He didn’t win the U.S. Amateur, but it appears that Georgia Tech golfer Ollie Schniederjans left the Atlanta Athletic Club last week with a decent consolation prize– invitations to next year’s U.S. Open and British Open.
Following last week's U.S. Amateur, Schniederjans held onto his top spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The player ranked first after the European and U.S. amateur championships earns spots in the following year's U.S. and British opens. While no announcement has been made, official rankings that include U.S. Amateur results were updated and released Wednesday morning. (The International European Championship was held earlier in August.)
Schniederjans reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur, losing to eventual champion Gunn Yang. In the rankings, that was enough for Schniederjans to remain ahead of Alabama’s Robby Shelton, who is ranked No. 2 and lost in the round of 32.
Schniederjans would be the first Tech player to compete in a major as an amateur since Matt Kuchar played in the Masters and U.S. Open in 1998, finishing 21st and 14th, respectively. It would be a rather significant prize for his decision to hold off on turning professional and returning for his senior season.
Schniederjans has been the world’s No. 1 since the two players ahead of him, Patrick Rodgers and Matthew Fitzpatrick, turned professional after the U.S. Open in June. He had been third prior to that. Among the results that lifted him up the rankings and held him on top of the chart – first-place finishes in five college tournaments last year, runner-up at the NCAA individual championship in May and two strong showings in professional tournaments this summer.
The U.S. Open will be held at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. The British Open will be played at St. Andrews.
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