Sean Keeling’s dreams of landing the U.S. Junior Amateur trophy have ended after the Roganstown teenager suffered a 4&3 loss to Texas’ Jaxon Bandelier at Oakland Hills, Michigan.
Keeling had cruised through 36-hole strokeplay qualifying with a three-under tally to finish tied for seventh, and had to wait until early Wednesday to discover who his opponent would be as a 13-for-9 playoff would be required to whittle the field down to 64.
Bandelier birdied the first playoff hole to advance and after a five-hour break, returned to the course for the first matchplay stage where he faced the only Irish representative at the event.
Birdies on the second and fourth holes saw the Texan open a 2UP lead and stretched it to 3UP when Keeling bogeyed the eighth.
With an incredible Junior Ryder Cup comeback to draw on, Keeling pulled one back on the 11th to set up hopes of another, but a bogey at the par-5 12th halted all momentum gained and when he could only bogey the 15th, he’d run out of holes and shook hands with Bandelier advancing a 4&3 victor.
The match of the round was undoubtedly Nebraskan Taylor Gutschewski versue North Carolina’s Rich Wills. 4UP through eight, Gutschewski looked primed for an early lunch before Wills reeled off four wins in five holes to level the match on the 13th.
Gutschewski got his nose in front on 14 again, but a dramatic 18th hole saw Wills get back on level terms. Five playoff holes would be required, each player playing the first four in -2, before Wills finally broke on the 23rd and his bogey would send Gutschewski through.
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