With three Irishmen in the field, Matthew McClean shot the lowest round on day one of the U.S. Amateur in Philadelphia but at tied for 77th, he needs to improve his position to make the knockout stage.
The Malone man, a former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, along with reigning Amateur Championship holder Stuart Grehan and last year’s beaten Amateur Championship finalist Gavin Tiernan, are among the 312 competitors competing across Merion Country Club and Philadelphia Country Club for the most prestigious title in amateur golf.
Merion is hosting the event for the 20th time, while it’s the seventh time it visits Philadelphia Country Club, and both courses are playing equally tough with just 49 of the 312 in red figures at the end of day one.
All three of the Irish were taking on Merion on day one, and McClean was the last of the trio to get underway, teeing off at 1:36 PM local time. Despite making an early birdie, he bogeyed four consecutive holes on the front and looked set for a round of struggles but birdies on eight, and 13 got him back to +1 and then another birdie on 17 moved him to level-par.
A disappointing bogey at the last dropped him back outside the provisional qualification mark at +1 and tied for 77th, but an early tee time at Philadelphia Country Club in round two offers an opportunity to put himself in position ahead of the afternoon wave.
Tiernan teed off on the back nine in the morning and got off to a solid start by birdieing two of his first three with a bogey included as well, but three consecutive dropped shots before the turn left him at +2.
Two further bogeys on the front left him at +4 with two to play, but a birdie at eight and a par at the last got him into the clubhouse at +3 and he ended the day tied for 144th and likely needing a round in the mid 60s at Philadelphia Country Club to advance.
Grehan had little to smile about in his opening round, with a birdie on the 12th his only red number on the card. Six bogeys and a double leave him on +7 and tied for 260th, and without a round in the low 60s on day two, he’ll miss out on matchplay and the chance to complete an Amateur Championship/U.S. Amateur double.
William Lisle, a 17-year-old from Hong Kong, China, shares the 18-hole lead with University of Washington rising senior Finn Koelle of Germany. Koelle, a 21-year-old, who got to six-under-par, bogeyed the iconic 18th hole at Merion after finding the right rough off the tee.
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