Persons in Mid-Am Quarters, after Beating the Guy Who Beat the Co-Medalist

USGA

MANAKIN-SABOL, Va. -- Josh Persons played in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship for the first time in 2022, and made it through stroke-play qualifying and all the way to the semifinals, where he lost to the eventual champion, Matthew McClean.

Now he needs only one more victory to get there again, in the 2024 Mid-Am. On Tuesday, he won two matches. The 40-year-old former professional from Fargo, who won once on the Canadian Tour, tied for 12th in the medal-play part of the Mid-Am over the weekend and is seeded 16th. He earned a place in the quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon, with a 5&3 victory over the No. 32 seed, Will Minton, in the Round of 16. Earlier in the day, Persons eked out a 1-up victory over Adam Barkow (No. 48), and Minton knocked off the No. 1 seed, co-medalist Segunda Oliva Pinto. 

Oliva Pinto, 25,  played in one of the best first round (Round of 64) matches on Monday. A former University of Arkansas star from Argentina (he won the SEC individual championship in 2021), Oliva Pinto was 1 down to the No. 64 seed, Justin Kaplan, through 16 holes at Kinloch Golf Club, but proceeded to win the 17th hole with a birdie and the 606-yard, par-5 18th with an eagle. On Tuesday morning in the Round of 32, however, he didn't win a single hole against Minton until the 18th, which he  birdied to force extra holes. Minton then won the match with a par on the 19th hole (No. 10, 447 yards, par 4).

Persons, a former North Dakota state high school winner who played college golf for Kansas State (two years) and Minnesota (two years), traded holes with Barkow through the first seven, and took a 1-up lead when he won the 217-yard, par-3 eighth with a par. Barkow leveled the match by winning the 11th (490 yards, par 4) with a par, but Persons reclaimed the lead with a par at the par-4 15th (317) and secured the victory by halving the last three holes. 

In the afternoon, he got an early lead and went 2 up with a birdie at the par-5 fifth. Minton won the eighth with a par, but Persons took command by winning the ninth and 10th holes with pars, and the 407-yard, par-4 11th with a par. Both players ran into trouble at the 15th, and Persons was able to win it -- and end the match -- with a bogey.

The other co-medalist, No. 2 seed Evan Beck, 34, played two close matches, but survived them both. In the Round of 32, he led No. 31 seed Jackson Spires 2-up after eight holes, but Spires won the ninth and 11th with birdies. They halved the next six holes with pars, but Beck settled the issue, 1 up, by winning the 18th with a birdie. 

Beck, who lost the final in this tournament last year to three-time Mid-Am champ Stewart Hagestad, needed a birdie at the par 5-18th at Kinloch on Tuesday afternoon in the Round of 16 just to get into extra holes against No. 15  seed Michael Buttacavoli. Buttacavoli is a recently reinstated amateur who used a birdie burst on the back nine Monday to defeat Max Tylke, the three-time Minnesota State Publinx champion who has had a remarkable run of six consecutive runner-up finishes in state championships, going back to last year's State Publinx. (All of those second-place finishes have made Tylke the 2024 MGA Player of the Year). Buttacavoli prevailed 3&1 over Tylke, but Beck eliminated Buttacavoli with a birdie on the third extra hole (No. 12, 601 yards, par 5). 

As for Hagestad, the defending champion -- and generally regarded as the reigning King of the Mid-Ams -- was seeded 14th, but he was taken out, 3&2, by No. 46 Will Davenport on Tuesday morning. A few hours laer, Davenport dispatched South Dakota State coach Parker Edens, the No. 3 seed, 2 up.

There will be two rounds of matches -- the quarterfinals and semis -- again on Wednesday, and Persons will face Bobby Massa (No. 8) in Wednesday morning's quarterinal round. Massa is a 36-year-old performance coach who has a club head speed of somewhere in the neighborhood of 125 to 130 mph (that translates to drives of well over 300 yards). He needed 20 holes to get past the No. 41 seed, Brian Blanchard, in the Round of 16 but he had a much easier time of it in his Tuesday morning Round of 32 match, which he won 7&5 over Doug Albers (No. 57).  


U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship

At Kinloch Golf Club -- par 71, 7,250 yards

Manakin-Sabot, Va. 

& Independence Golf Club -- par 70, 7,216 yards

Midlothian, Va. 

Stroke-play qualifying

T1. Segundo Oliva Pinto, Argentiina             68K-65I--133

T1. Evan Beck, Virginia Beach, Va.               68I-65K--133

T3. Parker Edens, Brookings, S.D.                69I-65K--134  

T3. Andy Butler, Philadelphia                         66I-68K--134

T3. Scott Harvey, Greensboro, N.C.              64K-70I--134

T12. Josh Persons, Fargo                           70K-68I--138

T38. Max Tylke, Rosemount                         70K-71I--141

Missed cut -- 142 (14 for 12 playoff Monday morning)

Joel B. Johnson, Hugo                                 73K-71I--144

Bryce Hanstad, Edina                                   72K-73I--145

George Ordway, Charlottesville, Va.            73I-74K--147

Trent Peterson, St. Paul                                74I-75K--149

Nick Jarrett, Rochester                                 79K-76I--155

 
Match play

Round of 64

(1) Oliva Pinto def. (64) Justin Kaplan 1 up

(2) Beck def. (63) Cody Paladino 5&4

(3) Edens def. (62) Andrew Price 3&2

(61)Markus Habelar def. (4) Andy Butlerr 1 up

(16) Josh Persons def. (49) Chad Wilfong 2&1

(15) Michael Butttacavoli def. (50) Max Tylke 3&1


Round of 32

(32) Will Minton def. (1) Oliva Pinto 19 holes

(2) Beck def. (31) Jackson Spires 1 up

(3) Edens def. (30) Matthew McClean 3&2

(15) Buttacavoli def. (47) John Jonas 6&5

(16) Persons def. (48) Adam Barkow 1 up

(36) Derek Busby def. (61) Markus Habeler 21 holes


Round of 16

(16) Persons def. (32) Minton 5&3

(2) Beck def. (15) Buttacavoli 21 holes

(46) Will Davenport def. (3) Edens 2 up

(5) Scott Harvey def. (44) Hugh Foley 2 up

(8) Bobby Massa def. (41) Brian Blanchard 20 holes

(22) Trent Leon def. (27) Stephen Behr 19 holes

(52) Drew Kittleson def. (36) Busby 5&4

(55) Connor Doyal def. (39) Steele DeWald 21 holes