We Have A US Am Qualifier (for the matchplay bracket)!

[Matthew Rose]

Gonna try to get out there one day..... it's less than a mile from my workplace, I have no excuse.

Disappointed Gary Nicklaus didn't get though.... was hoping to get a glimpse of him (well, and Jack, duh).

[Howard Riefs]

Andrew (#34 seed) tees off today at 9:50 a.m. MT against Douglas Hanzel (#31), who finished as the low am in this year's US Senior Open.

http://www.thecoastalsource.com/content/news/localsports/story/Doug-Hanzel-finishes-as-low-amateur-of-U-S-Senior/0r3hnyk_S0q24ZPWESSQEQ.cspx

The winner on Thursday will play the winner of the match between Jeff Osberg (#2) and the TBD #63 seed.

http://www.usga.org/ChampEventScore.aspx?id=17179869326&year=2012&type=reversetree


On a related note, a nice article in Monday's Newark Record on Andrew and the influence of his father, who is sick.

"Every time I tee off, I want to play well for the people that have helped me in my life," Andrew said. "There’s no one in my life who has helped more than Ralph. Especially now that I know he’s going through a lot, I just want to give him something to be happy about."

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/165943846_Father_is_Andrew_Biggadike_s_driving_force_in_U_S__Amateur.html?page=all


Good luck, Andrew!

[Mark McKeever]

Awesome work Andrew!  Best of luck in the upcoming matches!

Mark

[JLahrman]

I've been able to meet Andrew once and send a few PMs back and forth with him. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play golf with him yet! He's a good guy and hopefully he can keep it going.

A guy from my high school golf team also qualified for the Am though he didn't survive to match play. And he has a young daughter and demanding day job just like me.

It gives (probably false) hope to this 37-year-old, 10-handicap-and-going-the-wrong-way golfer. I'm going to go practice tonight.

[JLahrman]

Looks like Andrew lost today, to a player who we will will now harass online.

No small feat getting to the final 64 of the US Amateur.

[Doug Wright]

Well done Andrew--clearly this senior guy Hanzel is having a great summer. As a senior myself I guess I'll now root for Hanzel to go deep in the tournament.

PS Brett Drewitt, a 21 year old Aussie who played in Brian Colbert's group and qualified @ -1 also lost today in 19 holes in a match where neither was more than 1 up. Brett was playing very well so Mr. Miller must be as well. I think we'll hear more from Brett Drewitt in the future. 

 Brett Drewitt, Australia   19 holes  Michael Miller, Brewster, N.Y.  F

[Alex Lagowitz]

Congrats for making match play Andrew!
Hope your father is feeling better.
Good luck in the Shield!

[Doug Wright]

I could not give a hoot in hell(that would be the State of Alabama) if a gump golfer made it to match play. However two LSU Tigers did make it. Curtis Thompson and Andrew Presley made it to join our CGA friends. Go Tigers and along with Andrew and Thomas, have a great week  at Cherry Hills.

JB: I watched your guy Thompson play at the Western Am and he was the one guy whose length just blew me away. Most kids were long, but not the Sasqutch-type stories I'd heard about college kids' length. It was mostly the kind of length I had seen before. But holymoly, that kid Hompso  kid is long. He was hitting it in places I did not expect to see.

Dave, after watching these kids for a couple days at the US Am I'm amazed at the distances these guys hit it. The below item is from GolfWeek. A wedge second shot to #5 @ Cherry Hills? William Flynn is rolling over in his grave.

LONG DISTANCE: Cal’s Brandon Hagy may be the longest player remaining among the match-play participants. He’s loving the extra length that the approximately 5,400-foot altitude gave him. Hagy shot 65-72 to finish sixth in stroke play.

He drove the 394-yard, par-4 ninth hole at CommonGround in the first round with only a slight helping wind. He had a 52-degree wedge into Cherry Hills’ par-5 fifth hole Tuesday after a drive of more than 400 yards, and hit 8-iron into the par-5 11th. He reached the 17th hole with a 9-iron in a practice round.

[John_Conley]

Doug, I played with Jim Engh once in Colorado.  Two things struck me: 1) This would be a better site if we could get him to post here regularly, and 2) the 10% thing is B.S.  Someone like Jim that hits the ball high and far gets more than that and someone else (senior, lady) that doesn't have a lot of hang time on their shots won't get that supposed benefit of playing in Denver.

[Doug Wright]

Doug, I played with Jim Engh once in Colorado.  Two things struck me: 1) This would be a better site if we could get him to post here regularly, and 2) the 10% thing is B.S.  Someone like Jim that hits the ball high and far gets more than that and someone else (senior, lady) that doesn't have a lot of hang time on their shots won't get that supposed benefit of playing in Denver.

John, that is correct--resemble that remark...

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

David, Thanks for the update on his game. The Tiger mens team had a disappointing year. The women did well,3rd in the ncaas. Thompson along with our GCA guys lost today. Andrew Presley is still living to play another day.

[Matthew Rose]

Some of the guys definitely seem to be struggling with the distance. Have seen a couple of the players drive it all the way into the far arm of the lake on 18 which has to be about 340-350 out.

Also have seen at least one guy drive it into the first cross bunkers on 17. Of course, the NBC guys didn't like that.

Cherry Hills is looking and playing awesome. That tee shot on 18 is about as intimidating as it gets.

[AndrewB]

Some of the guys definitely seem to be struggling with the distance. Have seen a couple of the players drive it all the way into the far arm of the lake on 18 which has to be about 340-350 out.

The fairways are playing faster than most links courses I've played.  This does so many things to make the game more challenging and more interesting at the same time.

Cherry Hills is looking and playing awesome. That tee shot on 18 is about as intimidating as it gets.

I actually think the second shot is way more intimidating.  The slope of the fairway on the tee shot lets you aim well right of the water and feed it back down.  So the only way you should hit it in the water is if you really pull hook it or hit too much club and go through.

The second shot is up a steep hill with quite a long club off a sidehill lie.  You have to carry the front edge otherwise it will stop and roll back a bit, and it's so firm that if you do land on it's tough to keep the ball on the green.  Good shots seem to land near the front of the green and finish near the back of the green.  It's the kind of shot where a lot of people will start off by yelling at the ball to "go!" and once it clears the front edge start yelling for it to "sit!".

[Matthew Petersen]

Matthew, I agree about how ridiculous it is to see where these guys are hitting it. I have never played Cherry Hills but know it about as well as you can know a course without playing it. I have walked it many times and watched many varieties of tournaments played there. The places a lot of these guys are hitting drives are just insane.

[George Pazin]

Congrats on the strong play, Andrew. Go get 'em next year.

[Kalen Braley]

Doug, I played with Jim Engh once in Colorado.  Two things struck me: 1) This would be a better site if we could get him to post here regularly, and 2) the 10% thing is B.S.  Someone like Jim that hits the ball high and far gets more than that and someone else (senior, lady) that doesn't have a lot of hang time on their shots won't get that supposed benefit of playing in Denver.

John,

I can tell you this has a snowballs chance in hell of happening.  I met with Jim a few weeks ago for dinner and a few beers, and I can safely say he isn't coming back.  And quite frankly, I don't blame him after the way he was treated while he was actively around a couple of years ago.

He's a really sharp guy with lots of good input/thoughts to bring to the table and its been a shame to see the attacks on his work and otherwise on this site.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Good play today but my Tiger took gas on 18 after missing makable birdie to tie the match on 17.   By the by what does Engh have to do with Cherry Hills or US AM?

[Pete_Pittock]

I could not give a hoot in hell(that would be the State of Alabama) if a gump golfer made it to match play. However two LSU Tigers did make it. Curtis Thompson and Andrew Presley made it to join our CGA friends. Go Tigers and along with Andrew and Thomas, have a great week  at Cherry Hills.

JB: I watched your guy Thompson play at the Western Am and he was the one guy whose length just blew me away. Most kids were long, but not the Sasqutch-type stories I'd heard about college kids' length. It was mostly the kind of length I had seen before. But holymoly, that kid Hompso  kid is long. He was hitting it in places I did not expect to see.

Dave, after watching these kids for a couple days at the US Am I'm amazed at the distances these guys hit it. The below item is from GolfWeek. A wedge second shot to #5 @ Cherry Hills? William Flynn is rolling over in his grave.

LONG DISTANCE: Cal’s Brandon Hagy may be the longest player remaining among the match-play participants. He’s loving the extra length that the approximately 5,400-foot altitude gave him. Hagy shot 65-72 to finish sixth in stroke play.

He drove the 394-yard, par-4 ninth hole at CommonGround in the first round with only a slight helping wind. He had a 52-degree wedge into Cherry Hills’ par-5 fifth hole Tuesday after a drive of more than 400 yards, and hit 8-iron into the par-5 11th. He reached the 17th hole with a 9-iron in a practice round.

I was really impressed with Hagy's length and finishing ability when he played in the PAC-12 championships this spring ion Oregon. He continually hit through the normal driving zones and drove stakes through the Uof O in the playoff. Glad to see him make the quarterfinals.