Locals Shine At U.S. Amateur

Clemson senior Ben Martin fired a two-under-par 68 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, OK on Tuesday and qualified for the match play portion of the United States Amateur Championship. Martin shot a 34 on each side of the 7331 yard course and will be one of the top seeds for the 64-player match play championship that will begin on Wednesday.

He finished stroke play tied for second.

Martin had a 36-hole score of 141 after his opening round 73 at Cedar Ridge Golf Course also in Tulsa, the second course being used for the US Amateur stroke play qualifier.

It was a great day for Martin, who also played in the US Open at Bethpage Black as an amateur back in June.  His day included a 25-foot birdie putt, a 45-foot hole out from a bunker, and a tee shot on a par three that finished just eight inches from a hole-in-one.

“I played well, it was a good day,” said Martin, whose father Jim is on the bag as his caddie this week.  “And, it was good to play well at Southern Hills because that will be the site for the entire match play championship.  It should give me some confidence going into Wednesday.”

Martin’s day started on the 10th hole and he responded with a birdie on the par four hole when he drained a 25-foot putt.  “I was just trying to get it close to the hole.  It was a 25 footer down hill with a break, and it just dropped in,” said Martin.

“The native of Greenwood, SC made a birdie on the par five 13th hole when he hit a wedge within eight feet and made the putt.  He slipped up on the 18th hole when he three-putted, but still finished his first nine at one under par 34.

After four straight pars to open the front nine, he bogeyed the par five fifth hole that is 652 yards in length.  “I hit a poor drive and had to chip out. I still had 200 yards for a third shot and ended up with a bogey.

“But, I came back strong on the sixth and nearly made a one.”  Martin’s tee shot on the par three hole that is 197 yards was straight at the hole and rolled to within eight inches of the cup.  He tapped in for birdie.  He then birdied the par four ninth hole when he holed a greenside bunker shot for 45 feet.”

Recent Clemson graduate Phillip Mollica fired a second round 73 on the Cedar Ridge Country Club Course in Tulsa, OK on Tuesday and qualified for the match play portion, too..

Mollica finished his round early in the morning and when it did so it appeared he would not make the cut.  But as the day wore on and scores came in higher with afternoon wins, he moved up the leaderboard.  He finished in a tie for 45th place with 17 other players, but that was good enough to finish in he top 64.

Mollica had a 74 at Southern Hills on Monday, then shot 73 on Tuesday.  His Tuesday round included two birdies.

Three of the four Gamecock golfers competing in the 2009 U.S. Amateur Championship have advanced to the match
play portion of the event by finishing in the top 64 of stroke play qualifying. Sophomore Wesley Bryan, senior Patrick Rada and 2008
graduate Mark Anderson advanced from stroke play qualifying at Southern Hills Country Club and Cedar Ridge Country Club in
Tulsa.

Bryan’s round of even-par 70 - which he desperately needed after an opening 77 - was featured in GolfWeek’s coverage of the event
on Tuesday. He made six birdies on the notoriously difficult Southern Hills course but only managed an even-par round of 70.
However, it was enough to earn him a berth in the match play round at 7-over par.

“Yesterday was a 77 that could have been a 90,“ Bryan told GolfWeek’s Sean Martin. “Today was a (70) that could have been a 63.“

The sophomore from Chapin, S.C., had what many are calling the shot of the tournament thus far. He rolled in a 90-foot putt for birdie
at the par-4 10th.

“It took at least 10 seconds for it to go in,“ Bryan said. “I stopped it at the top of the hill, then it trickled down and started winding
around and went right in the middle of the hole at the perfect speed. It was unbelievable.“

Anderson tied for second place with rounds of 71-70=141 (+1). He fired an even-par round of 70 at Cedar Ridge today after shooting
71 at Southern Hills on Monday. It will be his second straight appearance in match play after advancing to the first round last year.

Rada will also be making his second foray into match play after a tie for 32nd place at 72-74=146 (+6). Starting on the 10th tee, he
carded two birdies and a bogey on his first nine Tuesday, but then recorded four straight bogeys and found himself on the verge of
disaster. He managed to right the ship and rolled in a birdie at the par-3 6th to offset a pair of finishing bogeys to make the cut.

Paul Woodbury shot a 2-over-par 72 on Tuesday, but it was not enough to offset his opening round 81 as he missed the cut by five
shots at 13-over, tied for 160th in the 312-player field.

Match-play pairings are mostly set for the round of 64, which gets underway Wednesday morning at Southern Hills. However, a 27-
man playoff will commence at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday to determine the final four seeds in the match play. One of those qualifiers will
play Anderson, who earned the No. 2 seed, at 1 p.m. Rada will take on Bhavik Patel of Bakersfield, Calif., at 11:20 a.m., and Bryan
will face Trent Whitekiller of Sallisaw, Okla., at noon.

Complete coverage and live scoring can be found at http://www.usamateur.org. Televised coverage of match play gets underway at 3 p.m.
on The Golf Channel.