Hazeltine National Golf Club • Chaska, Minn.
Chaska Town Course • Chaska, Minn.
August 12-18, 2024
U.S. AMATEUR
Buchanan Delivers Two Dramatic Wins to Reach U.S. Amateur Quarters
Jackson Buchanan admittedly did not have his best stuff when the bell went off for the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship. His practice rounds were not up to standard, and he needed consecutive birdies on his last two holes at stroke-play co-host Chaska Town Course during Round 2 of stroke play just to sneak into match play.
Sometime on Wednesday, however, things began to come together, and by late Thursday afternoon, Buchanan, a 22-year-old from Dacula, Ga., who qualified for this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, was still alive after two more dramatic victories at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
RELATED CONTENT: Meet the 2024 U.S. Amateur Quarterfinalists
Buchanan might not be a drama major at the University of Illinois, where he’s a rising senior, but he provided some epic theater for those who watched him perform on the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design.
In the Round of 32 on Thursday morning, he eliminated Luke Clanton, the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR® who had posted three top-10 finishes this summer on the PGA Tour and in June became the first amateur in U.S. Open history to record consecutive rounds in the 60s, 1 up, before a healthy crowd north of 500 fans.
With an hour for lunch, Buchanan managed to regroup and refocus his energy against 16-year-old high school junior Tyler Mawhinney, of Fleming Island, Fla.. He posted another 1-up decision in the Round of 16, converting an 8-foot birdie on the 18th green after his opponent got up and down from the greenside rough by holing a 15-footer for par.
“I’m just gassed right now,” said Buchanan, who beat world No. 6 Preston Summerhays in the opening round. “We play 36 holes all year round in college. It’s not new, but it’s different with match play. Match play brings way more energy out of you.
“I’ve never played two matches in one day. Luke … brought it all out of me. That was the toughest match I’ve ever played. I knew coming into [my Round-of-16 match], it was going to be kind of a little bit of a dogfight. Tyler played well and I was able to close.”
Buchanan was joined in the quarterfinals by No. 64 seed and Oklahoma State sophomore Ethan Fang, of Plano, Texas; Iowa sophomore Noah Kent, of Naples, Fla.; Notre Dame sophomore Jacob Modleski, of Noblesville, Ind.; Arizona State senior Jose Luis Ballester, of Spain; his fellow countryman Luis Masaveu; Auburn senior and two-time U.S. Open qualifier Brendan Valdes, of Orlando, Fla.; and 36-year-old Bobby Massa, of Dallas, Texas.
Against Clanton, who’s likely to win the Mark H. McCormack Medal next week, Buchanan twice built 2-up leads only to see both evaporate. Clanton, in fact, grabbed a 1-up lead with a birdie on No. 14, a lead he kept briefly until Buchanan won the par-5 15th with a birdie, took 16 with a par and then tied the next two holes, including an exquisite up-and-down par from the right greenside rough on No. 18. Clanton nearly forced extra holes with a 20-foot birdie attempt that slid just by the hole.
“It's the U.S. Amateur. Like what do you expect?” said Clanton of the tough Round-of-32 draw. “You're not going to get easy matches all the time. He's a good buddy of mine. He played really well, and I don't see him losing much. So, it's going to be fun to watch.”
Added Buchanan: “My practice rounds were atrocious. Sometimes I'm not very confident in parts of my game, so I just kind of threw it out the window [and] started hitting it better. Birdied my last two to get into match play and just have kind of been riding that since.”
Mawhinney, a member of the USGA’s inaugural U.S. National Junior Team, had also been riding a major momentum wave since winning the Canadian Amateur last Thursday in Saskatchewan, which earned him a spot in this week’s field. And the 2023 Florida 3A high school state champion showed plenty of moxie, battling back from a 2-down deficit to tie the match with a birdie on No. 12.
Then Mawhinney took the lead on 16 with a par, forcing Buchanan to come up with more magic. He answered with a 7-foot birdie on the par-3 17th and followed with a mammoth drive on 473-yard, par-4 closing hole. Facing a 130-yard approach – 136 with the slope – Buchanan watched his approach nearly fly into the hole. He even did a club twirl, knowing he flushed it.
Indeed, the ball nearly spun into the hole, settling 8 feet below, setting the stage for the winning birdie.
That wasn’t the only dramatic Round-of-16 match. Massa, a quarterfinalist in last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur and a high-performance trainer, outlasted 2023 Canadian Amateur champion and 2024 U.S. Open qualifier Ashton McCulloch, of Canada, in 23 holes, converting a 25-footer on the fifth extra hole, the par-4 18th at Hazeltine, as dusk rapidly approached.
With a win on Friday over Ballester, Massa would be the first mid-amateur semifinalist in 19 years (Austin Eaton III). Earlier on Thursday, Massa was extended to the final hole against incoming Stanford freshman Ratchanon Tk Chantananuwat, of Thailand.
“I'm enjoying the moment right now, so I don't know what the future holds,” said Massa. “Just happy to be here right now.
“I'll be happy to find my bed, I'll tell you that. I'll be happy to take a shower and get in bed.”
In a competition that has seen high seeds and notable players exit early, Masaveu, has been the one player to avoid the upset. Seeded third from stroke play, the 2024 Open Championship qualifier – he finished 78th at Royal Troon – took out left-hander Jackson Herrington, 1 up, and Texas A&M’s Phichaksn Maichon, 3 and 2.
With Ballester also advancing, that gave Spain two players in the quarterfinals for the first time in championship history. Two-time major champion Jon Rahm, in 2015, made the last eight and Masters winner Sergio Garcia was a semifinalist in 1998 – the last Spaniards to make deep U.S. Amateur runs. On Thursday, Ballester first knocked off college rival and German native Tiger Christensen, of the University of Arizona, 3 and 1, and then defeated 36-year-old Christian Brand (3 and 2), who won this year’s West Virginia Amateur by 21 strokes.
Fang, who took out medalist Jimmy Ellis on Wednesday, continues his trek to possibly becoming the first 64 seed to win any USGA amateur championship. He moved into the final eight with a 2-up win over 2023 U.S. Open qualifier Bastien Amat, of France.
Through family connections, Kent has recently struck up a friendship with NBC/Golf Channel analyst and 1978 U.S Amateur champion John Cook, and 1993 champion John Harris, a Minnesota native who is the last mid-amateur to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy. The positive encouragement has proven to be beneficial for the Floridian, who traveled to Australia in January to play the Australian Master of the Amateurs and Australian Amateur, and to Ballyliffin, in the Republic of Ireland, two months ago to compete in The Amateur Championship. He was also runner-up in this year’s Porter Cup.
All of those experiences have led up to this week at Hazeltine. On Thursday, Kent, never trailed in beating 2024 Alabama Amateur champion Tom Fischer (2 and 1) and Garrett Engle (4 and 2).
“I've been talking to both of them,” said Kent of his two mentors. “[They told me], you're as good as anybody in the field. Like now everybody can compete, but it's like you belong and you're better than every single one of them here. It's just having the self-confidence in yourself.”
Interestingly enough, Modleski’s two victories in 2024 have both come in the Sea Island, Ga., area, first at the Jones Cup Invitational at Ocean Forest and then the Johnnie-O at Sea Island, a collegiate event held at Sea Island Golf Club.
On Thursday, the Notre Dame sophomore continued to have the luck of the Irish on his side with wins over 2024 European Amateur champion and University of Texas standout Tommy Morrison (3 and 2) and 2024 Latin America Amateur runner-up Omar Morales (2 and 1), of Mexico, a UCLA rising senior.
Valdes said his two U.S. Open starts at The Los Angeles Country Club in 2023 and Pinehurst in June were major factors coming into Hazeltine. He also delivered a key match-play win over Florida State’s Frederik Kjettrup in the championship match at the NCAAs in June to lift the Tigers to their first national title.
He advanced with wins over Caleb Shetler (2 and 1) and Peter Fountain (3 and 2).
“Of course, I try and be confident, but I know all the guys [are] all great players,” said Valdes. “I just have to look forward to who I'm playing next. But there's really nothing after that. I'm looking to the next match.”
The quarterfinal matches on Friday are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CDT and tee off in 15-minute intervals. Saturday’s semifinals are set for 1 and 1:20 p.m., with the first 18 of Sunday’s 36-hole championship match scheduled for 7:15 a.m. Tickets are available for purchase, while Peacock will stream live on Friday at 4 p.m. with Golf Channel picking up the coverage at 5 p.m.
“It's the biggest tournament in the world. So you go out there, you get that experience. I mean, this is the U.S. Am, but I mean, it's nothing like the U.S. Open. Just out there nerve-wise, it was not high until you're coming down the stretch, but the golf course is just as hard as Pinehurst, I'll tell you that much. You have to bring it.” – Jackson Buchanan when asked about how the experience at Pinehurst in June prepped him for Hazeltine
“It helped greatly. I mean, playing out at [LACC], where the rough is the thickest I've ever seen, and like if you hit it in the rough, you have no shot, and I wasn't able to keep it in the fairway. I kind of learned a little bit from there. And then Pinehurst, it's really important to place your iron shots. I mean, the fairways …out at Pinehurst really aren't that tight, but you have to be able to place it really well. I feel like on these greens that's helped me a lot.” – Brendan Valdes on his two U.S. Open experiences
“I just don't play a whole bunch. I have a family at home. Any chance I get to travel, it's going to be a big event. This is the biggest one you can play in as an amateur. So this is why I'm one here.” – Bobby Massa on being the last mid-amateur standing
“Very [confident]. I think my game has been trending in the right direction all summer. It's getting to the point where things are falling into place, and I'm starting to see a lot of the shots I'm wanting, and it's evident in the scores and the matches.” – Jacob Modleski on his confidence
“Today wasn't bad. 36-hole day, those college tournaments prepare you pretty well for that. Yeah, just stay focused pretty much.” – Ethan Fang on the marathon day
“I talked with a few universities, but with COVID and everything, I just decided just to stay [in Spain]. Obviously in terms of accommodation, it's the first place, but I have a good team, so I'm happy there.” – Luis Masaveu, the lone quarterfinalist to not attend college in the U.S.
“I'm pretty pumped to go back and play for FSU (Florida State University). So I'm excited to do that. I'm excited to go see [Coach] Trey [Jones] and all the guys. It's going to fun.” – Luke Clanton on what’s next after a whirlwind summer
David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.
© 2023 United States Golf Association. All Rights Reserved.