounds as a spectator. Dave Brown, who went to Westfield High and is a longtime Echo Lake Country Club member, played six seasons with the New York Giants (1992-97) and another four with the Arizona Cardinals (1998-2001), amassing 10,248 yards and 44 touchdowns. He is a past greens chairman at Echo Lake.
Speaking of Bradford, he and childhood friend Ben Bench were among the notables to fail to advance to match play, along with ex-NFL running back Danny Woodhead and partner/fellow Omaha Country Club member Michael Wilhelm. Also not advancing were defending champions Brian Blanchard and Sam Engel, 2016 champions Benjamin Baxter and Andrew Buchanan, and 2024 semifinalists TreyDiehl and Mac Scott.