Travis Vick, 21, of Houston, Texas, was among four players to win two matches on Friday at Oakmont Country Club to advance to the semifinal round of the 121st U.S. Amateur Championship.
At No. 4, Vick is the highest-seeded player remaining in the championship. The junior at the University of Texas also has the most USGA championship experience among those who made the quarterfinal round – this is his fifth U.S. Amateur, among eight starts in USGA events, and his best match-play showing. Vick defeated Jose Islas, 3 and 2, in the morning, then held on to oust No. 5 seed Brian Stark, 1 up, on Friday afternoon after Stark birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to push the match to No. 18.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling,” said Vick, who defeated 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Preston Summerhays in the Round of 64 and Texas teammate Parker Coody in the Round of 32. “There are a lot of great players I had to beat in order to get here. They’ve all done amazing things in the amateur world, so it boosts my confidence knowing I can play here and be in the semifinals.”
Dogged by more than 10 hours of weather delays the previous three days, the championship finally got caught up on Friday, with the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals completed on a sunny day with temperatures that reached the high 80s.
Austin Greaser, 20, of Vandalia, Ohio, also reached the semifinals, where he will take on Vick on Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT. Greaser, the No. 24 seed, defeated Jacob Bridgeman, 6 and 4, and Ross Steelman, 2 and 1. Greaser’s previous best USGA finish was a quarterfinal showing in the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur at Inverness Club, and he is coming off a run to the semifinals in the Western Amateur two weeks ago.
“I feel like I had maybe the best week of my life,” said Greaser, a junior at the University of North Carolina, of the Western Am at the Glen View Club in Golf, Ill. “Both those weeks I wish I could go back and relive. This one I’m probably going to say the same in a little bit. Just trying to enjoy, soak it up, and not let time fly too fast right now.”
Greaser closed out Steelman by winning the par-3 16th hole with a par, then making a 6-foot putt to top his opponent’s birdie on the 313-yard, par-4 17th hole. Steelman, 20, of Columbia, Mo., who defeated 2021 USA Walker Cup Team member Ricky Castillo, 3 and 2, in the Round of 16, had made three birdies to whittle an early three-hole deficit to one.
James Piot, of Canton, Mich., the No. 31 seed, and Nick Gabrelcik, of Trinity, Fla., the No. 35 seed, will square off in the other semifinal match on Saturday at 2:20 p.m. EDT. Piot, a senior at Michigan State, ousted Thomas Hutchison, 4 and 3, and Matthew Sharpstene, 3 and 1, to improve on his 2020 showing in this championship, when he earned the No. 2 seed before losing in the Round of 32 at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
At No. 28, Gabrelcik had the highest World Amateur Golf Ranking of the quarterfinalists. He defeated 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur champion and No. 3 seed Michael Thorbjornsen, 2 and 1, in the Round of 16, then held off Davis Chatfield, 1 up, in the quarterfinals. Chatfield had rallied to tie the match from 3 holes down, but Gabrelcik won No. 15 and halved the last three holes to prevail. Chatfield’s par putt to send the match to extra holes on No. 18 grazed the hole from 25 feet.
“This is my first U.S. Am, first USGA event other than final stage of U.S. Open qualifying,” said Gabrelcik, a sophomore at the University of North Florida who won the Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s top freshman player. “I had high expectations coming into this week and I'm glad things are going well. The great success in my freshman year definitely is helping this week.”
The four losing quarterfinalists are exempt into next year’s championship, Aug. 15-21, at Ridgewood Country Club, in Paramus, N.J. The players who lose in Saturday’s semifinals earn a two-year exemption.
What’s Next
The championship semifinals will be contested at 2 p.m. and 2:20 p.m. EDT on Saturday, with the 36-hole final set for 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The gates at Oakmont will open at noon on Saturday for spectators. Matches on both days will be broadcast from 3-4 p.m. EDT on Golf Channel and from 4-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.
Notable
At No. 35, Nick Gabrelcik was the lowest seed to advance to the quarterfinals. This year marks the first time since 2004 that no seed above No. 35 got to the final eight. In that’s year’s championship at Winged Foot Golf Club, Danny Green reached the quarterfinals as the No. 35 seed.
Three of the semifinalists from last year’s U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes competed this year (all but champion Tyler Strafaci, who turned professional). Runner-up Ollie Osborne and semifinalist Aman Gupta both lost in the Round of 64, while Matthew Sharpstene, who lost to Osborne in the semifinals last year, was eliminated by James Piot in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Of the 64 players to make the match-play bracket, four colleges had three players apiece (including alumni and commitments): Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Texas and Vanderbilt. Nine colleges had two players get through stroke play: Arizona, Auburn, Florida, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Oregon, Sam Houston State, Stanford and UCLA.
At No. 4, Travis Vick is the first top-four seed to reach the semifinal round of this championship since Cole Hammer (No. 2) in 2018 at Pebble Beach. Hammer lost to eventual champion Viktor Hovland in the semifinals.
For the second straight year, all eight quarterfinalists were from the United States, after not occurring since 2004.
Austin Greaser has trailed for just three holes in his four matches this week and has yet to play the 18th hole.
Quotable
“If you want to make a run this week you’re going to be at this golf course all the time. Stops, starts, just got to be mentally prepared for it. I think it’s Midwest weather. A lot of pop-up thunderstorms, real humid… just got to take it in stride. Everybody has got to deal with it.” – Austin Greaser, on the numerous delays this week
“I would say ball-striking was the strength of my game up until this match, and I would say my putter came alive this match. I made a lot of putts. Speed control was really good. That’s golf. You might wake up and be striping it and the next day you could be hitting it terrible. I think a lot of that has to do with fatigue, though, so I’m looking forward to a good night’s rest.” – Travis Vick, on his quarterfinal win over Brian Stark
“As the week has gone on and the greens got wet, obviously makes it a lot easier. You can access the pins more. It felt like, if you got a shot hole-high at the beginning of the week it was a miracle, just because you judged the distance and the bounce correctly. Now you can just land it right on the flag.” – James Piot, on playing Oakmont after the rains softened it
“I’ve known I’m a good player for a while. My coaches and guys that I hang around and play with, I think know the same thing. Just being able to prove it on a big stage like this is awesome. Just a lot of momentum to build on.” – Ross Steelman, on his run to the quarterfinals in his second USGA start
“This place was so special. This is one of the toughest golf courses I’ve played, and definitely one of the most fun just because of how tough it is. Hopefully get to come back here in a few years to play the [2025] U.S. Open.” – Michael Thorbjornsen, the No. 3 seed, after his 2-and-1 loss to Nick Gabrelcik in the Round of 32
OAKMONT, Pa. – Results from Friday’s weather-delayed Round of 32 of match play at the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,163-yard, par-70 Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
Round of 32
(Upper Bracket)
Hole No. 1 Start
Ricky Castillo, Yorba Linda, Calif. (140) def. David Nyjfall, Sweden (143), 21 holes
Ross Steelman, Columbia, Mo. (138) def. John Marshall Butler, Louisville, Ky. (138), 2 and 1
Jacob Bridgeman, Inman, S.C. (136) def. Bo Jin, People's Republic of China (139), 1 up
Austin Greaser, Vandalia, Ohio (139) def. Xavier Marcoux, Canada (137), 3 and 2
Travis Vick, Houston, Texas (135) def. Parker Coody, Plano, Texas (140), 3 and 2
Jose Islas, Mexico (142) def. Caleb Surratt, Indian Trail, N.C. (142), 2 up
Brian Stark, Kingsburg, Calif. (135) def. Trent Phillips, Boiling Springs, S.C. (139), 1 up
Grayson Blunt, Houston, Texas (141) def. Joe Highsmith, Lakewood, Wash. (137), 1 up
(Lower Bracket)
Hole No. 10 Start
James Piot, Canton, Mich. (140) def. Eddy Lai, San Jose, Calif. (142), 4 and 3
Thomas Hutchison, San Jose, Calif. (142) def. Luke Potter, Encinitas, Calif. (142), 19 holes
Van Holmgren, Plymouth, Minn. (136) def. Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, Argentina (141), 4 and 3
Matthew Sharpstene, Charlotte, N.C. (139) def. Caden Fioroni, San Diego, Calif. (142), 19 holes
Nick Gabrelcik, Trinity, Fla. (140) def. Michael Thorbjornsen, Wellesley, Mass. (134), 2 and 1
Hugo Townsend, Sweden (138) def. Ryan Gerard, Raleigh, N.C. (138), 2 up
Devon Bling, Ridgecrest, Calif. (139) def. William Holcomb V, Crockett, Texas (142), 21 holes
Davis Chatfield, Attleboro, Mass. (139) def. Alex Fitzpatrick, England (137), 1 up
OAKMONT, Pa. – Results from Friday’s Round of 16 of match play at the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,190-yard, par-70 Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
Round of 16
(Upper Bracket)
Ross Steelman, Columbia, Mo. (138) def. Ricky Castillo, Yorba Linda, Calif. (140), 3 and 2
Austin Greaser, Vandalia, Ohio (139) def. Jacob Bridgeman, Inman, S.C. (136), 6 and 4
Travis Vick, Houston, Texas (135) def. Jose Islas, Mexico (142), 3 and 2
Brian Stark, Kingsburg, Calif. (135) def. Grayson Blunt, Houston, Texas (141), 6 and 5
(Lower Bracket)
James Piot, Canton, Mich. (140) def. Thomas Hutchison, San Jose, Calif. (142), 4 and 3
Matthew Sharpstene, Charlotte, N.C. (139) def. Van Holmgren, Plymouth, Minn. (136), 1 up
Nick Gabrelcik, Trinity, Fla. (140) def. Hugo Townsend, Sweden (138), 19 holes
Davis Chatfield, Attleboro, Mass. (139) def. Devon Bling, Ridgecrest, Calif. (139), 1 up
OAKMONT, Pa. – Results from Friday’s quarterfinal round of match play at the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,190-yard, par-70 Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
Quarterfinal Round
(Upper Bracket)
Austin Greaser, Vandalia, Ohio (139) def. Ross Steelman, Columbia, Mo. (138), 2 and 1
Travis Vick, Houston, Texas (135) def. Brian Stark, Kingsburg, Calif. (135), 1 up
(Lower Bracket)
James Piot, Canton, Mich. (140) def. Matthew Sharpstene, Charlotte, N.C. (139), 3 and 1
Nick Gabrelcik, Trinity, Fla. (140) def. Davis Chatfield, Attleboro, Mass. (139), 1 up
OAKMONT, Pa. – Pairings and tee times for Saturday’s semifinal round of match play at the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,190-yard, par-70 Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
All Times EDT
Semifinal Round
(Upper Bracket)
2 p.m. - Austin Greaser, Vandalia, Ohio (139) vs. Travis Vick, Houston, Texas (135)
(Lower Bracket)
2:20 p.m. - James Piot, Canton, Mich. (140) vs. Nick Gabrelcik, Trinity, Fla. (140)
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