Stankey and Hanner Headed to Oakland Hills to Compete at U.S. Amateur

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By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  ST. PAUL, Minn. – When Paul Stankey was about 3-years-old, he recollects sitting on the couch with his father watching the U.S. Amateur Championship on television and telling him he wanted to play in that tournament some day.

Stankey will get that chance next month as he carded a 5-under par 137 Monday at Hillcrest Golf Club to earn a share of medalist honors with Jonathan Hanner, punching his ticket to the 2016 U.S. Amateur Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

“I don’t even know how I remember it, but it was one of my first memories,” Stankey said Monday. “This is huge—it’s been a dream of mine since I could walk. It’ll be pretty special to be able to play in it now.”

Stankey, who will be a senior at Providence Academy this fall, carded a 3-under par 68 during his opening round Monday, rolling in two birdies on his front nine and added two more with one bogey over his final nine holes.

Beginning the second round with a three-putt for bogey at the second, Stankey fell to 2-under for the tournament but answered by spinning his wedge to four feet and converting his chance to get back to 3-under. Stankey blasted a 4-iron 240 yards to reach the par-5 seventh in two where he two-putted for birdie and would turn at 1-under for the round.

He would drop a shot at the 10th with bogey, but again bounced back with a pair of birdies at the 13th and 14th holes to move to 5-under. After carding his third birdie of the round at the par-4 17th, Stankey finished strong with a birdie on the final hole, rolling in his putt from eight feet.

“I had three goals coming in—I was trying to be positive, take it one shot at a time and I wanted to be patient,” Stankey said following his final round Monday. “My coach told me the greens are tough out here and if you keep getting chances, eventually they’ll fall.

“I was playing well this week; I played the [State Amateur] and had an off day the final day of the State Open, but I knew my game was still there and I was pretty confident coming in.”

Stankey, Wayzata, Minn., previously qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2013 at Martis Camp Club in Truckee, Calif., shooting 75-80—155 to miss the cut for match play.

At 39-years-old and after many attempts to compete on a national stage, Hanner qualifies for his first USGA event, saying it was well worth the wait.

“This is massive for me; I’ve been trying to get into this event for a long time and there’s been a lot of disappointment where I’ve come out and can’t even compete with the guys out there— not even close to getting in,” Hanner said Monday. “I can cross this one off the list and enjoy it now, so it’s a big deal. For the amount of work I’ve put into my game, I feel something like this should happen at some point.

“This is my home track and I probably wouldn’t have tried to qualify if it wasn’t here,” he said. “Even if you’re not hitting it well, there’s a comfort level where you’ve hit all the shots and know where to miss. I think you can visualize shots better and know exact lines you want to hit, which was a big advantage.”

Hanner, Minneapolis, Minn., played a flawless opening round as he carded two birdies on his front nine and would card 11 consecutive pars to shoot 2-under par 70 during the morning session.

During the second round, starting on the tenth tee, Hanner started quickly again by rolling in a 10-footer for birdie to move to 3-under for the tournament. Hitting his tee shot heavy at the par-3 12th, Hanner’s ball landed on the front of the green, leaving himself with a long birdie chance from well over 60 feet, which he would make to move to 4-under.

“That was one of the longest putts I’ve made in my life—it was ridiculous,” he said. “I was trying to convince myself that I could make it as I was standing over it,” he said. “I was trying to tell myself, ‘This is your day today,’ as something positive in my head and have that self belief that I could do it.”

Hanner rolled in his birdie look at the second and following his birdie at the par-4 sixth to get to 7-under for the tournament, he said his plan was to make five more good swings over the final three holes.

Instead, he carded his first bogey in 34 holes and finished with a second bogey at the par-3 ninth to shoot a final-round 68.

“I made a really ugly swing on the last hole just because I was so nervous,” he said. “Expectations were very low coming in because I thought I was playing well going into the [State Amateur] and that didn’t go well,” Hanner said Monday. “I’m coming of a 42 during my last nine holes at the State Open when I shot 79, but I went out to practice last night to figure some things out and made a little progress.”

Hanner caddied for his friend, Sammy Schmitz, when Schmitz won the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Fla., and was on the bag when Schmitz played at the 2016 Masters Tournament. Both will be in the field in August at Oakland Hills. 

West Des Moines, Iowa, native Broc Everett fired a 4-under par 138 to earn the third and final qualifying spot from a field of 68 players Monday, returning to the national championship for the second consecutive year.

Everett carded a 3-under par 68 during the morning session Monday and came back with a two birdies and a pair of bogeys on the front nine during the second round.

Everett, who will be a redshirt junior at Augusta University later this fall, rolled in two birdies with one bogey to card a 2-under par 70 to earn the final qualifying spot at 138.

Qualifying for the national tournament last year, Everett shot rounds of 77 and 75, respectively, to miss the cut for the match play portion of the championship.

Derek Hitchner, Minneapolis, Minn., and Dylan Gergen, Mendota Heights, Minn., finished as first and second alternates, respectively.

The 2016 U.S. Amateur Championship will be played August 15-21 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.


**Correction**
Stankey has not verbally committed to the University of Minnesota and has not yet made any decisions about his future following high school.