Golfweek - Golf News Magazine

By DAN MIROCHA
Assistant Editor

AUGUSTA, Mo. – After his rollercoaster 21-hole victory to advance to the finals of the U.S. Junior Amateur, 14-year-old Anthony Paolucci had just one thing on his mind.

“Well, I’m going back to the same restaurant tonight,” said Paolucci with a smile. He faces 15-year-old fellow Texan Cory Whitsett in Saturday’s 36-hole final.

The superstitious Paolucci has eaten the steak and salmon with vegetables at LongHorn Steakhouse every night since Tuesday and he was headed back Friday night for the same lucky meal after defeating Sean Brannan in a wild match. In the morning quarterfinals, he defeated Peter Uihlein, 1 up, after rolling in a 10-foot birdie on the 18th hole.


An hour later, Paolucci embarked on an even more intense showdown with Brannan.

Brannan was 2 up with two to play, but missed a 7-footer for par on No. 17 that would have won the match. He then three-putted from 70 feet on No. 18, missing a 4-footer for par that would have again closed out the match.

“I was thinking, ‘He’s not going to miss two putts in a row,’ ” Paolucci said. “I had my hat off in my hand thinking it was over.”

It wasn’t.

The players went to the 19th hole (Boone Valley Golf Club’s par-5 14th) and Brannan looked to again be in the driver’s seat after pitching his third shot to 3 feet. Paolucci took four shots to find the green then drained a downhill, right-to-left breaking 18-footer for par, forcing Brannan to make his 3-footer for birdie and the win.

It lipped out.

“I was thinking, ‘He wasn’t going to miss again. Three in a row – that’s not possible,’ ” Paolucci said.

Paolucci and Brannan both found the green on the 20th hole and Brannan’s birdie bid from 25 feet came up less than 2 feet short. Paolucci’s 22-footer for birdie stopped inches from the hole and his putt was conceded.

Facing his fourth putt in as many holes to win the match, Brannan lipped out his 1 1/2 foot par attempt to hand Paolucci the victory and a berth in the finals on Saturday.

“Coming down the stretch I thought I should have lost the match,” Paolucci said. “I got really lucky.”

In the other semifinal match, Whitsett defeated Wesley Graham, 6 and 5, to advance to the finals. Paolucci and Whitsett will make up the youngest set of finalists since 2004 when 15-year-old Sihwan Kim deafeated 14-year-old David Chung.

Graham, who thumped Sean Dale with a 7-and-5 victory in the quarterfinals, never had a chance catch his breath against Whitsett, who won the first five holes.

“I still feel like I need to prove myself a little bit more,” said Whitsett, who defeated Chris Cho in 19 holes Friday morning. “I just need to go and go take care of business.”

Whitsett said thoughts about last year’s semifinal match between Richard Lee and Kevin Tway kept him focused on closing out Graham. Down four after four holes, Lee defeated Tway, 1 up.

Now the steady Whitsett will face the supersitious Paolucci in a matchup of two teenagers from Texas. Whitsett is from Houston and Paolucci is from Dallas.

“Anthony is a great player,” Whitsett said. “He has really come through in the clutch this week. I think it’s going to be a fun match.

• • •

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

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Results from the semifinals of match play at the U.S. Junior Amateur, played July 27 at the par-71, 6,894-yard Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo.:

SEMIFINALS
Cory Whitsett def. Wesley Graham	6 and 5
Anthony Paolucci def. Sean Brannan	20 holes
QUARTERFINALS
Cory Whitsett def. Chris Cho	19 holes
Wesley Graham def. Sean Dale	7 and 5
Anthony Paolucci def. Peter Uihlein	1 up
Sean Brannan def. Michael McGowan	1 up
THIRD ROUND
Cory Whitsett def. Seung Yul Noh	1 up
Chris Cho def. Jack Fields	4 and 3
Wesley Graham def. Morgan Hoffmann	1 up
Sean Dale def. Tim Honeycutt	1 up
Peter Uihlein def. Jeffrey Kang	4 and 2
Anthony Paolucci def. John Huh	2 and 1
Michael McGowan def. James White	3 and 1
Sean Brannan def. Hyun Seok Lim	19 holes
SECOND ROUND
Seung Yul Noh def. Daily Young	6 and 5
Cory Whitsett def. Zac Blair	3 and 2
Chris Cho def. T.J. Vogel	2 and 1
Jack Fields def. Devin Miertschin	20 holes
Wesley Graham def. Luke Guthrie	3 and 2
Morgan Hoffmann def. Bhavik Patel	3 and 2
Sean Dale def. Matthew Giles	4 and 2
Tim Honeycutt def. Cody Gribble	1 up
Peter Uihlein def. Hunter Hamrick	1 up
Jeffrey Kang def. Lee Bedford	4 and 3
John Huh def. Ronnald Monaco	3 and 1
Anthony Paolucci def. Jeffrey Hamm	3 and 2
James White def. Wesley Bryan	3 and 1
Michael McGowan def. Jhared Hack	2 and 1
Hyun Seok Lim def. Will McCurdy	3 and 2
Sean Brannan def. Cameron Peck	2 and 1
FIRST ROUND
Seung Yul Noh def. Jackson Beindorf	4 and 3
Daily Young def. Ben Vertz	5 and 3
Cory Whitsett def. Gaston De La Torre	5 and 4
Zac Blair def. Alex Shi Yup Kim	2 and 1
T.J. Vogel def. Brett Cairns	2 up
Chris Cho def. Spencer Anderson	19 holes
Devin Miertschin def. Benjamin Thorseth	2 and 1
Jack Fields def. Santiago Gavino	4 and 2
Luke Guthrie def. Mu Hu	6 and 4
Wesley Graham def. David Chung	20 holes
Morgan Hoffmann def. Taylor Fontaine	4 and 3
Bhavik Patel def. Brian Carter	19 holes
Sean Dale def. Cameron Wilson	1 up
Matthew Giles def. Blake Redmond	4 and 2
Cody Gribble def. Alan Lee	3 and 2
Tim Honeycutt def. Daniel Meggs	2 and 1
Hunter Hamrick def. Alex Lyall	1 up
Peter Uihlein def. Alex Moon	3 and 2
Jeffrey Kang def. James Erkenbeck	1 up
Lee Bedford def. Nick Delio	1 up
Ronnald Monaco def. Matt Nolasco	5 and 4
John Huh def. Logan Knebels	4 and 2
Jeffrey Hamm def. J.J. Spaun	5 and 4
Anthony Paolucci def. William Cauley	5 and 4
James White def. Ryan Kelley	4 and 2
Wesley Bryan def. Tyler Mitchell	4 and 3
Jhared Hack def. Sam Chien	3 and 2
Michael McGowan def. Joon An	1 up
Hyun Seok Lim def. Brad Miller	1 up
Sean Brannan def. Danny Lee	19 holes
Cameron Peck def. John Pavelko	3 and 2

• • •


Click here for results from stroke-play qualifying.



Posted: 7/27/2007

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