UTC’s Garrett Engle shot 1-under in his opening round at the U.S. Amateur
A dozen years ago, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer opened his U.S. Amateur experience with a first-round 72 followed by a 71 on the second day of stroke play.
After squeezing into the match play portion of the event by virtue of a 17-man playoff battling for the final 14 spots, Steven Fox went on to shock the golfing world by winning six straight matches in capturing the national championship as the 63rd seed out of 64.
Senior Mocs golfer Garrett Engle is hoping that history will repeat itself at this year’s championship hosted by Hazeltine Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. Engle posted a first-day total of 1-under 69 Monday at the neighboring Chaska Town Course which serves as the other stroke play site.
The Harrisburg, Pa. native got off to a rocky start with bogeys on three of his first five holes, but birdies at Nos. 6 and 8 sandwiched a fourth bogey to make the turn at 37. But Engle put together a sterling back nine with six straight pars before finishing with birdies on his final three holes.
It was a vast improvement over his showing in last year’s event at Cherry Hills Golf Club, the same Colorado course where Fox spun his magical run. Engle shot 82-77, missing the match play cut by 15 strokes.
Nashville resident Blades Brown had a completely different experience in last year’s U.S. Amateur. Only 16-years-old at the time, the rising star had a two-day total of 7-under 136 to surpass the legendary Bobby Jones as the youngest stroke play co-medalist in the championship’s history before being eliminated in the Round of 32 matches.
Brown shot 1-under 71 at the Hazeltine layout, seeing two early birdies erased by a double-bogey on No.7 before composing a steady back nine that featured eight pars and a birdie at 11.
Both Engle and Brown stand in a tie for 49th after the first day.
Among the other entrants with Tennessee connections, State Amateur champion Payne Denman and MTSU senior JJ Zimmer recorded even par rounds at Chaska to finish in a tie for 83rd, while 2023 State Amateur champion Jake Hall (73 at Hazeltine) and reigning Tennessee State Open winner Jackson Herrington (71 at Chaska) both signed for rounds of 1-over to tie for 112th.
Cameron Tankersley, a Dickson native who plays at Ole Miss, is in 141st place following his round of 2-over 74 at Hazeltine.
China’s Paul Chang and Tom Fisher of Birmingham, Ala. lead after the first day with rounds of 6-under, both at the Chaska course. In fact, only three of the low 23 scores on Monday were carded at Hazeltine.
Denman started on No. 10 with a birdie before stumbling through a five-hole stretch at 5-over to shoot 38 on his opening nine. But the recently named assistant golf coach at Tennessee rebounded with a 32 on his final nine including four birdies.
Zimmer, a native of Humboldt, went 35-35 on his round, making three birdies against a bogey and a double bogey.
Knoxville native Hall started 3-over thru three holes, but the former Volunteer rallied to shoot 2-under with three birdies across the balance of his round.
Herrington, a Dickson resident entering his freshman season at Tennessee, also struggled early with a 3-over start thru three holes. But he recovered nicely with four birdies against two more bogeys to stabilize his round.
Tankersley got off to a fast start with birdies on his two opening holes, but he could muster only two more birdies while being saddled with six bogeys on his afternoon.
The final round of stroke play will be conducted on Tuesday, with the low 64 advancing to the start of match play on Wednesday.
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com