Spieth Survives Weather, Earns Medalist Honors

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Bedminster, N.J. –  Rainy. Windy. Cold by summer standards. Standing water in some places.  These conditions were better suited for a British Open instead of a U.S. Junior Amateur.

Jordan Spieth hopes to win two more matches than he did at last year's U.S. Junior Amateur. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

The second round of stroke-play qualifying wrapped up Tuesday after a day of intermittent showers – some heavy – and swirling wind on the 7,000-yard, par-71 Old Course.

This year’s medalist could perhaps view the medal prize just as much a symbol of survival as it is for holding the lowest score through the first two rounds. Fifteen-year-old Jordan Spieth, a semifinalist at last year’s U.S. Junior Amateur, scrambled in with one of the two sub-par scores, shooting 2-under 69 for a two-day 137. With the cutline established at 154, eight players will vie for one spot at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Matches are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.

Spieth finished three strokes ahead of 16-year-old Anton Arboleda of La Cañada, Calif., who faded with a 38 on his final nine holes.

“These last nine holes were definitely nine of the hardest holes I’ve ever played,” said Arboleda, who will get a taste of match play for the first time in his young career.

Despite a lashing wind, coupled with heavy rains, that yielded an 81 scoring average in the morning, the afternoon wave shot a couple strokes better. The scoring average on the Old Course Tuesday fell at 79.974.

Spieth, coming off a 68 on the New Course Monday, knew he’d need to register a decent score. He just didn’t know how decent. He told his caddie, Mike Abill, that he aimed to play steady because he wanted to ride that consistency into match play.

His five birdies carried him, particularly a 15-footer on the 529-yard, par-4 eighth that supplied confidence. Yet a silly double bogey on the 514-yard, par-4 first hole – the second-hardest statistically – left Spieth seething. After he couldn’t save par from 8 feet, he stubbed his 1-footer for the only double bogey of his championship.

Nevertheless, the double had no bearing on his positioning.  

“I’m happy to walk away with a 69,” said Spieth, from Dallas, Texas. “The medalist hasn’t had good results in this; they haven’t won a whole lot. I’m just going to approach it that I’m not the favorite and I can’t look at it like I’m up 15 shots on my opponent to start the day.”

Since Tiger Woods in 1992, only one medalist – Matthew Rosenfeld in 2000 - has won the Junior Amateur.

Patrick Fishburn, Oliver Schniederjans and Curtis Thompson came in at 141. Schniederjans, who had the other sub-par score playing in the morning wave, shot 1-under 70. Fishburn and Thompson shot level par.

The 16-year-old Schniederjans, of Powder Springs, Ga., reveled in playing through a hard rain. He awoke to find a deluge outside his window and headed to the course.  He warmed up on the range drenched, thinking that he’d be lucky to break 80. Then he channeled practice habits he developed during bad weather.  It led to four birdies, one of which was a 40-foot uphill putt on No. 9 that trickled in.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I’ve been working hard on hitting the ball low when it’s raining and windy.”

In his third U.S. Amateur, Thompson qualified for match play for the first time. His sister, Alexis Thompson, is currently defending her U.S. Girls’ Junior title. With no match play experience, he said he’s watched how Alexis prepares. She’s five for five in qualifying for USGA match play events.  

“When I made it at 14, I had no expectations,” said Thompson, 16, of Coral Springs, Fla. “Last year when I missed the cut, I was extremely disappointed. Now I’ll see how I can do it match play.”

In the players’ dinner on Sunday, guest speaker Annika Sorenstam provided inspiration by sharing her psychological regimen to get ready to play. One of her policies was to always stay positive. Fishburn applied that tool, but said he’s always been the positive sort. Carrying his own bag, on his 17th birthday no less, he executed in a driving rain for eight holes. He had 14 pars.

“I don’t show a lot of emotion,” said Fishburn of Ogden, Utah. “I don’t get too mad. I stay positive most of the time.”

Although there were no suspensions in play, the USGA decided to push back afternoon tee times by 30 minutes. Officials didn’t have much to do to get the Old and New Courses ready. The U.S. Girls’ Junior was being conducted on the New Course Tuesday.

According to Director of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship Ben Kimball, spots on the Old Course were squeegeed in the early morning.

“We really didn’t have to do a whole lot,” said Kimball. “These courses drain beautifully. There is some casual water in some fairways, but nothing that is bad.”

Ken Klavon is the USGA’s editor of new media. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.

Second Round Stroke-Play Qualifying Results

Bedminster, N.J.- Results following Tuesday’s second round of stroke play at the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, being held on the par-71, 7,000-yard Old Course at Trump National Golf Club:

Jordan Spieth, Dallas, Texas - 68-69--137
Anton Arboleda, La Canada, Calif. - 68-72--140
Curtis Thompson, Coral Springs, Fla. - 70-71--141
Oliver Schniederjans, Powder Springs, Ga. - 71-70--141
Patrick Fishburn, Ogden, Utah - 70-71--141
Juan Luna, Colombia - 66-76--142
Emiliano Grillo, Argentina - 67-76--143
Wyndham Clark, Greenwood Village, Colo. - 69-74--143
Yaroslav Merkulov, Penfield, N.Y. - 71-72--143
Charlie Hughes, Canada - 71-73--144
Patrick Rodgers, Avon, Ind. - 70-74--144
Austin Cody, N Charleston, S.C. - 67-78--145
Jim Liu, Smithtown, N.Y. - 74-71--145
Logan Harrell, Huntersville, N.C. - 69-76--145
Cheng-Tsung Pan, Chinese Taipei - 73-73--146
Denny McCarthy, Burtonsville, Md. - 72-74--146
Stephen Powers, Naperville, Ill. - 70-76--146
Yosuke Asaji, Japan - 74-72--146
Ben Itterman, Carlsbad, Calif. - 72-75--147
Bobby Wyatt, Mobile, Ala. - 69-78--147
Patrick Cantlay, Los Alamitos, Calif. - 73-74--147
Ramsey Sahyoun, Reseda, Calif. - 74-73--147
Anthony Paolucci, Dallas, Texas - 72-76--148
Ben Palanszki, Hungary - 71-77--148
Damon Postal, Blythewood, S.C. - 72-76--148
David Pastore, Greenwich, Conn. - 70-78--148
Grayson Murray, Raleigh, N.C. - 69-79--148
Jack Perry, Santa Barbara, Calif. - 73-75--148
Jay Hwang, San Diego, Calif. - 73-75--148
Jordan Niebrugge, Mequon, Wis. - 69-79--148
Lee McCoy, Palm Harbor, Fla. - 73-75--148
Michael Yiu, Laguna Hills, Calif. - 72-76--148
Nicholas Austin, Midlothian, Va. - 77-71--148
Nicholas Reach, Moscow, Pa. - 69-79--148
Austin Roberts, Carmichael, Calif. - 73-76--149
Cyril Suk, Czech Republic - 70-79--149
Matthew Anderson, Tompkinsville, Ky. - 75-74--149
Max McKay, Saint Augustine, Fla. - 75-74--149
Shuugo Imahira, Japan - 70-79--149
Tye Gabriel, Portland, Ore. - 73-76--149
Andrew Knox, Cary, N.C. - 74-76--150
Joe Toland, White River Jct, Vt. - 72-78--150
Marcel Puyat, Philippines - 75-75--150
Myles Lewis, Metairie, La. - 75-75--150
Ryan McCormick, Middletown, N.J. - 74-76--150
Allan Jun, Oceanside, Calif. - 75-76--151
Brendan Connolly, Castle Rock, Colo. - 71-80--151
Garrett Moss, Gilbert, Ariz. - 71-80--151
Hank Lebioda, Winter Springs, Fla. - 74-77--151
Payne Denman, Riverwatch, Tenn. - 74-77--151
Anthony Alex, Wayne, N.J. - 72-80--152
Austin Romeo, Erie, Pa. - 76-76--152
Richard (Sun Il) Jung, Canada - 75-77--152
Santiago Gavino, Mexico - 74-78--152
Sean Kelly, Staten Island, N.Y. - 75-77--152
Talor Gooch, Midwest City, Okla. - 79-73--152
Cameron Wilson, Rowayton, Conn. - 75-78--153
Colin Gunstream, Missoula, Mont. - 74-79--153
James Sullivan, Katy, Texas - 75-78--153
Lexus Keoninh, Murfreesboro, Tenn. - 77-76--153
Mark Hicks, Bermuda Dunes, Calif. - 74-79--153
Will Murphy, Columbia, S.C. - 67-86--153
Yuki Kato, Las Vegas, Nev. - 76-77--153
* Adam Schenk, Vincennes, Ind. - 73-81--154
* Austin Smotherman, Loomis, Calif. - 75-79--154
* Chen-Lin Liu, Chinese Taipei - 73-81--154
* Chris Houston, Gilford, N.H. - 73-81--154
* Chris Ingham, Miami, Fla. - 73-81--154
* Gavin Hall, Pittsford, N.Y. - 76-78--154
* Henry Todd, Trophy Club, Texas - 73-81--154
* Yung Gu (Justin) Shin, Canada - 73-81--154
* playoff Wednesday at 7 a.m. EDT for final qualifying spot

Failed To Qualify
Andrew Kim, Lake Mary, Fla. - 71-84--155
Andrew Presley, Fort Worth, Texas - 76-79--155
David Flynn, Elk Grove Village, Ill. - 76-79--155
Keith Mitchell, Chattanooga, Tenn. - 79-76--155
Kevin Lee, Dacula, Ga. - 78-77--155
Kolton Crawford, Mansfield, Texas - 75-80--155
Lorens Chan, Honolulu, Hawaii - 73-82--155
Michael Johnson, Birmingham, Ala. - 76-79--155
Trevor Cone, Concord, N.C. - 74-81--155
Wilson Day, Raleigh, N.C. - 79-76--155
Bjorn Kallerud, Moraga, Calif. - 75-81--156
Brett Ochsenreiter, Destin, Fla. - 77-79--156
Cameron Beal, Bowling Green, Ky. - 77-79--156
Charlie Phillips, Mount Vernon, Ohio - 76-80--156
Motin Yeung, Ppls Rep. of China - 78-78--156
Paul McClure, Mobile, Ala. - 77-79--156
Rak Cho, Korea - 70-86--156
Ryan Zech, Kearney, Mo. - 76-80--156
Albin Choi, Canada - 77-80--157
Bryan Lichimo, Canada - 75-82--157
Charlie Edler, Fair Haven, N.J. - 74-83--157
Cody Proveaux, Leesville, S.C. - 79-78--157
Joseph Winslow, Overland Park, Kan. - 73-84--157
Nick Tremps, San Antonio, Texas - 76-81--157
Zachary Kempa, Canada - 75-82--157
Adam Ball, Richmond, Va. - 81-77--158
Brian Bullington, Frankfort, Ill. - 78-80--158
Chase Marinell, Cape Coral, Fla. - 75-83--158
Daniel Bidle, Virginia, Minn. - 77-81--158
David Lee, Houston, Texas - 76-82--158
Ian Vandersee, West Des Moines, Iowa - 76-82--158
J J Holen, Castaic, Calif. - 78-80--158
Kyle Kmiecik, Avon, Ohio - 75-83--158
Sean Bosdosh, Clarksburg, Md. - 81-77--158
Spencer Mikles, Santa Barbara, Calif. - 79-79--158
Tim Crouch, Mt Vernon, Ohio - 78-80--158
Tommy Hearden, Green Bay, Wis. - 80-78--158
William Zalatoris, Plano, Texas - 71-87--158
Ben Warnquist, Rockville, Md. - 74-85--159
Mark Mumford, Rye, N.Y. - 80-79--159
Zach Wanderscheid, Goldendale, Wash. - 80-79--159
Austin Green, Frisco, Texas - 73-87--160
Caleb Meyers, Edmond, Okla. - 77-83--160
Kevin Gorman, Chula Vista, Calif. - 75-85--160
Brandon Ng, Canada - 79-82--161
Michael Schoolcraft, Englewood, Colo. - 79-82--161
Spencer Lawson, Raleigh, N.C. - 78-83--161
A J Crouch, Jacksonville, Fla. - 74-88--162
Daniel Berger, Jupiter, Fla. - 81-81--162
Derek Laporte, Tucson, Ariz. - 76-86--162
Easton Renwick, Punxsutawney, Pa. - 79-83--162
Evan Russell, Essex Jct, Vt. - 79-83--162
Justin Haley, San Ramon, Calif. - 81-81--162
Kevin Dehuff, Coto De Caza, Calif. - 74-88--162
Mike Miller, Brewster, N.Y. - 72-90--162
Hojin Kang, Orlando, Fla. - 79-84--163
Jeff McNeil, Nipomo, Calif. - 74-89--163
Nicholas Scott, Englewood, Ohio - 77-86--163
Seth Sullivant, Mountain Home, Ark. - 80-83--163
Tyler Thomas, Beaumont, Texas - 81-82--163
Alec Ceravolo, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. - 77-87--164
Matt Kitto, Lake Oswego, Ore. - 80-84--164
Simon Miller, Albuquerque, N.M. - 81-83--164
Tyler Manning, Novi, Mich. - 78-86--164
Eric Edmunds, Auburn, N.Y. - 75-90--165
Michael Balzer, Bismarck, N.D. - 80-85--165
Saejin Hyun, Canada - 83-82--165
Sam Jackson III, Pelion, S.C. - 83-82--165
Stephane Dubois, Canada - 79-86--165
Tyler Wingo, Fairfax, Va. - 81-84--165
Andrew Bieber, Danville, Pa. - 84-82--166
James Chapman, Gastonia, N.C. - 77-89--166
Travis Wilmore, Alexandria, La. - 76-90--166
Alexandre Belmont, Concord, Mass. - 79-88--167
George Cunningham, Phoenix, Ariz. - 82-87--169
Leif Neijstrom, Greensboro, N.C. - 84-85--169
Andrew Cho, La Crescenta, Calif. - 81-89--170
Austin Degrate, Houston, Texas - 81-90--171
Kyler Dearden, S Weber, Utah - 87-84--171
Nick Allen, Littleton, Colo. - 83-88--171
Brian Mahlstedt, Clarks Summit, Pa. - 85-87--172
Anthony Dadamo, Canada - 87-89--176
Hayden Squadrito, Oviedo, Fla. - 89-87--176
Mikiya Akutsu, Japan - 87-90--177
Tyler Carney-DeBord, Delaware, Ohio - 86-DQ--DQ

Match Play Pairings

Bedminster, N.J.- Pairings for Wednesday's first round of match play at the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, being held on the par-71, 7,000-yard Old Course at Trump National Golf Club:

8:30 a.m. Grayson Murray (148) vs. Jack Perry (148)
8:39 a.m. Denny McCarthy (146) vs. Garrett Moss (151)
8:48 a.m. Yosuke Asaji (146) vs. Hank Lebioda (151)
8:57 a.m. Yaroslav Merkulov (143) vs. Mark Hicks (153)
9:06 a.m. Damon Postal (148) vs. Austin Roberts (149)
9:15 a.m. Wyndham Clark (143) vs. Austin Romeo (152)
9:24 a.m. David Pastore (148) vs. Joe Toland (150)
9:33 a.m. Jordan Spieth (137) vs. To Be Determined ()
9:42 a.m. Curtis Thompson (141) vs. Cameron Wilson (153)
9:51 a.m. Nicholas Austin (148) vs. Matthew Anderson (149)
10 a.m. Austin Cody (145) vs. Richard (Sun Il) Jung (152)
10:09 a.m. Ben Itterman (147) vs. Andrew Knox (150)
10:18 a.m. O. Schniederjans (141) vs. Will Murphy (153)
10:27 a.m. Ben Palanszki (148) vs. Cyril Suk (149)
10:36 a.m. Logan Harrell (145) vs. Santiago Gavino (152)
10:45 a.m. Bobby Wyatt (147) vs. Ryan McCormick (150)
10:54 a.m. Anton Arboleda (140) vs. James Sullivan (153)
11:03 a.m. Michael Yiu (148) vs. Jay Hwang (148)
11:12 a.m. Cheng-Tsung Pan (146) vs. Brendan Connolly (151)
11:21 a.m. Stephen Powers (146) vs. Allan Jun (151)
11:30 a.m. Emiliano Grillo (143) vs. Lexus Keoninh (153)
11:39 a.m. Lee McCoy (148) vs. Shuugo Imahira (149)
11:48 a.m. Charlie Hughes (144) vs. Talor Gooch (152)
11:57 a.m. Anthony Paolucci (148) vs. Marcel Puyat (150)
12:06 p.m. Patrick Fishburn (141) vs. Colin Gunstream (153)
12:15 p.m. Nicholas Reach (148) vs. Tye Gabriel (149)
12:24 p.m. Jim Liu (145) vs. Anthony Alex (152)
12:33 p.m. Patrick Cantlay (147) vs. Payne Denman (151)
12:42 p.m. Juan Luna (142) vs. Yuki Kato (153)
12:51 p.m. Jordan Niebrugge (148) vs. Max McKay (149)
1 p.m. Patrick Rodgers (144) vs. Sean Kelly (152)
1:09 p.m. Ramsey Sahyoun (147) vs. Myles Lewis (150)