Headline: Halfway There! Three Advance to U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, While the U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur Qualifiers Will be Decided on Wednesday
For Immediate Release: June 27, 2017
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| Three competitors advanced to the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship on June 27 at a sectional qualifier held at Oak Hill Country Club. |
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Fitchburg, MA — In what was the first ever time that the Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA) has hosted both the USGA Boys and Girls Junior Amateur sectional qualifiers on the same day and at the same course, Bay State natives Alex Jamieson and Andrew Michienzi split medalist honors for the boys division to qualify for the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
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CLICK HERE to view complete results from the U.S. Junior Amateur Sectional Qualifier at Oak Hill CC.
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The U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur Championship sectional qualifier, which began following completion of the boys round, was suspended due to weather on Tuesday evening and will resume Wednesday morning beginning at 7:30 a.m.
The U.S. Junior Amateur Championship will bring together some of the top male junior golfers at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kansas from July 17-22, while the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship will bring together the top female competitors at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Missouri from July 24-29.
In the morning rounds at Oak Hill Country Club in Fitchburg, site of the 2015 Massachusetts Amateur Championship, Jamieson and Michinezi, who both carded scores of 3-under par 67, joined Georgia native Connery Meyer (2-under par 68) as the three competitors from Tuesday’s sectional to advance to the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
Recent Massachusetts Open co-low amateur Michael Thorbjornsen (Nashawtuc CC) and Westwood’s Tim Hall (Walpole CC) finished at 1-under 69 and even-par 70, respectively, to earn first and second alternate spots, respectively. They were the top five competitors from the field of 83.
“It means a lot to me to qualify for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship,” said the 18-year old Jamieson, who took advantage of the new USGA age regulation to give it a go for one more summer as a junior competitor. “I wasn’t expecting to be able to play and just to get the opportunity to play again really means a lot to me and pumped me up.”
The recent graduate of Duxbury High School, who is heading to play golf at Notre Dame in the fall, was in the 9:00 am tee time off of one on Tuesday and made the turn at even par after recording seven pars, a birdie on the par-4 ninth hole and a bogey on the par-4 second hole.
On the back nine, the Marshfield CC member Jamieson turned up the heat, carding four birdies - on the 10th, 11th and 13th holes, to cruise to a share of the lead.
“This is definitely up there,” said Jamieson on his accomplishment. "This 3-under, under the pressure, is pretty significant to me.”
Jamieson was a member of the Massachusetts squad at the 2016 New England Junior Invitational Tournament hosted by Cochecho Country Club (NH) that took first place by a record 35-strokes. He had previously been named an alternate for the U.S. Junior Amateur Tournament.
Jamieson was joined fellow Massachusetts golfer Andrew Michienzi, of Needham Golf Club, atop the leaderboard.
“It’s the biggest junior golf tournament, I think, in the world. It’s our national tournament and it’s a really big deal for me, being from America, to qualify for the tournament,” said the 17- year old Michienzi, a rising junior at St. Sebastian’s School in Needham.
Playing on the same course that he competed on during the 2015 Massachusetts Amateur Championship, Michienzi was able to use his experience as a positive on Tuesday at Oak Hill.
“Besides the Massachusetts Amateur, which was played here two years ago, this is the biggest tournament I have qualified for. I was able to feed off the experience of playing here two years ago. I used my course knowledge to my advantage and it helped out.”
He played bogey-free golf through the first 11 holes, a streak that included four birdies, before his efforts were halted on the 12th hole.
Following the 12th hole, Michienzi also added birdies on Holes 13 and 14, a par-3 and par-4 respectively, before going par-bogey-par-bogey on his final four holes. Tuesday marks the first U.S. Junior Amateur Championship that the Needham GC member has qualified for.
In 2017, Michienzi has also finished T-15 at the US Challenge Cup Match Player Qualifier, T-21 at the US Challenge Cup Invitational, T-5 at the ISL Kingsman’s Cup and eighth at the US Challenge Cup Spinal Tech.
Georgia native Connery Meyer, a 2015 Drive Chip and Putt National Champion, was the youngest of the three qualifiers. The Marietta, Georgia resident is 15 years old.
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The afternoon rounds, which featured 21 junior girls competing for the U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur Championship, was suspended due to weather concerns at 7:55 p.m. on Tuesday evening. The remaining rounds will pick up where they left off on Wednesday, June 28 at 7:30 a.m.
All competitors will meet in front of the pro shop at 7:20 a.m. where scorecards will be distributed. Potential playoffs for the two qualifying spots and two alternate spots will be finalized upon the completion of 18-hole round play on Wednesday morning.
