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Simanton and Vijarro Both Fail To Advance At 101st Oregon Amateur
Men's Match Play Brackets
Women's Match Play Brackets
Canby, Ore. (June 24, 2010) - The marathon of match play began in earnest today as the Men's field played the first of three potentially successive 36-hole rounds required to earn the championship title at the 101st Oregon Amateur, conducted this year at Willamette Valley Country Club in Canby, Ore.
The men's round of 32 began this morning with no major suprises as most of the prominent collegiate golfers had no trouble advancing to the afternoon round of 16. The most notable match was between the University of Oregon's Jack Paton and nationally ranked senior Chris Maletis of Portland, Ore. Maletis, who had considered withdrawing from the championship after yesterday's round chose otherwise, and was able to extended his match to 21 holes before going down in defeat. With his departure, the remaining field consisted of all but two current collegiate players.
Following the men's morning round, the women played to decide who would advance to the quarterfinals.
A major surprise came when Portland State's Tiffany Schoning defeated U.C. Davis' Amy Beth Simanton, on the 22nd hole. Simanton, the medalist and defending Oregon Women's Amateur champion who was unable to capitalize on numerous opportunities to close our her match noted, "We just hacked it around today." Indicative of this was their play was Simanton's 3-putt on the 18th hole that sent the match to extra holes.
On the first playoff hole, neither hit it close and both were lucky to sink putts of a significant length. On the second hole, Simanton put pressure on Schoning sending a 265-yard drive down the center of the fairway. When Schoning snap hooked her tee shot only 160-yards into the trees, the advantage was clearly with Simanton. Schoning punched back into the fairway and again pushed another shot into the trees.
Despite knowing Schoning was in trouble, Simanton let the door open by sending her next shot into the trees, stymied with no other option than to chip back into the fairway and leaving a simple 60-yard approach shot to the green. Unable, yet again, to capitalize on that opportunity, she didn't even land her approach on the green. Both players ended up with a bogey six and had to play yet another hole where they both had routine pars.
On the final hole, Simanton again pulled a shot into the trees. With the opportunity to win now available, a nervous Schoning missed the fairway but was able to reach the green in regulation and with a 15 ft downhill putt. Simanton punched out of the trees to the right of green. But she chunked her chip, failing to make the green. Her par putt grazed the edge of the hole giving her a bogey 5, while Schoning had a relatively easy 2-putt for par and the match.
Now Schoning, the PSU junior-to-be will face 13-year old Gigi Stoll of Portland, who handily defeated former Weber State golfer Amy Mombert 8 and 6. Stoll heads the list of teenagers to advance to the quarterfinals including Lindsay Harmon, 17 and Monica Vaugh, 15.
The Men's field was also getting noticeably younger as former Oregon State player Brandon Taylor, the only player who is not currently playing collegiate golf, was able to survive to the quarterfinals by dispatching medalist and defending champion Andrew Vijarro.
"I just didn't have my A-game today," said a disappointed Vijarro. "I played well all week and was probably 17-under par for all the holes played. I was down 1 at the turn, but was looking forward to the back nine where I was scoring better most of the week. I got it back on 10, but slipped terribly on 11 where I buried a ball in the lip of a bunker and was unable to get it out."
Taylor was dorme 3 putting the pressure on Vijarro to win the remaining holes. Halving any hole would not be good enough so Vijarro became one of 5 golfers in the afternoon that decided to go for the green on the par-4 16th hole which had tees moved up from 405-yards to a reachable 282-yards. While he reached the green and birdied the hole to extend the match, a halve on the next hole ended his run.
The remaining Men's field for the quarterfinals is balanced, at least in regards to the universities represented with two golfers having ties each to Oregon State, University of Oregon, University of Portland and the University of Idaho.
Quarterfinal matches begin at 8am Friday morning, with those advancing playing semifinal matches in the afternoon. The 26-hole championship final is on Saturday.
