The Sports Inquirer

Release from United States Golf Association:

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Nathan Smith, of Pittsburgh, the final player to make the 64-man match-play field, defeated co-medalist Lee McCoy, of Clarkesville, Ga., Wednesday to lead the 32 winners who advanced to the second round of match play at the 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club’s 7,382-yard, par-71 Highlands Course.

“I was so excited to get into match play,” said Smith, a 36-year-old investment advisor, who last advanced to the round of 32 in 2005. “It was kind of nothing to lose and I just got lucky. I played well.”

Smith, who has also represented the USA three times in the Walker Cup Match, won in 19 holes by sinking a 3½–foot par-saving putt to eliminate McCoy, 20, a second-team All-American at the University of Georgia. McCoy’s co-medalist, Taylor Moore, of Edmond, Okla., was also eliminated.

Playing in his 14th U.S. Amateur, Smith squared the match with a birdie on the water-fronted par-3 17th hole and converted a critical up-and-down for par on the 18th hole to force extra holes.

“I saw the list and I saw four-time Mid-Am winner and a guy that’s played in the Masters four times, and I was like, I get to play the grizzled veteran in the first round, fantastic,” said McCoy. “I don’t think he had his best stuff today and neither did I. I didn’t play nearly as well as I did the last two days. He made some incredible up-and-downs and he just scored unbelievably well, like a veteran would.”

Jesse Heinly, 22, of Bend, Ore., playing in his first USGA championship, defeated co-medalist Moore, 3 and 2.

The 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship consists of 36 holes of stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the championship scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole final on Sunday, starting at 9 a.m. The second and third rounds of match play are scheduled forThursday.

Three of the four players who survived the 17-man playoff, which took place on Wednesday morning on the Riverside Course, advanced later in the day.

One of last year’s semifinalists, Corey Conners, 22, of Canada, defeated 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Scottie Scheffler, of Dallas, 1 up.  Facing a one-hole deficit on the 12th tee, Conners birdied four consecutive holes, three for wins, that gave him a 2-up advantage. The Kent State All-American made a swinging 15-foot putt on No. 12 and a 30-footer on 13. He hit the ball close enough on 14 and 15 for conceded birdies.

In a matchup of USGA champions, 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur winner Will Zalatoris, 17, of Plano, Texas, outlasted 2013 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion and USA Walker Cup Team member Jordan Niebrugge, 2 and 1.

“For the first time being in the match play in the U.S. Am, it’s obviously everything from here is a learning experience,” said Zalatoris, the 2014 Trans-Miss and Texas State Amateur winner. “Any time you’re playing a Walker Cupper, doesn’t matter if they are injured or sick or whatever, it’s going to be a challenge and that was an absolute blast.”

Byron Meth, 21, of San Diego, Calif., the 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, advanced, as did the top two ranked amateur golfers in the world, Ollie Schniederjans, 21, of Powder Springs, Ga., and Robby Shelton, 18, of Wilmer, Ala.

No. 1 Schniederjans, a Georgia Tech All-American, defeated Matt Teesdale, 6 and 5, by birdieing the first two holes and building a 4-up lead through nine holes.

“I haven’t made it past the first round in the Amateur or U.S. Junior yet,” Schniederjans said. “I’ve struggled to get to match play and then to win the first match, so this is the farthest I’ve gone already in one of these. I’m excited to get that out of the way.”

No. 2 Shelton, the NCAA freshman of the year and the Southeastern Conference player of the year for his first season at Alabama, beat Dan Stringfellow of Roselle, Ill., 2 and 1.

Cheng-Tsung Pan, 22, of Chinese Taipei, who is a two-time U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist (2007 and 2012), also won his first-round match.

Among other notable players eliminated were: 2014 Western Amateur winner Beau Hossler and 2013 USA Walker Cup Team member Todd White,