Local golf: Shuping/Taylor and Nianouris/Blasey advance to match play in U.S. Amateur Four-Ball
Published 1:06 am Monday, May 27, 2019
Staff report
BANDON, Oregon — The elite field began with 1,233 two-man sides.
Sectional qualifying pared those 1,233 twosomes down to the top 128 teams, and those 128 gathered at the Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon for the 5th annual U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship.
Competitors ranged in age from 15 to 63, with an average age of 32. Forty states were represented in the field, with competitors also hailing from Canada, Australia and Chinese Taipei.
Two days of stroke play (Saturday and Sunday) on the Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald courses have trimmed the field down to 36 teams. The seven sides that finished at 6-under will be involved in a playoff for the last four match play berths.
The team of Logan Shuping/Blake Taylor, East Carolina teammates, has advanced to today’s match play Round of 32. They shot 6-under 65 on the Old Macdonald Course (par 71) on Saturday and 2-under 68 at Pacific Dunes (par 70) on Sunday. They tied for 17th in stroke play at 8-under. Shuping is an East Rowan graduate.
The team of Alex Nianouris/Ralph Blasey, former Davidson teammates, also has safely advanced to today’s match play Round of 32. They shot 8-under 62 at Pacific Dunes on Saturday and 1-over 72 in tough wind conditions at Old Macdonald on Sunday. They tied for 22nd at 7-under. Nianouris is a Salisbury High graduate.
Shuping/Taylor will play in one of the early matches today, at noon Eastern time. Providing the opposition is the formidable team of Chip Brook/Marc Dull. They tied for 11th in stroke play at 9-under. Brooke and Dull reached the championship match in 2018 and made the semifinals in 2017.
Nianouris/Blasey will start at 2 p.m. Eastern time. The are matched up against the experienced team of Todd Mitchell/Scott Harvey. Harvey and Mitchell tied for seventh in stroke play at 10-under. Harvey and Mitchell have competed in all five U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championships. The duo advanced to the semifinals in 2015 and quarterfinals in 2017. Harvey was a member of the 2015 USA Walker Cup Team.
The tournament concludes on May 29.
