Minnesotan Matt Bennett One of Three Players to Qualify for U.S. Amateur Championship

July 12, 2016 | 7 min.


By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  MORTON, Minn. – Carding a 2-under par 142 during the 2016 U.S. Amateur Sectional Qualifying Monday at Decotah Ridge Golf Club, Chad Merzbacher earned medalist honors as well as a spot in this year’s national tournament.

Finishing five strokes better than the field, Merzbacher fired back-to-back rounds of 1-under par 71 to qualify Monday and will be joined by Minnesotan Matt Bennett and Graysen Huff who finished tied for second at 3-over par 147.

“This is a really hard event to qualify for and I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to qualify for it, but it feels really good,” Merzbacher said Tuesday. “I think I’ll turn pro after this tournament so this is my last [U.S. Amateur]. I really wanted to make it; I’ve put in a lot of work and I think I deserve it.

“I think it’s pretty cool that the U.S. Amateur will be my last amateur tournament; a lot of good professional golfers played that as their last event, so I’m hoping to go there and do what I did this week and play well. It would be great to end my amateur career with a big finish.”

Starting his second round at the tenth hole, Merzbacher blocked a 4-iron into the right greenside bunker but managed to get up-and-down for birdie to move to 2-under before giving back a stroke with a bogey at the 15th and head to his final nine holes at 1-under.

Merzbacher put his approach inside 10 feet at the par-4 second, rolling in his birdie chance to move to 2-under for the tournament. A bogey at the par-4 eighth hole dropped him to 1-under, but would put his approach inside of five feet on his final hole, converting birdie to shoot another 71 to earn medalist honors by five shots.

“I was playing pretty well, I made an early bogey, but I had five birdies and three bogeys and played consistent all day,” Merzbacher said. “I missed a couple of birdies but I happened to make a couple more birdies than I did bogeys.

“I had a specific game plan for the golf course and I expected to go out and execute it the best I could,” he said. “It got windy [during the second round] but it didn’t change my game plan or my aiming spots. I stuck to my plan, my process and my routine and I knew if I hung around even par that I would do pretty well. After 27 holes I was 1-under so I knew I was right in there.”

During his opening round, Merzbacher made bogey at the par-4 second hole, but would pull even after rolling in his birdie chance at the par-5 sixth, turning at even par for the tournament. He would birdie the 157-yard 11th to move to 1-under and would finish the opening round with seven consecutive pars to shoot 71.

Merzbacher, Knoxville, Tenn., graduated this past spring after playing four seasons at the University of Tennessee. During his collegiate career for the Volunteers, Merzbacher notched 18 top-25 finishes and 10 collegiate golf career with a 72.92 scoring average while playing in 39 tournaments.

He qualified for the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., shooting 76-76—152 to miss the cut for match play by three shots.

After graduating from high school in Dublin, Ohio, Merzbacher’s father, Chuck, took a job in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Bennett, Marshall, Minn., earned his spot Monday after taking the 18-hole lead by firing a 4-under par 68 during the morning session. Getting off to a rough start on the opening nine of his second round, which included three double-bogeys, Bennett regained his composure to play a steady final nine holes to qualify for his first U.S. Amateur Championship in his first attempt.

“It feels great to qualify my first time,” Bennett said Tuesday, “I’ve played the course a couple times and I have always been a big fan of the course. I played a junior event there and I knew if there was ever a tournament there that I’d love to qualify there. I’m really excited and I hope to play well. I’d be pretty happy to finish inside the top-64 and get into the match play portion.

“I didn’t putt phenomenal, but I made all the putts I needed to,” he said. “In years past in pressure situations, the putter has failed me. This year, coming down the stretch I knew I had to make some putts and I was able to do that. ”

Starting his opening round on the back nine Monday, Bennett started with a birdie at the 13th hole before rolling in back-to-back birdie putts at the 15th and 16th holes to quickly jump to 3-under.

After taking bogey at the 17th, Bennett would rebound with a birdie at the 18th to turn at 3-under once again. Rolling in two more birdies with one bogey on his back nine, Bennett would finish the opening round at 68 to distance himself with a three-shot cushion.

With two bogeys over the first four holes Monday, Bennett’s second round went from bad to worse after taking double-bogey at the par-4 fifth hole.

He would answer by taking advantage of his distance with an eagle at the sixth to get back to 2-under for the tournament.

Bennett found the water on the eighth and ninth holes leading to back-to-back double-bogeys and would turn at 3-over despite carrying a three-shot advantage heading into the final round.

With the help of his caddy and college roommate, James Baker, Bennett was able to quickly turn things around to remain in contention on the back nine.

“After going in the water twice, I was a little nervous at that point and I didn’t think I had much of a chance. My caddy reminded me that I had the lead and that the course is playing harder and the scores were going to be higher, so he really helped calm me down,” Bennett said.

He would roll in one birdie with one bogey during the final nine holes Monday to shoot a final-round 79 to finish tied for second at 147.

With the wind picking up during the second round Bennett said conditions were dramatically tougher late Monday.

“I would say the course played five strokes harder—the difficulty level increased greatly,” Bennett said Tuesday. “The wind was really up and on a course that’s unprotected, it made it really tough. On a lot of the holes the wind changed directions completely from the first round. Everyone struggled during that second wave and every little mistake is magnified at that point.

“During the opening round the conditions were a lot better, the wind was only blowing 10-15 MPH and it was a lot more scorable. There some nice pins that were tough but fair and I had a lot of wedges into the green. When you can hit a wedge from 80 yards, it’s a lot better than hitting 7-iron or 8-irons in.”

Bennett, 21, capped off his first season at Iowa Lakes Community College by shooting 3-over par 291 to finish 11th at the 2016 NJCAA Division II National Tournament, the best finish for a Laker at the event in the last 21 years.

After shooting even par 72 during his opening round, Huff, of Eagle, Idaho, carded two bogeys on the first nine holes of the second round Monday to drop to 2-over for the tournament.

Back-to-back bogeys at the 10th and 11th holes put him at 4-over and he would drop to 5-over following his fifth bogey of the round at the par-4 15th. Huff would finish strong with two birdies over the final three holes to card a final-round 75, claiming the final spot at 147.

Jamie Quesnel, Lakeville, Minn., and Ben Skogen, Onalaska, Wis., finished as first and second alternates, respectively, after both players carded a 4-over par 148.


 

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