U.S. AMATEUR FOUR-BALL

Quartet of 62s Lead After Round 1 at Philadelphia Cricket Club

By David Shefter, USGA

| May 25, 2024 | Flourtown, Pa.

Quartet of 62s Lead After Round 1 at Philadelphia Cricket Club

What Happened

The weather for the opening round of the 9th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club couldn’t have been more idyllic – sunshine, light winds and no humidity.

The kind of conditions that make for good scoring and even better times. And for a number of sides during Saturday’s first round of stroke play, there were many things to celebrate.

Four teams posted 62s on the two championship layouts: the 6,978-yard, par-70 Wissahickon Course designed by A.W. Tillinghast, and the adjacent 7,230-yard, par-72 stroke-play co-host Militia Hill Course designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzon and Dana Fry.

Ex-University of Oregon teammates Zach Foushee, 29, of Lake Oswego, Ore., and Robbie Ziegler, 33, of Tualitan, Ore., matched Indiana tandem Kenny Cook, 44, of Noblesville, and Sean Rowen, 50, of Greenwood, with 10-under 62s at Militia Hill.

“It was perfect out,” said Rowen. “It was a good day to score.”

At Wissahickon, the two sides who posted 62s included ex-Middle Tennessee State teammates Payne Denman, 32, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Brett Patterson, 32, of Oxford, Miss., and Michigan natives Bradley Bastion, 39, of Shelby Township, and Anthony Sorentino, 46, of Rochester Hills.

North Carolina 16-year-olds and rising high school juniors Daniel McBrien, of Holly Springs, and Smith Summerlin, of Raleigh, carded a 63 at Militia Hills, while 29-year-old Coloradoans Jimmy Makloski, of Pueblo, and Colin Prater, of Colorado Springs shot the same at Wissahickon. Prater, a high school science teacher, qualified for match play in the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills last summer.

This could turn out to be quite a week for Ziegler, who turns 34 on Wednesday and is about to celebrate the 6-month birth of his first child, Kaden. Fortunately, his wife, Kristen, gave Ziegler some “me time” to fly across the country to compete with his longtime buddy, Zach Foushee, five years his junior who won an NCAA title in 2016 for the Ducks and regained his amateur status five years ago following a two-year stint on PGA Tour Canada.

The duo registered nine birdies and an eagle with the lone hiccup being a bogey on the 252-yard, par-3 ninth. Last summer, Foushee, a real estate agent, and Ziegler, a sports marketing agent at Adidas Golf, claimed the Oregon Stroke Play.

“The key to this format is to just have a bunch of [birdie] looks on the greens,” said Ziegler, competing in his 11th USGA championship. “We both had birdie putts.”

Foushee’s 20-yard chip-in for eagle on the 577-yard, par-5 sixth hole was a nice momentum builder, and birdies on 16, 17 and 18, including an 18-footer by Ziegler on the final hole, put the exclamation point on a memorable day.

An eagle also kickstarted Rowen and Cook’s round, who are making their sixth start in the championship together. Rowen’s 220-yard hybrid approach stopped 14 feet from the flagstick, and he converted. A Cook birdie on No. 8 and a clutch 4½-foot par save on nine kept the momentum going. They registered six birdies over the final nine holes.

“You try to stay consistent, patient and keep hitting good shots and giving ourselves opportunities,” said Rowen. “I feel like we’re good enough that we were going to start making some [putts]. And we did.”

Patterson and Denman first met as junior golf competitors two decades ago, and then became teammates at Middle Tennessee State. Denman has since become the men’s golf assistant coach at the Division I school, while Patterson, a reinstated amateur, just recently earned his Ph.D. in accounting at the University of Mississippi and became a full-time faculty member. Last September, he advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Mid-Amateur.

On Saturday, Denman birdied the first two holes and then Patterson took over, making six more over an 11-hole stretch, beginning with the 104-yard, par-3 third.

“We’ve got good chemistry, and I think our main goal is to just trust our game,” said Patterson, who qualified with Denman two years ago. “We knew that it was going to be good enough to make match play, and we’ve set ourselves up pretty well to do that.”

As an assistant prosecuting attorney back in Michigan, Sorentino’s job consists of putting the bad guys away. And on Saturday, he made a strong opening argument. Along with Bastion, who works in the financial world, the duo each made four birdies on their way to matching the low round of the day at Wissahickon. That included a chip-in 3 by Sorentino on the 490-yard closing hole.

But two years ago, at the Country Club of Birmingham (Ala.), they also started strong and failed to qualify for match play. Both know it will take another solid round on Sunday to be among the 32 match-play qualifiers.

“Just have to do it all again tomorrow,” said Sorentino.

Colin Prater (pictured) and his partner, fellow Coloradoan Jimmy Makloski, opened with a 63 on the Wissahickon Course. (USGA/Jonathan Ernst)

Colin Prater (pictured) and his partner, fellow Coloradoan Jimmy Makloski, opened with a 63 on the Wissahickon Course. (USGA/Jonathan Ernst)

What’s Next

The sides will switch courses for the second and final round of stroke play on Sunday, after which the field will be cut to the low 32 sides for match play, which will begin on Monday. A playoff, if necessary to determine the final spots in the draw, would take place on Monday beginning at 6:45 a.m. EDT.

Notable

  • Two exempt sides featured solo players due to conflicts with the concurrent NCAA Division I Men’s Championship taking place in Carlsbad, Calif.

  • Carter Loflin, a rising junior at the University of Georgia, had to play without partner Wells Williams, who plays for Vanderbilt. The side reached the semifinals of the last two U.S. Amateur Four-Balls. While not on the postseason playing roster, Williams traveled with Vanderbilt to the Omni La Costa Resort.

  • Bryce Haney, a semifinalist last year, was also without partner Tyler Goecke, a standout at the University of Illinois who also qualified for the NCAAs. Goecke posted a first-round 73 on Friday for the Illini, which was tied for fifth in the team competition. Haney carded an even-par 70 on the Wissahickon Course, while Loflin posted an even-par 72 at Militia Hill.

  • One other player, Brian Isztwan, competed as a solo side. He was supposed to partner with ex-Harvard teammate Jeffrey Fang. Isztwan shot 76 on the Wissahickon Course.  

  • Philadelphia Cricket Club members Andy Latowski and Gregor Orlando, who had the honor of hitting the opening tee shots, posted an even-par 70 on the Wissahickon Course.

  • Tennessean Blades Brown, one of eight boys on the USGA’s inaugural U.S. National Junior Team, posted an 8-under 64 with partner and incoming University of Tennessee freshman Jackson Herrington. The side reached the quarterfinals last year. Both have also advanced to U.S. Open final qualifying on June 3.

Quotable

“It’s truly a privilege to play here. It’s hard to get here, and to play like that is incredible.” – Robbie Ziegler

“We’re not going to be pressing tomorrow, which is nice. We’ll just play and see what happens.” – Zach Foushee

“I just started full time as a professor there at the university teaching the intermediate financial accounting courses. This time of year, it’s nice to be able to play a little bit more, but during the semesters I’m more hard-pressed to find time to practice and play. All the more reason to try and enjoy our time out here together this week. It’s a week away at a great golf course. We’ve been friends for a while, so being able to do this is an extreme blessing.” – Brett Patterson on playing with partner Payne Denman

“Not going to change much mindset wise. It worked well today, so we’ll try to keep the foot on the gas. But it takes off some of the pressure going into tomorrow. Enjoy the day, enjoy the course. We’re at such a special place.” – Smith Summerlin after shooting a 9-under 63 at Militia Hill with partner Daniel McBrien

“Yeah, we’ve played enough USGA events to know that in stroke play you have to bear down and keep it going the next day. Can’t ease up.” – Bradley Bastion

“Probably not. It’s probably just us out here for the week. I texted with him very briefly before this [event]. He knows what’s up. It’s a very business sort of thing. You just play golf and let everything ride.” – Jack Cantlay when asked if his more-famous older brother, Patrick, might make a cameo at Philadelphia Cricket Club

“That was a real dream come true. I mean, not many times you can start a USGA event and hit the first shot.” – Philadelphia Cricket Club member Gregor Orlando on getting the championship started with fellow member Andy Latowski

“The courses are just mint. Just beautiful. It succeeded all expectations.” – two-time runner-up Drew Kittleson

“Six under, I think we would have taken it when we teed off. I definitely feel like we left a few [shots] out there. We probably stole a few and picked up a couple.” – Drew Stoltz, the runner-up the past two years with Kittleson after carding a 66 at Militia Hill

“I’m really just happy to be here. Last year, me and Tyler made it to the semifinals, and obviously would’ve liked to have done that again this year. I’m certain that we would have if he was here, so no expectations.” – Bryce Haney on playing solo

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