5th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball | #USFourBall
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Pacific Dunes/Old Macdonald Courses), Bandon, Ore.
Stroke Play, Round 2 | 6,720 yards, par 70 (Pacific Dunes), 6,889 yards, par 71 (Old Macdonald)
Hole Locations (Pacific Dunes) | Hole Locations (Old Macdonald)
Championship History | Media Center

What Happened

Kwon, a caddie at Philadelphia Cricket Club, site of the 2020 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, and Merion Golf Club (2022 Curtis Cup and 2026 U.S. Amateur), and Vannucci also got off to a hot start on Sunday with three consecutive birdies. They had a similar streak Saturday, making four birdies in a row from the 14th hole on Old Macdonald. The side added birdies on Nos. 14, 17 and 18, with Vannucci punctuating the day with a 10-footer on the closing hole. Kwon stuffed a 52-degree wedge to 7 feet on the par-4 opening hole and flopped a wedge shot to 3 feet from behind the green on the par-5 third. Vannucci’s wedge approach from 63 yards on the second hole stopped 8 feet from the flagstick.

“We’ve been playing well coming in,” said Vannucci, who didn’t play college golf after graduating from First Assembly Christian School in Memphis, Tenn. He now works for American Athletic Track and Turf in Southampton Township, N.J. “We were just trying to get settled in, calm the nerves and just hit shots. That’s all you’ve got to do. Play golf.”

Ackerman and McCarty, a left-hander, played mistake-free golf for the first 14 holes. After a birdie on No. 5, McCarty kept the momentum going with a clutch 15-foot par putt on the sixth green. They made their lone bogey on the 515-yard, par-4 15th to fall back to 12 under, but McCarty coolly converted a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th to pull the team into a three-way tie for medalist.

“I knew [Derek] was in with 5, so I just figured I’d hit it to the back of the cup,” said McCarty, a rising senior at Santa Clara. “We were definitely thinking about [being medalist] it a little after [Saturday’s 63]. I don’t think that was our main goal coming out here today.”

By Sunday night, it was official.

Notable

• The 7-for-4 playoff for the final match-play spots will be conducted on Nos. 5, 6 and 7 on Old Macdonald. The holes will continue in that loop until the playoff is completed. Among the sides in the playoff are 2018 semifinalists Sam Tidd, of Meridian, Idaho, and Carson Barry, of Eagle, Idaho. Tidd just completed his freshman season at the University of Oklahoma. Barry finished his freshman year at Oregon State.
  
  
• The youngest and oldest competitors in the field each qualified for match play with their partner. Aidan Tran, 15, of Fresno, Calif., a rising high school sophomore who is planning to play at Georgia Tech in 2022, shot 9-under 132 with Jackson Lake, of Clovis, Calif. And John Sajevic, 63, of Fremont, Neb., advanced with his son, Andrew, after the duo also finished at 132. They were the only father-son tandem to qualify from the three in the field.
  
  
• Long Beach, Calif., residents Hunter and Ryder Epson were the only brother-brother tandem to advance (132). Brothers-in-law Tyler Cooke, of Warwick, R.I., and Bobby Leopold, of Coventry, R.I., also qualified (131).
  
  
• Ex-NFL defensive tackle Kyle Williams, of Ruston, La., and partner Greg Berthelot, of Baton Rouge, La., qualified for match play at 10-under 131, thanks to an eagle on the 379-yard, par-4 third hole on Old Macdonald. It was the only eagle on a par 4 during stroke play. Berthelot drove the green and made the 15-foot putt. “I hit a little left of the line,” said Berthelot. “Once I hit it, I knew it had a chance, but I didn’t think it was going to get there. I hit the putt to the right and let the wind take it in. It was a great [putt], it got us going.” Williams played 13 seasons with the Buffalo Bills, making six Pro Bowls, before retiring last December.
  
  
• 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad, of Newport Beach, Calif., and partner Derek Busby, of Ruston, La., carded a 6-under 64 on Pacific Dunes to qualify for match play at 11-under 130.
  
  
• 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Matt Parziale, of Brockton, Mass., and his partner, Herbie Aikens, of Kingston, Mass., fired a 65 Sunday on Pacific Dunes to qualify for match play at 7-under 134. Parziale also shared low-amateur honors in last year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
  
  
• Nathan Smith, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Todd White, of Spartanburg, S.C., the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champions in 2015, failed to qualify for match play after posting a 36-hole total of 1-under 140.
  
  
• Another USGA champion, Michael McCoy (2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur), of Norwalk, Iowa, and partner Gene Elliott, of West Des Moines, Iowa, also failed to qualify after shooting 2-under 139.
  
  
• Supported by the largest gallery of the day, Bandon Dunes caddies Kevin Rei, of Bandon, Ore., and Kyle Crawford, of Coos Bay, Ore., came up one stroke short of the playoff. In front of at least 50 caddies and other employees, Rei and Crawford needed a birdie on Pacific Dunes’ par-5 closing hole but made par to post 5-under 136.

Quotable

“We had prime scoring conditions at Pacific [Dunes] coming out at 7 o’clock in the morning. No wind. You can get after it a little bit. We just played solid golf. Our putters went cold [in the middle of the round], but we were still giving ourselves looks [at birdie]. Fairways and greens and we snuck a few [birdies] coming in down the stretch [on Nos. 14, 17 and 18]. It was fun. – Troy Vannucci after shooting a 6-under 64 on Pacific Dunes with partner Vince Kwon

“Any time you can play 36 holes and not make a bogey is fantastic.” – Todd Mitchell after posting 10-under 131 with partner Scott Harvey.

“We were definitely leaking oil and I had to make a decent par putt on 14. The goal was to just get one and get back in the right direction. It totally changed the momentum because we were reeling a little bit.” – Marc Dull on making a 10-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th hole on Old Macdonald en route to a 4-under 67 with partner Chip Brooke

“It’s different. It is nothing close to what we have in [New Jersey]. [My partner] hit a tee shot on 17 [on Old Macdonald] that ended up in the fairway. At home it would have been 20 yards OB (out of bounds).” – Brendan Hansen on playing Old Macdonald. He and partner Jack Wall shot an 8-under 63 in Sunday’s second round to post 10-under 131 in stroke play

“We did a good job of managing the wind. We gave ourselves two looks on every hole.” – Andrew Medley after he and his partner, Taylor Wood, shot 7-under 64 on Old Macdonald to finish stroke play at 12-under 129

“We both thought, not to say in a cocky way or anything, that if we do our thing, we’re a good team and tough to beat. I have a lot of faith in [Derek] where if I put myself out of it, he’s going to step up to the plate and hit a few good ones. I just think there’s a lot of trust. We played really hard [Saturday on Old Macdonald] and well today, so just looking forward to tomorrow.” – 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad after posting 11-under 130 with partner Derek Busby

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.

The Social Scene