August 15, 2012

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CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. - Michael Weaver birdied the third hole of a playoff on Wednesday morning to join Cal teammates Brandon Hagy, Max Homa and Michael Kim in match play action at the 112th U.S. Amateur being hosted through Sunday by Cherry Hills Country Club. Hagy, Homa and Kim had moved on to the round of 64 on Tuesday. The four players in match play of the event are the most in school history.

The match play portion of the event will be televised by both Golf Channel and NBC. Golf Channel will have two hours of programming for Wednesday's first round matches (1-3 p.m. PT), Thursday's second round (3:30 - 5:30 p.m. PT) and Friday's quarterfinals (5:30 - 7:30 p.m. PT). NBC will televise two hours of Saturday's semifinals (1-3 p.m. PT) and Sunday's finals (1-3 p.m. PT).

Homa and Kim were off the tee early in the day on Wednesday at 8:20 and 8:30 a.m., CT, respectively. Homa is facing Corey Conners, while Kim is up against Bobby Leopold. Hagy will start at 12:20 p.m. against Denny McCarthy, while Weaver will face Zach Blair beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Homa was a quarterfinalist at the 2010 U.S. Amateur. Neither Hagy, Kim nor Weaver has ever advanced to match play at the event.

"I'm excited to be in match play," Homa said. "I'm feeling good about my game and looking forward to the challenge tomorrow."

"It's a great feeling," Kim added. "I feel like Cherry Hills fits my game pretty well. You have to be in the fairway and it's not too long. I'm just going to try to take it one shot at a time, one match at a time."

Hagy and Homa were not able to match their five-under par rounds of 65 they carded Monday at CommonGround Golf Course when they moved Tuesday to Cherry Hills, but a one-over par 72 from Hagy and a three-over 74 by Homa were good enough to finish sixth and 13th in stroke play, respectively. Hagy finished at four-under 137 for 36 holes of stroke play, while Homa was two-under at 139.

Hagy shot his one-over par round despite a pair of double bogeys on the par-four fourth and 16th holes. He had four birdies including the par-four third, par-five fifth and par-three sixth early in his round. He added another on the par-four 14th. His lone bogey came on the par-three eighth.

"I really stuck to my game plan today and made some good putts that kept the momentum going," Hagy said.

Homa had a pair of birdies on the par-four second and 14th, and bogeys on the fourth and eighth. A triple bogey on the par-three 15th gave him his final score after he had been at even-par through 14 holes.

Kim had the best round of the day from a Golden Bear, firing a one-under par 69 on CommonGround that included an eagle when he chipped in from 20 yards out on the par-five 18th that was actually his ninth hole of the day. The eagle helped end a back-to-back bogey skid on 16 and the par-three 17th, his only two bogeys of the day. Kim, who finished with an even-par 36-hole total of 141 that included a one-over 72 at Cherry Hills on Monday, ended his round with a birdie on the par-four ninth.

Weaver, who started on the 10th hole as did Kim, played three-under over his final seven holes Tuesday with birdies on the third, fourth and par-five seventh holes to finish with a one-over par 70 at Cherry Hills. He had fallen to three-over on the day with a double bogey on the par-four first hole after earlier bogeys on the par-four 13th and 15th, and a birdie on 18.

Walker Huddy missed the playoff by one stroke at three-over par 144 after a one-over par 72 at Cherry Hills on Tuesday followed his two-over 72 Tuesday at CommonGround. Huddy, who also started on 10, started with a bogey on the par-four hole but came right back with a birdie on the par-five 11th before a double on the par-three 12th put him two over early in the round. He would get back to even-par for the day with birdies on 14 and the par-five fifth, but a bogey on eight cost him a shot at a playoff.

Alabama's Bobby Wyatt (64-68 - 132, -9) tied the U.S. Amateur stroke-play 36-hole qualifying record.

For the second time in three years, Cal had more golfers than any other collegiate program in the nation participating in the event. Cal players have had a tremendous amount of success in recent years at the U.S. Amateur. The Bears also had the most players of any collegiate program in the country in 2010 when they sent a school-record six to the event, including semifinalist Ben An who defeated Homa in a quarterfinal match. In 2009 just over a year before he would arrive at Cal as a freshman in 2010, An won the event at 17 years of age to become the youngest ever U.S. Amateur champion.