John Daly II, the son of two-time major champion John Daly, won his Round of 64 match on Wednesday, outlasting Cooper Claycomb, 1 up, at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course in San Francisco, Calif.
Daly, who failed to advance to match play in 2024, won just one hole on Wednesday – the par-4 11th with a birdie. He had a chance to go 1 up early with a 6-foot par putt on No. 6 but burned the edge of the hole and tied it with a bogey.
The two tied all other holes, including the 18th. Claycomb, a 20-year-old Bowling Green, Ky., native and rising junior at the University of Louisville, ultimately conceded the hole after missing his birdie attempt.
“All the putts I missed short, I hit the lines exactly where I wanted. The one on 6, it was a 360 lip-out. There’s nothing you can do about that,” said Daly, who recently won the Southern Amateur Championship. “It stinks that I had to play Cooper. He’s one of my good friends, but it was a fun match.”
Twenty-year-old Niall Shiels Donegan, originally from Scotland but a resident of the Bay Area for the last 17 years, outlasted Luke Poulter, son of English professional golfer and Ryder Cup stalwart Ian Poulter, in a back-and-forth bout the came down to the wire.
Ranked No. 91 in the WAGR and surviving the 20-for-17 Wednesday morning playoff, Donegan went 1 down early in the match when Poulter made birdie on the par-3 third. He’d win the next with par before losing hole Nos. 5 and 6 with bogeys, then won the next three to take the lead as the match made the turn.
“I think that playoff this morning really helped me,” said Donegan, who recently joined the University of North Carolina men’s golf team following two seasons at Northwestern. “It got me into the competitive mindset super early on, gave me a good prep.”
Poulter would take a 1 up lead once again heading to the 14th after winning Nos. 12 and 13 with par and birdie, respectively, but Donegan answered back with another winning birdie on No. 17 to tie the match with a hole to go.
Playing his approach on No. 18 from the right side of the fairway, Donegan stuck it to 6 feet, landing it above the hole and well inside of Poulter who left himself a 25-footer for a chance to pass the pressure back over to Donegan. After missing just below the hole, Donegan went on to sink his birdie putt in dramatic fashion and punch his ticket to the next round with a 1-up victory.
“It’s amazing. Being out here for the past few days, it’s just a bunch of friends and family from the local muni club, and they’ve just been getting me fired up,” Donegan said. “To be able to do that in front of all of them, it means the world.”
Wolfgang Glawe, 22, of Germany, is carrying his own bag this week and advanced to the Round of 32 Wednesday morning, ousting 21-year-old Tom Fischer, of Birmingham, Ala., 2 up. Needing par on 18 to win, Glawe hit his approach left of the hole in the greenside rough. When he swung at his third shot, he whiffed it. Unfazed, he followed it up with a chip-in par to seal the match, 2 up.
“The first shot obviously wasn’t easy. I should have never left myself with a chip in the first place, but I whiffed it, basically slid underneath it,” said Glawe, who recently graduated from the University of Houston. “I mean I knew I had to make it, otherwise we’re going [to extra holes]. To be completely honest, with no caddie, I wasn’t in the mood to walk to 1.”
What’s Next
Match play continues on Thursday with the Round of 32 starting at 8 a.m. PDT. The Round of 16 is schedule to commence at 2 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase, and Peacock will have live streaming from 6-7 p.m. EDT, with Golf Channel picking up the coverage from 7-9 p.m.
Notable
The 20-for-17 playoff for the final match-play spots lasted two holes, with both participating Californians advancing: Brady Siravo, of Sacramento, and Ryan Voois, of Ladera Ranch. Among those who secured the remaining match play spots on Wednesday morning were mid-amateur and University of South Florida men’s golf head coach Payne Denman, world No. 5 Filip Jakubcik, of Czechia, 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur medalist and University of Georgia commit Mason Howell, 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur runner-up Joshua Bai, of New Zealand, Walker Cup hopeful Jacob Modleski, and Paul Chang, of the People’s Republic of China, who advanced to the Round of 32 and Round of 16 in 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Twelve countries were represented among the final 64. Besides the United States, the countries were New Zealand, South Africa, the People’s Republic of China, England, Germany, Scotland, Czechia, Thailand, Japan, Sweden and Iceland.
Seven of the 17 players who survived Wednesday morning’s 20-for-17 playoff advanced to the Round of 32: Caleb Bond, Jacob Modleski, Paul Chang, Tim Wiedemeyer, Brady Siravo, Niall Shiels Donegan and Jimmy Abdo.
Ranked No. 4292 in the WAGR, 19-year-old Jimmy Abdo, of Edina, Minn., survived an 18-hole thriller against No. 4 seed Logan Reilly, 18, of Lovettsville, Va., winning 1 up.
Medalist Preston Stout advanced to the Round of 32 following a decisive victory over Pennson Badgett, 18, of Pilot Mountain, N.C., 4 and 3.
Aston Lim, 15, of Union City, Calif., was the youngest player to make match play, and 42-year-old Nate Smith,of Tetona, Idaho, was the oldest. Lim was defeated, while Smith advanced with a 3-and-2 victory.
Three of Wednesday’s Round of 64 matchups went to extra holes: Daniel Svärd, 22, of Sweden won in 20 holes over Payne Denman, Eric Lee won in 19 holes over Filip Jakubcik and Mason Howell won in 19 holes over world No. 6. Tommy Morrison.
2007 U.S. Amateur champion Colt Knost, who won the championship the last time it was contested at The Olympic Club, is part of NBCU's broadcast this week as an on-course reporter alongside two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and The Olympic Club member Kay Cockerill. Knost is part of a small, elite group of players to have won multiple USGA titles in the same year, having won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2007 as well.
Quotable
“We were both kind of new to the whole thing. We were curious, are we allowed to pick up balls and throw them back to each other if they’re good? No, it was fun.” – John Daly II on he and opponent Cooper Claycomb advancing to match play for the first time in this championship
“There’s a lot of pressure around [the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball] too. If you both don’t play well, you’re not going to do too well. Lucky for us, we got pretty deep there and got to learn all the pressure that comes with it.” – Jackson Herrington on how his run to the championship match in the 2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball alongside partner Blades Brown is helping him handle the pressure this week
“I made a big putt on my last hole to get into match play, birdied the last hole to avoid that playoff, fought really hard. Just kind of grinded, didn’t do anything too fancy, but just kind of had a lot of heart. That was cool to see.” – World No. 2-ranked Ben Jameson advancing to match play
“Obviously, there’s a lot of positives to take, especially from that finish, but you know what, I don’t know who I’m playing, but whoever I’m playing, he doesn’t care what I did. So, I’ve just got to do what I can do and see what happens.” – Niall Shiels Donegan on his mindset ahead of the Round of 32
“That first nine holes really is maybe the hardest nine holes of any golf course I’ve played. But I was able to play really well through those, which kind of helped me for the whole round, kind of gave myself a little cushion.” – Miles Russell on the challenge presented by The Olympic Club’s Lake Course
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