NW players advance to Round of 16 at U.S. Amateur Four-Ball
Momentum is one of those tangibles that’s difficult to quantify. One minute it’s there, the next it can be gone. But when the wave is rolling in your favor, it’s a wonderful circumstance, at the 10th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, being held this week at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J.
Mitchell Baldridge of Fircrest, Wash. and partner Dalton Conn of Seattle, along Zach Foushee and Robbie Ziegler, both from Oregon, have advanced to the round of 16, after winning their round of 32 matches earlier today.
A quick trip to the Plainfield practice area on Sunday afternoon seemed to do wonders for Robbie Ziegler. After struggling in the final round of stroke play, the 34-year-old from Tualatin, Ore., found a good swing thought that worked wonders on Monday. Ziegler and partner/fellow University of Oregon alum Zach Foushee, 30, of Lake Oswego, Ore., played 7-under golf over 13 holes in a 7-and-5 win over Mark Baker and Kurt Watkins. It was the fourth-largest margin of victory in championship history; there have been three 7-and-6 decisions.
“It was really impressive from Robbie,” said Foushee, a realtor who birdied the first hole from 10 feet and watched his partner heat up. “He did not miss a shot today.”
But last year’s record-tying medalists are fully aware that one great match doesn’t necessarily translate to further success. The duo shot 126 in qualifying at Philadelphia Cricket Club, only to be sent packing in the Round of 16. This year, they didn’t get into the field until a couple of weeks ago when the medalists from their qualifying site, Reid Hatley and Jake Koppenberg, withdrew due to the latter’s new job.
So this unexpected gift, along with being young parents – Foushee will become a first-time father in four weeks and Ziegler has a 17-month-old son – doesn’t have the duo popping any champagne corks just yet.
“We’ve been here before,” said Ziegler, a marketing representative for a major golf apparel company. “We know how hard it’s going to be. The farther you go, the better the teams are going to be…We’re just soaking it in. Back to reality here soon.”
What’s Next
Match play continues on Tuesday with the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, beginning at 7 a.m. EDT. The semifinals and 18-hole championship match are scheduled for Wednesday, with the matches set for 7 a.m. and 7:20 a.m., and the final set for 1 p.m.
