Walcher-Wigington survive and advance at U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship

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Momentum is one of those tangibles that’s difficult to quantify. One minute it’s there, the next it can be gone. But when the wave is rolling in your favor, it’s a wonderful circumstance.

New Jersey teenagers Barnes Blake and Liam Pasternak discovered how much having a little adrenaline can work in their corner. They each were awoken by pre-dawn alarms – Pasternak at 5 a.m. and Blake 30 minutes later – on a cool and blustery mid-May morning just hoping to find some form and survive a 12-for-2 playoff at Plainfield Country Club to garner a precious match-play spot in the 10th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

Four holes and some 2½ hours after the playoff commenced at 7 a.m., they were the last side in the draw, facing stroke-play medalists and top seeds Zach Capps and Brent Whitehead, a pair of 35-year-old Wofford College graduates who live in Atlanta, Ga., in the Round of 32.

Blake, 19, a member at stroke-play co-host Echo Lake Country Club, in nearby Westfield, and a rising junior at Georgetown University, and the 18-year-old Pasternak, a Morristown, N.J., resident and University of Notre Dame signee, used those four holes as fuel to produce a 3-and-2 victory.

The other playoff survivors, Oklahoma City, Okla., residents Conrad Walcher and Dustin Wigington, also enjoyed similar momentum, knocking out 2019 champions and No. 2 seeds Scott Harvey and Todd Mitchell, 2 and 1.

Six of the top eight seeds from stroke play were eliminated, including the top three. Besides the aforementioned decisions, third-seeded Joseph Deraney and Jonathan Bale fell in 20 holes to Maryland residents Carson Looney, 18, of Bethesda, and Hunter Powell, 32, of Gaithersburg.

Wigington, who at 51 is 20 years older than his partner, took the attitude that the side was playing with “house money” entering the Monday morning playoff. Despite facing one of the two sides to play in all 10 U.S. Amateur Four-Balls, the side told themselves that the past champions were the ones with the tough draw. They kept things tight until consecutive birdies on 12 and 13, and a winning par on 14 provided the Oklahomans a 3-up cushion.

“Well, I played at Wichita State, and I saw the Illinois State bag [of Todd Mitchell], so I was motivated,” said Walcher of the past Missouri Valley Conference rivals.

“I think it gives you an advantage mentally to go out there and get through a playoff,” Wigingtonsaid. “You feel like you’ve got a free roll.”

Top juniors Tyler Mawhinney, 17, of Fleming Island, Fla., and 2025 Vanderbilt signee Will Hartman, 18, of Charlotte, N.C., figured to be one of the pre-championship favorites, given their national pedigree. Mawhinney won last year’s Canadian Amateur and then made a run to the final 16 at the U.S. Amateur. Hartman reached the semifinals of the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur. Both have been on the U.S. National Junior Team as part of the USGA’s National Development Program since its inception a year ago.

Both were friends before joining the USNJT, but they consummated their four-ball partnership during the team’s match against Australia last July at SentryWorld in Wisconsin, where they found chemistry as a side.

They got things rolling on Sunday with a 3-under 67 and carried that momentum into their 2-and-1 win over Josh Fickes and Brandon Grzywacz. Winning Nos. 6 and 7 with birdies kick-started the side on Monday and another solid three-hole birdie stretch from No. 10 was enough to put them in the final 16.

“Tyler definitely carried me through it a little bit today,” said Hartman, who planned to hit the practice range on Monday afternoon to straighten out his driver. “I hit a few good shots, but he did a lot of the heavy lifting. I’m glad I had him out there. We’re a good team and we’re going to be hard to beat.”

A quick trip to the Plainfield practice area on Sunday afternoon seemed to do wonders for Robbie Ziegler. After struggling in the final round of stroke play, the 34-year-old from Tualatin, Ore., found a good swing thought that worked wonders on Monday. Ziegler and partner/fellow University of Oregon alum Zach Foushee, 30, of Lake Oswego, Ore., played 7-under golf over 13 holes in a 7-and-5 win over Mark Baker and Kurt Watkins. It was the fourth-largest margin of victory in championship history; there have been three 7-and-6 decisions.

“It was really impressive from Robbie,” said Foushee, a realtor who birdied the first hole from 10 feet and watched his partner heat up. “He did not miss a shot today.”

But last year’s record-tying medalists are fully aware that one great match doesn’t necessarily translate to further success. The duo shot 126 in qualifying at Philadelphia Cricket Club, only to be sent packing in the Round of 16. This year, they didn’t get into the field until a couple of weeks ago when the medalists from their qualifying site, Reid Hatley and Jake Koppenberg, withdrew due to the latter’s new job.

So this unexpected gift, along with being young parents – Foushee will become a first-time father in four weeks and Ziegler has a 17-month-old son – doesn’t have the duo popping any champagne corks just yet.

“We’ve been here before,” said Ziegler, a marketing representative for a major golf apparel company. “We know how hard it’s going to be. The farther you go, the better the teams are going to be…We’re just soaking it in. Back to reality here soon.”

What’s Next

Match play continues on Tuesday with the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, beginning at 7 a.m. EDT. The semifinals and 18-hole championship match are scheduled for Wednesday, with the matches set for 7 a.m. and 7:20 a.m., and the final set for 1 p.m.