Quackenbush Takes Early Lead at 49th South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (June 16, 2021) -- The results from the first round of stroke play qualifying at the 49th South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship at Mount Vintage Golf Club (Chester/Vintage) in North Augusta, S.C. on June 16, 2021. The field is competing at 7,090 yards (par 36-36--72).
Related: Championship Web Site | Full Field | Starting Times | Scoring | History | Photos
Brian Quackenbush of Aiken, S.C. is the sole leader of the 49th South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship after the first round of stroke play qualifying. Quackenbush shot a 3-under-par, 69 on Wednesday.
Quackenbush kept a pristine scorecard throughout the entirety of his round, scoring his only bogey on his first hole. “I guess bogey the first one so you can get it out of the way,” he said with a chuckle. He proceeded to earn four birdies and 13 pars to earn the lead over Mitchell Vance of Hartsville, S.C. and Connor Fahey of Greenville, S.C.
Quackenbush stated that he put plenty of practice into gaining distance on his clubs and putting accuracy. “I’ve been hitting it better for maybe the past two months. I found some distance through some swing changes with my coach and made some tweaks with my putting. I’m trying to train in the right direction.” His hard work paid off in today’s round as his fairway finding abilities, putting and all around solid-game came in handy. “I made saves when I needed to. I got out of position a couple of times but made some good putts.”
At 50 years of age, Quackenbush is the second oldest player in a field dominated by seasoned collegiate golfers. His mindset going into Thursday’s round is straightforward and simple. “I’m not the longest guy on the field so I can hit my 3-wood or driver and be right where I need to be. I just want to try to focus on the shot in front of me. It sounds cliche,” he commented. “I want to get more comfortable with the course for the match play and I’ve been working on gaining some distance.”
Tied for second going into Thursday’s round is Mitchell Vance and Connor Fahey, both carding a 2-under-par, 70. Vance, a rising junior on the men’s golf team at Francis Marion University fired five birdies, including one on the 18th hole to share the second spot with Fahey, a rising senior on the men’s team at Belmont Abbey College.
21 year-old Fahey carded six birdies, four back-to-back, and went into today’s round without a practice round as he was working all week, admitting he would make some safer plays going into the next round. “Tomorrow I think I’ll do the same thing as today, except maybe be a little less aggressive because now I know where I’m going. I want to hit some greens, make some putts, and get ready for match play.”
Stroke play qualifying resumes tomorrow with tee times running from 7:30 a.m. to 11:41 a.m. After the 36 holes of stroke play qualifying are complete, the field will be cut to 32 players for match play. A playoff will be conducted to break ties if necessary.
A Carolinas Amateur Championship qualifier was held in conjunction with round one of the South Carolina Amateur Match Play. Players could compete in both events as long as they had registered for both events. Results from the qualifier can be found here.
Connor Fahey was the low medalist for Carolinas Amateur Championship qualifying. Colin Trahan of North Augusta, S.C. was runner-up with a 1-under-par, 71. Brandon Hiott of Walterboro, S.C., Zachary Armentrout of Walterboro, S.C., Matthew Laydon of Charleston, S.C. and Andrew Propes of Charleston, S.C. also earned their spots into the Carolinas Amateur Championship after carding even-par, 72.
49th South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship
Mount Vintage Golf Club (Chester/Vintage), North Augusta, S.C.
First Round of Stroke Play Qualifying Results
Pos. | Player | City, State | To Par | R1 |
1 | Brian Quackenbush | Aiken, SC | -3 | 69 |
T2 | Mitchell Vance | Hartsville, SC | -2 | 70 |
T2 | Connor Fahey | Greenville, SC | -2 | 70 |
T4 | Luke Cashion | Seneca, SC | -1 | 71 |
T4 | Nick Mayfield | Rock Hill, SC | -1 | 71 |
T4 | Colin Trahan | North Augusta, SC | -1 | 71 |
T4 | Robbie Biershenk | Boiling Springs, SC | -1 | 71 |
T8 | Brandon Hiott | Walterboro, SC | E | 72 |
T8 | Zachary Armentrout | Walterboro, SC | E | 72 |
T8 | Matthew Laydon | Charleston, SC | E | 72 |
T8 | Andrew Propes | Charleston, SC | E | 72 |
T12 | Anthony Clark | Fort Mill, SC | 1 | 73 |
T12 | Spencer Skiff | Columbia, SC | 1 | 73 |
T12 | Nick Willis | Cowpens, SC | 1 | 73 |
T12 | Oliver Rotermund | Daniel Island, SC | 1 | 73 |
T16 | John Weiss | Columbia, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | Crawford Reeves | Taylors, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | Zach Pardoll | Kiawah Island, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | Grant Sellers | McBee, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | John O'Brien | Columbia, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | Henry McGannon | Charlston, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | McClure Thompson | Little River, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | Michael Sims | Lexington, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | Henry Augenstein | Columbia, SC | 2 | 74 |
T16 | Jarrett Grimes | Columbia, SC | 2 | 74 |
T26 | Brian Sears | Myrtle Beach, SC | 3 | 75 |
T26 | Connor Moore | Bluffton, SC | 3 | 75 |
T26 | Jason Steiner | Fort Mill, SC | 3 | 75 |
T26 | Garrett Cooper | Cowpens, SC | 3 | 75 |
T26 | Michael Rials | Florence, SC | 3 | 75 |
T31 | David Hrubala | Spartanburg, SC | 4 | 76 |
T31 | Nick Howell | Laurens, SC | 4 | 76 |
T31 | Pierce Fox | Greenville, SC | 4 | 76 |
T31 | Drew Weary | Bluffton, SC | 4 | 76 |
T31 | Caleb Loudin | Summerville, SC | 4 | 76 |
T36 | Corbin Pye | Duncan, SC | 5 | 77 |
T36 | Dylan Murray | North Augusta, SC | 5 | 77 |
T36 | Ben Burton | Charleston, SC | 5 | 77 |
T36 | Jared Jillson | Columbia, SC | 5 | 77 |
T36 | Patrick Golden | Murrells Inlet, SC | 5 | 77 |
T36 | Trevor Gerard | Hartsville, SC | 5 | 77 |
T36 | Daniel Brasington | Woodruff, SC | 5 | 77 |
T36 | Daniel Coker | Hartsville, SC | 5 | 77 |
T44 | Grainger Howle | Darlington, SC | 6 | 78 |
T44 | William Phipps | Florence, SC | 6 | 78 |
T44 | Baylor Geer | Johnston, SC | 6 | 78 |
T44 | Frank Wrenn | Greenville, SC | 6 | 78 |
T44 | James Lightsey | Indian Land, SC | 6 | 78 |
T44 | Ryan Anderson | Aiken, SC | 6 | 78 |
T44 | Daniel Ezelle | Taylors, SC | 6 | 78 |
T51 | Andrew Lockliear | Bonneau, SC | 7 | 79 |
T51 | Drew Greene | Aiken, SC | 7 | 79 |
T51 | Ben Brodhead | Charleston, SC | 7 | 79 |
T51 | Christian Sease | Greenville, SC | 7 | 79 |
T51 | Trey Howard | Woodruff, SC | 7 | 79 |
T56 | Eli Ricker | Greenville, SC | 8 | 80 |
T56 | Parker Fain | Boiling Springs, SC | 8 | 80 |
T56 | Will Durrett | Aiken, SC | 8 | 80 |
T56 | David Kidd | York, SC | 8 | 80 |
T60 | Brandon Twigg | Charleston, SC | 9 | 81 |
T60 | Kobie Morton | Greenwood, SC | 9 | 81 |
T60 | Lee Hoggard | Greer, SC | 9 | 81 |
T60 | Scott Sullivan | Blythewood, SC | 9 | 81 |
T64 | Derek Byzinski | Charleston, SC | 10 | 82 |
T64 | Daniel Kopp | Conway, SC | 10 | 82 |
T64 | Benny Hagerty | Aiken, SC | 10 | 82 |
T67 | Travis Gantt | Moncks Corner, SC | 11 | 83 |
T67 | Felix van Kleef | Hilton Head, SC | 11 | 83 |
T67 | Keith Chichester | Blythewood, SC | 11 | 83 |
T70 | Jenkins Dwight | Sumter, SC | 12 | 84 |
T70 | STEVE Paley | Columbia, SC | 12 | 84 |
T70 | David Gibson | Lexington, SC | 12 | 84 |
T73 | Evan Greenplate | Hilton Head Island, SC | 13 | 85 |
T73 | Jonathan Abrams | West Columbia, SC | 13 | 85 |
T73 | Daniel Donato | MOUNT PLEASANT, SC | 13 | 85 |
T76 | Rye Tifft | Mount Pleasant, SC | 14 | 86 |
T76 | Josh Nichols | Tega Cay, SC | 14 | 86 |
T78 | Graydon McNair | Summerville, SC | 15 | 87 |
T78 | John Moss | Fort Mill, SC | 15 | 87 |
80 | Sullivan Hooper | Leesville, SC | 17 | 89 |
T81 | Ayden Farrington | Beaufort, SC | 21 | 93 |
T81 | Preston Andrews | Chester, SC | 21 | 93 |
83 | Connor Keating | Daniel Island, SC | 26 | 98 |
WD | Stephen Heard | Greenville, SC | - | WD |
NS | William Sheppard | Mt. Pleasant, SC | - | NS |
NS | Shea Bogan | Clover, SC | - | NS |
About the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA)
The CGA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization that was founded in 1909 to promote and to protect the game of golf in the Carolinas by providing competitions, education, support and benefits to golf clubs and golfers. The CGA is the second largest golf association in the country with over 700 member clubs represented by nearly 150,000 individuals.
The CGA annually conducts 48 championships and five team match competitions for men, women, juniors, and seniors. It also runs over 150 One-Day (net and gross) events as well as qualifying for USGA national championships. The CGA serves golf in the Carolinas with numerous programs such as: the USGA Handicap System; tournament management software and support; course measuring and course/slope ratings; agronomy consultation; answers about the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, and Handicapping; Carolinas Golf Magazine; Interclub series; Tarheel Youth Golf Association; Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame; expense assistance for USGA Junior and Girls' Junior qualifiers from the Carolinas; and the Carolinas Golf Foundation (CGF). The CGF has distributed nearly $2,000,000 since 1977 to benefit Carolinas' golf initiatives including junior and women's programs.
For more information about the CGA, visit our website.
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