Rain conditions during the first of three potential 36-hole days at the Western Amateur may have made a difference for Angus Flanagan. The Minnesota elder grew up in England. Rain is clearly not a problem.
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Flanagan slipped a birdie 30 feet into his 72nd hole Thursday evening at the Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, to conclude the Western Amateur medal honors. Now the format changes to match the game. Starting on Friday morning, there will be four rounds before a champion is determined on Saturday afternoon.
It was a dramatic ending for Flanagan, who used that little bird to give the final touch to a final round 66 and reach 11 under for 72 holes.
Rating: Western Amateur
Flanagan, who won a portion of the Big Ten individual title in 2019, played the 3M Open on the PGA Tour last week. He earned his invitation to the event by winning the Minnesota State Open on July 9th with a record 64th final round at the Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo. His name is definitely starting to go around.
Seven players tied for 16th even position, forcing a playoff to determine the only player to pass – and face Flanagan on Friday morning. In the end, North Carolina’s Austin Hitt earned that honor. He overtook an impressive team of opponents in the playoff, including 2018 Western Western champion Cole Hammer alongside Texan player Travis Vick, William Mouw of Pepperdine and the freshman arriving in Ohio State Maxwell Moldovan.
2020 #WesternAmateur Sweet 16. pic.twitter.com/aS0CJpBNKh
– WGA Championships (@WGAChamps) July 31, 2020
Three of last year’s Sweet 16 are back on the brace: Ricky Castillo, Turk Pettit and Davis Thompson, the latter being the returning Western Am medal.
Among the match-ups for the big top on Friday morning is the defense of American amateur champion Andy Ogletree against LSU’s Trey Winstead, who has already made a race for both the North and South title and the Sunnehanna title. Behind them, Castillo – who made it to the semifinals at this event last year – takes on Vanderbilt’s Harrison Ott.
The lower band is topped by Sam Bennett, second runner in the stroke race and a Texas A&M junior, against Connor Creasy, who has just completed his final year at the University of Georgia.
German Matthias Schmid, a Louisville player who won the European Amateur 2019, faces George Duangmanee, an incoming Virginia freshman, in the first round. Interestingly, there is also another junior player on the bracket. Joseph Pagdin, no. 2 in the Junior Golfweek ranking, he will meet Thompson in the final game of the morning.
Quade Cummins of Oklahoma was among those who barely missed cutting the game alongside Austin Eckroat of Oklahoma State and recent amateur champion Sunnehanna Preston Summerhays.
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