Golfweek - Golf News Magazine

By DAN MIROCHA
Assistant Editor

AUGUSTA, Mo. – Peter Uihlein made a 10 in the first round of the FootJoy Boys Invitational, then won the tournament.

Tuesday, in the second round of stroke play at the U.S. Junior Amateur, Uihlein made a nine.

“And I’ll hopefully win here too,” Uihlein said.


Uihlein, who took over the top spot in the Golfweek/Titleist Junior rankings Monday, posted a 4-over 75 at Boone Valley Golf Club for a 5-over 147, four shots within the cut line. The nine happened on the 14th hole, Uihlein’s fifth of the day. He lost his tee shot right in waist-high fescue, landed his second drive in the left rough, then took five more shots to find the green.

“I always have a flair for the dramatic,” he said. “I’m getting the reputation for being a grinder and that’s nice.”

Knowing he was in danger of missing the cut, Uihlein played his final 13 holes in 2 under, thanks in large part to par-saving putts. At the 3rd hole (his 12th), a 210-yard par 3, Uihlein missed the green, hit a poor chip, then rolled in an 18-footer to save par. Two holes later he missed the green again and delicately rolled in a downhill 6-footer to save par. Both putts were accentuated with large fist pumps.

“I’ve been such a headcase,” Uihlein said. “I definitely should have not made the cut the way I played.”

The same can’t be said for wide-eyed 16-year-old Seung Yul Noh, who won medalist honors after shooting 67 for a 6-under 136 total. Noh, who lives in Korea, made a pair of 20-foot birdie putts at Nos. 3 and 17.

“The course is tough for him,” Benny Kim, Noh’s caddie and interpreter said. “And he tries really hard.”

Noh speaks little English and is playing in just his third American golf tournament. He won the Korean Amateur and Korean Junior last year as a 14-year-old. His first U.S. golf experience came when he was 10, the second two weeks ago at the U.S. Amateur Public Links. Noh, who was the youngest player in the field, placed seventh in stroke-play qualifying and advanced to the Round of 16, where he was defeated by Charlotte sophomore Corey Nagy.

“Junior is harder,” Noh said, referring to the difficulty of Boone Valley Golf Club as compared to Cantigny Golf Course in Wheaton, Ill.

Many players felt similarly about this track, located about 50 miles west of downtown St. Louis. Only eight players broke par in two rounds and the cut fell at 9 over par, three shots worse than the last two years at Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.) Golf Club and Longmeadow (Mass.) Country Club.

“These are some of the hardest greens I’ve ever played,” said David Chung, who made six bogeys in a 4-over 75 and tied for 31st. “I’d rank them up there with Hazeltine and Karsten Creek.”

Boone Valley took a bite out of Bud Cauley, too. On the 400-yard par-4 18th, Cauley’s drive went right and he was forced to take an unplayable after his ball landed in a bush. Instead of pitching out to the fairway, Cauley went for the green from 198 yards and found the water in front. He made triple bogey, shot 76 and finished at 148, a score he thought at the time might put him on an early flight back to Jacksonville, Fla.

“I’m just struggling,” said Cauley, who ended up making the cut by three shots. “Lots of little things aren’t going my way. Then I’m not getting any putts to drop.”

But not everyone was shaking their heads upon finishing. Hunter Hamrick shot 68 to finish two shots behind Noh. He made five back-nine birdies, but said winning medalist honors never crept into his head.

“Once I saw 6 under posted, I knew I wasn’t going to go for that,” he said.

After his 71 on Tuesday landed him in a tie for sixth, John Popeck was thrilled with his prospects heading into match play.

“This is a perfect match play course,” he said. “If you’re 3 down with six to go, you have no worries because your playing partner can really screw up and you can just par.

“In match play, I think pars are going to win a lot of holes.”

Nines, on the other hand, probably won’t.

Short shots: Jackson Beindorf of Vero Beach, Fla., escaped an 8-for-1 playoff to earn the final spot in the 64-player match-play field. He won on the second playoff hole.

• • •

Dan Mirocha is a Golfweek assistant editor. To reach him e-mail dmirocha@golfweek.com.

---

Scores with relation to par from the second round of stroke-play qualifying from the U.S. Junior Amateur, played July 23 at par-71, 6,894-yard Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo. (Note: x-qualified in 8-for-1 playoff):

1. Seung Yul Noh	69-67--136			-6
2. Hunter Hamrick	70-68--138			-4
3. James White	66-73--139			-3
4. Mu Hu	69-71--140			-2
4. Sean Dale	72-68--140			-2
6. John Popeck	70-71--141			-1
6. Matt Nolasco	71-70--141			-1
6. T.J. Vogel	73-68--141			-1
9. Devin Miertschin	71-71--142			E
9. J.J. Spaun	73-69--142			E
11. Danny Lee	71-72--143		+	1
12. Cody Gribble	72-72--144		+	2
12. Morgan Hoffmann	71-73--144		+	2
12. Sam Chien	71-73--144		+	2
12. James Erkenbeck	72-72--144		+	2
12. Cory Whitsett	73-71--144		+	2
17. Alex Shi Yup Kim	72-73--145		+	3
17. Nick Delio	74-71--145		+	3
17. Michael McGowan	71-74--145		+	3
17. Brian Carter	77-68--145		+	3
17. Daniel Meggs	71-74--145		+	3
22. Cameron Peck	69-77--146		+	4
22. Anthony Paolucci	71-75--146		+	4
22. Santiago Gavino	72-74--146		+	4
22. Chris Cho	72-74--146		+	4
22. John Huh	74-72--146		+	4
22. Hyun Seok Lim	73-73--146		+	4
22. Blake Redmond	75-71--146		+	4
22. Wesley Graham	76-70--146		+	4
30. Tyler Mitchell	75-72--147		+	5
30. Peter Uihlein	72-75--147		+	5
30. Daily Young	74-73--147		+	5
30. Ben Vertz	74-73--147		+	5
30. Alex Moon	71-76--147		+	5
30. Wesley Bryan	75-72--147		+	5
30. David Chung	72-75--147		+	5
30. Matthew Giles	71-76--147		+	5
38. Brad Miller	75-73--148		+	6
38. Logan Knebels	72-76--148		+	6
38. Spencer Anderson	73-75--148		+	6
38. Jack Fields	76-72--148		+	6
38. William Cauley	72-76--148		+	6
38. John Pavelko	76-72--148		+	6
44. Tim Honeycutt	73-76--149		+	7
44. Bhavik Patel	75-74--149		+	7
44. Joon An	74-75--149		+	7
44. Lee Bedford	77-72--149		+	7
44. Zac Blair	78-71--149		+	7
44. Gaston De La Torre	74-75--149		+	7
44. Jeffrey Kang	75-74--149		+	7
51. Jhared Hack	74-76--150		+	8
51. Taylor Fontaine	73-77--150		+	8
51. Alan Lee	71-79--150		+	8
51. Sean Brannan	76-74--150		+	8
51. Jeffrey Hamm	74-76--150		+	8
51. Benjamin Thorseth	76-74--150		+	8
51. Brett Cairns	75-75--150		+	8
51. Ronnald Monaco	73-77--150		+	8
51. Will McCurdy	77-73--150		+	8
51. Cameron Wilson	72-78--150		+	8
51. Luke Guthrie	76-74--150		+	8
51. Ryan Kelley	77-73--150		+	8
51. Alex Lyall	76-74--150		+	8
64. x-Jackson Beindorf FAILED TO QUALIFY	74-77--151		+	9
64. Justin Estrada	77-74--151		+	9
64. Kyle English	77-74--151		+	9
64. Austen Dailey	75-76--151		+	9
64. Ethan Tracy	74-77--151		+	9
64. Blayne Barber	73-78--151		+	9
64. Kyle Kopsick	71-80--151		+	9
64. Tyler Gann	76-75--151		+	9
72. Hunter Green	74-78--152		+	10
72. Matthew Hannaford	81-71--152		+	10
72. Will Almand	76-76--152		+	10
72. Christopher Burger	75-77--152		+	10
72. Beau Schoolcraft	74-78--152		+	10
72. Nathan Chambers	77-75--152		+	10
72. Zachery Sobel	79-73--152		+	10
72. Ross Frankenberg	79-73--152		+	10
72. Dan Ellis	71-81--152		+	10
72. William Kropp	75-77--152		+	10
72. Taylor Travis	75-77--152		+	10
83. Brooks Koepka	75-78--153		+	11
83. Brinson Paolini	75-78--153		+	11
83. Yaroslav Merkulov	73-80--153		+	11
83. Sean Keating	75-78--153		+	11
83. Kevin Kring	77-76--153		+	11
83. Martin Trainer	81-72--153		+	11
83. Andrew Lawson	74-79--153		+	11
83. Michael Muscatell	75-78--153		+	11
83. Lorens Chan	76-77--153		+	11
92. Derek Ernst	80-74--154		+	12
92. Jake Hedge	74-80--154		+	12
92. Samuel Shin	74-80--154		+	12
92. Max Bichsel	81-73--154		+	12
92. Curtis Loop	74-80--154		+	12
92. Benjamin Bauch	76-78--154		+	12
92. Dorian Vauls	78-76--154		+	12
99. Bradley George	79-76--155		+	13
99. Corbin Mills	75-80--155		+	13
99. Will Ovenden	79-76--155		+	13
99. Denny Mccarthy	80-75--155		+	13
99. Nicholas Losole III	75-80--155		+	13
99. David Flynn	78-77--155		+	13
105. Drew Frisby	77-79--156		+	14
105. Derek Baade	79-77--156		+	14
105. Antonio Grillo	79-77--156		+	14
105. Zahkai Brown	77-79--156		+	14
105. Sam Smith	81-75--156		+	14
105. Tyler Mccumber	80-76--156		+	14
105. T.J. Kua	78-78--156		+	14
112. John Ladow	78-79--157		+	15
112. Joshua Creel	79-78--157		+	15
112. Anthony Aloi	76-81--157		+	15
112. Michael Cermak	79-78--157		+	15
112. Will Nixon	80-77--157		+	15
117. David Sanders	80-78--158		+	16
117. Evan Beck	82-76--158		+	16
117. Thomas Bradshaw	80-78--158		+	16
117. Dylan Goodwin	81-77--158		+	16
117. Samuel Krause	76-82--158		+	16
117. James Ellis	80-78--158		+	16
123. Ryan Nagy	77-82--159		+	17
123. Jordan Rodgers	78-81--159		+	17
125. Michael Murray	79-81--160		+	18
125. Devin Komline	75-85--160		+	18
125. Russell Hartung	82-78--160		+	18
125. Geoffrey Shaw	73-87--160		+	18
125. Graham White	81-79--160		+	18
125. Ben Hargis	77-83--160		+	18
125. Brian Dorfman	87-73--160		+	18
125. Blake Morris	82-78--160		+	18
133. Andrew Vijarro	77-84--161		+	19
133. Stephen Carney	82-79--161		+	19
133. Aidan Javed	77-84--161		+	19
133. Robert Perrott III	80-81--161		+	19
137. Patrick Williams	82-80--162		+	20
137. Adam Lewicki	82-80--162		+	20
137. Ryan Crum	82-80--162		+	20
140. Anders Albertson	83-80--163		+	21
140. Brian Wynia	81-82--163		+	21
140. Alex Simson	81-82--163		+	21
143. Justin Deitz	79-85--164		+	22
143. Curtis Thompson	81-83--164		+	22
143. Ross Friehe	79-85--164		+	22
143. A. Kolojejchick-Kotch	82-82--164		+	22
143. Clark Gates-George	85-79--164		+	22
148. Adam Van Houten	78-87--165		+	23
148. Sam Frank	77-88--165		+	23
148. Chaz Fairbrother	82-83--165		+	23
151. Cameron Hollek	82-84--166		+	24
151. Patrick Lundy	81-85--166		+	24
151. Jay Woodward	87-79--166		+	24
154. Alex Robb	84-83--167		+	25
155. Matt Hatchett	86-82--168		+	26
156. John Inman	100-83--183		+	41

Posted: 7/24/2007

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