Thornberry beats No. 1 Niemann
LOS ANGELES — NCAA champion Braden Thornberry eliminated world No. 1-ranked Joaquin Niemann of Chile in the opening round of match play in the U.S. Amateur on Wednesday.
Scotland’s Connor Syme also beat No. 2-ranked Maverick McNealy at Riviera Country Club in the 117th edition of the amateur championship with a pair of exciting matches between top talents.
The No. 3-ranked Thornberry followed up his individual NCAA title for Ole Miss and his fourth-place finish at the St. Jude Classic with a 2-up victory in a match between elites.
After starting his round with a double bogey, Thornberry steadily gathered steam. He surged ahead with a birdie on the 13th and punctuated the win with a 25-foot downhill birdie putt on the 18th.
Thornberry and Niemann became friends while playing together during the first two rounds of stroke play. They faced each other in the opening round only because Thornberry ended up with a low seed when he was forced into a playoff Tuesday to qualify.
“It’s kind of unfortunate for two of the higher-ranked players to play each other in the first round,” Thornberry said. “But you’ve got to do it at some point.”
Thornberry’s speedy, selftaught swing and buccaneering style contrasted sharply with Niemann’s smooth game. Neither player took a lead larger than one hole until the 18th.
“We played together for three days,” Niemann said. “He made so many up-and-downs, and he chipped in like three [times]. Yeah, he’s got a really good short game.”
Thornberry won the NCAA title and the Haskins Award as the top college player earlier in the summer, and he will return to Ole Miss in the fall despite a St. Jude Classic finish that would have made him over $200,000.
McNealy, the Stanford student and former world amateur No. 1, lost 2 and 1 to Syme, with McNealy’s bogey on the par-3 16th hole making the difference in a tight match.
While these two could go head-to-head again in three weeks in the Walker Cup at nearby Los Angeles Country Club, Syme got the early jump on his rival in a well-played afternoon.
“I’ve obviously got massive respect for his game, and as a person, he’s such a nice guy,” Syme said.
“I played very solid and tried not to give him much. I always thought he was going to come back at me, which he did.”
The U.S. Amateur is being played for the first time at Riviera, the 90-year-old Pacific Palisades institution.
The round of 32 begins Thursday morning. Match play continues through Sunday.
WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP
In Greensboro, N.C., it’s lastchance time on the PGA Tour.
The field at the Wyndham Championship is once again littered with players trying to earn their way into golf’s postseason or earn full exemption on the tour for 2018.
When the tournament begins Thursday at par-70 Sedgefield Country Club, the focus — as it is every year — will be on those players on the bubble and those trying to improve their position for the playoffs.
“It’s a great opportunity to put myself in a better spot heading into next week’s playoffs,” Henrik Stenson said Wednesday.
Stenson, who won the FedEx Cup in 2013, arrived at Sedgefield with security for next week at No. 75 on the points list. Others have some work to do. The top 125 on the points list qualify for The Northern Trust next week in Old Westbury, New York, and also will be fully exempt on the tour next year, if they aren’t already.
Every player from No. 113 (Harris English) to No. 143 (Ricky Barnes) is in the Wyndham field. Among those directly on the bubble are No. 124 Daniel Summerhays, No. 125 Geoff Ogilvy and No. 126 Cameron Tringale.
“I guess that would consider me one of those bubble boys now,” said Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer who’s at No. 127.
“I guess that would consider me one of those bubble boys now,” said Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer who’s at No. 127.
Two players — Kyle Stanley and Shawn Stefani — cracked the top 125 here last year, and five did it in 2015.
“I need to play solid this week, but you know, my goal is not just to get into the FedEx Cup playoffs,” he added. “My goal is to try and win a golf tournament this week. If I don’t, and have a solid finish, that will take care of it as a byproduct. Can’t get too hung up on trying to move up a couple spots. But obviously, that is of the utmost importance this week.”
KAPALUA EVENT
Wisconsin-based Sentry Insurance has agreed to a five-year deal to become the title sponsor of the winners-only PGA Tour event at Kapalua, a move that strengthens the tour’s commitment to starting the new year in Hawaii.
The Sentry Tournament of Champions will be Jan. 4-7 and marks the 20th straight time the PGA Tour starts a new year on Maui.
“We just felt this was a perfect opportunity for Sentry to tell its story on a national basis, which you can do through tournament sponsorship,” said Pete McPartland, the chairman, chief executive and president of the 113-year-old mutual insurance company.
South Korean broadcaster SBS had been the title sponsor and briefly farmed it out to Hyundai until the automaker switched its sponsorship to Los Angeles and the Genesis Open at Riviera. SBS had been looking for a new sponsor to take over before its deal expired at the end of 2019.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed Wednesday.
Sentry becomes the new sponsor during a strong youth movement in golf that has invigorated the winners-only event at Kapalua. The Tournament of Champions had lost some luster when Tiger Woods stopped playing after 2005, a few years after Phil Mickelson decided not to start his year in Hawaii.
PGA champion Justin Thomas returns to defend his title, after he held off Hideki Matsuyama a year ago.
The previous winners were British Open champion Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, two-time major champion Zach Johnson and former U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson.