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U.S. AMATEUR FOUR-BALL

Junior Stalwarts Barber, Hammer Headline Four-Ball Semifinalists

By David Shefter, USGA

| May 21, 2018 | Tequesta, Fla.

Cole Hammer (left) and Garrett Barber are having a blast at Jupiter Hills, winning three matches to reach the semifinals. (USGA/Darren Carroll)

4th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship | #USFourBall
Jupiter Hills Club, Tequesta, Fla.
Round of 16/Quarterfinals, Match Play: Par 70, 7,104 yards (Hills) | Hole Locations
Championship History | Media Center

What Happened

News flash: Junior standouts Cole Hammer and Garrett Barber actually trailed for two holes in their quarterfinal match on Tuesday afternoon.

News flash: It didn’t last long.

Hammer, 18, of Houston, Texas, and Barber, 18, of Stuart, Fla., overcame the brief deficit in producing their third consecutive lopsided defeat of the championship, defeating former University of North Texas teammates Zach Atkinson, 35, of Colleyville, Texas, and Brad Gibson, 36, of Lewisville, Texas, 3 and 2.

“I think it sparked us,” said Hammer of losing the opening hole. “It woke us up from the early trance that we were in.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the duo dispatched mid-amateurs Tug Maude, of Atlanta, Ga., and John Sawin, of San Francisco, Calif., 4 and 3, in the Round of 16.

In three matches this week, Hammer and Barber, Nos. 52 and 57, respectively, in the World Amateur Golf Ranking™, have played just 43 holes and are a combined 15 under par (with the usual match-play concessions). During stroke play, Barber, who is headed to Louisiana State University this fall, and Hammer, a 2018 University of Texas signee, posted 9-under 131, including a championship-record 7-under 28 on the first nine of the longer Hills Course. The shorter Village Course served as the stroke play co-host.

After receiving 7-plus inches of rain since last Wednesday, only a few raindrops fell on the property on Tuesday, most before the Round of 16 commenced at 7 a.m. EDT. The competitors did, however, deal with occasional gusts of wind and challenging hole locations.

It didn’t seem to bother Hammer and Barber as the tandem broke open a tight quarterfinal match by winning four holes in a six-hole stretch from No. 7.

On No. 7, Hammer and Atkinson, who helped Texas win the 2014 USGA Men’s State Team Championship, both stuffed their approach shots within 10 feet. Atkinson pushed his downhill putt, while Hammer converted from 5 feet to put the side 1 up. Hammer called it the turning point in the match.

The teens took the eighth with a par, then won Nos. 11 and 12 for a 4-up lead. Atkinson and Gibson got one back with a par on the 14th hole, but even a 35-foot birdie by Atkinson on the 15th hole wasn’t enough to win. Hammer matched his birdie with a 12-footer and with Barber in tight on the par-4 16th hole, the Texans conceded the birdie and the match.

“They’re very good,” said Atkinson as he walked into the clubhouse. “You can’t make any mistakes against them.”

All three of the other quarterfinals matches went the distance, and then some. Twice, Floridians Marc Dull, 32, of Winter Park, and Chip Brooke, 42, of Altamonte Springs, thought they were going home in their match against 35-year-old Georgians David Denham, of Athens, and Stuart Moore, of Gainesville. Denham and Moore, who saw a 2-up lead after 15 holes evaporate, each missed 12-footers on No. 18 to win the match. Then on the first extra hole, the Georgians missed another 10-footer to advance.

Three holes later, Dull, the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up, ended the second-longest match in championship history by draining an 8-footer for birdie on the par 5 to send the side into the semifinals for a second consecutive year.

Thoroughly exhausted from playing 40 holes on Tuesday – the side won its Round-of-16 match, 1 up, over Steven Groover and M. Tyler McKeever – Brooke had his shoes and socks off by the time the transportation cart returned to the clubhouse.

“That was a long day,” said the former caddie who is now in the lumber business.

Former Seattle University teammates Kyle Cornett, 23, of Seattle, Wash., and Patrick Sato, 22, of Bellevue, Wash., who survived a 7-for-6 playoff on Monday to get one of the final spots in the draw, defeated two-time semifinalists Patrick Christovich, 39, of New Orleans, La., and Garrett Rank, 30, of Canada, 1 up. Christovich had a chance to send the match into extra holes, but his pitch from 30 feet lipped out.

Carson Barry, 17, of Eagle, Idaho, converted an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to give him and his partner, Sam Tidd, 18, of Meridian, Idaho, a dramatic 1-up win over 1979 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Jack Larkin, 56, of Atlanta, Ga., and Hayes Brown, 28, of Charlotte, N.C.

Barry, who has signed with Oregon State, and Tidd, bound for the University of Oklahoma in the fall, now face fellow teens Barber and Hammer in the second of two semifinals matches on Wednesday morning.

Earlier in the day, Barry and Tidd eliminated the defending champions, Frankie Capan, 18, of North Oaks, Minn., and Shuai Ming (Ben) Wong, 18, of Hong Kong China, in 19 holes. Wong made a 25-foot downhill par putt on the 18th hole to keep the match going, but the duo each made double-bogey 6s – Capan’s tee shot went into the water – on the 491-yard, par-4 first hole to see their run end.

What's Next

The semifinalists will tee off at 7 a.m. and 7:20 a.m. on the Hills Course Wednesday, with the winners advancing to the 18-hole championship match that is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Admission is free for spectators. The USGA will also be streaming segments of the matches via Facebook Live. The semifinalists are exempt into next year's championship at Bandon Dunes.

Notable

  • The tee on the par-4 sixth hole was moved up 99 yards from its original posted length of 393 yards to 294 yards. But the flagstick was tucked on the back-left tier, creating a challenging hole location for those who wanted to be aggressive off the tee. Barber eagled the hole with a 40-foot putt in the Round of 16.

  • For the third time in four years, the medalists failed to advance past the Round of 16. Bobby Bucey, of Concord, Calif., and Brett Viboch, of Moraga, Calif., were eliminated by David Denham and Stuart Moore, 2 and 1. Only once in the championship’s four years has the No. 1 seed advanced to the quarterfinals: Brandon Matthews and Patrick Ross in 2016 at Winged Foot Golf Club. 

  • Frankie Capan and Shuai Ming (Ben) Wong will be back in the spotlight on June 12 when they take part in the inaugural Celebration of Champions during U.S. Open week at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Every 2017 USGA champion was invited to take part in a four-hole, mixed team exhibition with a dinner to follow inside the clubhouse. Capan said he was looking forward to meeting defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, and both are excited to see three-time U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods.

Quotable

Cole Hammer on him and his partner Garrett Barber carrying their own bags instead of using a caddie: “We thought about it, but at the end of the day, we just figured we'd rather not have anyone get in our way. We've carried our bags a lot throughout junior golf and figured no point in changing it. We're a little tired right now, but that's [because] we just played [two matches]. That's going to happen no matter if we're carrying it or not.”

Barber on the conditions: “Yeah, it was kind of soft. The wind died down maybe a little bit this afternoon, but it played pretty similar to this morning and played pretty similar to other days. I mean, pins were tough today, so yeah, we were just happy to hit some good shots and have a lot of [birdie] putts.”

Marc Dull on his performance on Tuesday: “I played terrible. I left him on an island way too much today.”

Carson Barry on making the 8-foot birdie putt on 18 to win the match: “I just really didn't want to play any more holes today.”

Shuai Ming (Ben) Wong on the performance of Sam Tidd and Barry in the Round of 16: “They’re great. They struck the ball well today. They played well and deserved to win.”

Frankie Capan on why he looks forward to this championship: “Four-ball is a really enjoyable format … and we feel like it brings out the best in each other’s games. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out how we planned this week, but this is one of our favorite events. It’s fun because you can play with your best friend.”

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.

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