Rising senior advances to round of 32 with one-up victory
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – GRU Augusta men's golf rising senior Maverick Antcliff outlasted Adrian Meronk from East Tennessee State University and won the opening round of match play on Wednesday to move on to the round of 32 at the 115th United States Amateur at Olympia Fields Country Club.
Antcliff tees off tomorrow at 8:40 a.m. against Maverick McNealy from Stanford University.
To start the event, Antcliff finished tied for seventh in the opening 36 holes of stroke play on Tuesday to earn a berth to match play. Antcliff teed off against Meronk on Wednesday and went down by three strokes after the first five holes on the front nine. Finding the hole for his first birdie of the round on the par-five, 566-yard sixth, Antcliff produced one more birdie to close out the front nine on the ninth hole to cut it to a one-shot deficit.
The Jaguar got even on No. 12 with his third birdie, but Meronk fired another on No. 14 to stay up by one. Down by one with three holes remaining, Antcliff got up and down for back-to-back birdies on No. 16 and 17 to take a late victory and move on to the second round of match play.
The field began with 312 competitors for 36 holes of stroke play and Antcliff survived to the round of 64 with the other low scorers on Tuesday. Match play continues through to the 36-hole championship match on Sunday.
Antcliff kicked off the event with back-to-back birdies on holes one and two in round one. He carded two more thru the front nine and stroked another on the back nine to finish with a 72 (+2). In round two, he was even-par after the first five holes when he notched his first birdie of the round on the par-four sixth hole. Things improved for the Jaguar as Antcliff stroked five birdies on the back nine – capping it off with one on 18 to end with a five-under 65.
For full scoring from the U.S. Amateur by clicking here
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