Spencer Tibbits advances to match play at U.S. Amateur

Spencer Tibbits of Vancouver, Wash. shot rounds of 70-74 in the two qualifying rounds to make it into the match-play portion of the 2020 U.S. Amateur Championship, which is being held this week at Bandon (Ore.) Dunes Golf Resort.

Tibbits, 21, played in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and reached match play in the 2019 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2. As a junior at Oregon State University, he posted five top-5 finishes, including a tie for third in the Bandon Dunes Invitational. Tibbits, who was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 Conference selection as a sophomore, won last year’s Oregon Amateur.

Tibbits was selected the 2016 PNGA Junior Boys’ Player of the Year and claimed three Washington Class 3A state high school championships.

The only other player with a Northwest connection to make it to match play is Hugo Townsend, a rising junior on the men’s golf team at Boise State University. Last month, Townsend won the Idaho State Amateur.

Of the 264 players who began the two days of stroke-play qualifying, 64 now advance to the match-play bracket, with the round of 64 scheduled to be held on Wednesday, Aug. 12. The two rounds of qualifying were held on the resort’s Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails courses. All the matches will now be held on the Bandon Dunes course.

For more information and to follow along with live scoring, visit usamateur.com.