Georgia Tech’s Ollie Schniederjans sounded the warning Wednesday after his rout in the first round of U.S. Amateur match play. They weren’t all going to be as easy as that 6-and-5 laugher.
He didn’t want to be this right. In Thursday’s round of 32 match it took Schniederjans 20 holes to rid himself of Louisiana high school senior Sam Burns. The world’s top-ranked amateur, Schniederjans was 3 up with four holes to play and still backed himself into the corner of elimination. He lost two of those closing holes to a Burns bogey, after taking double bogey himself. Burns outright won another hole with a birdie on the par-3 17th.
Then into sudden death, Burns had a chance for the upset with a 10-foot birdie on the first hole, but left his putt low. A poor drive on the 20th hole led to a Burns bogey, allowing Schniederjans to take the match with a par.
Survive and advance was good enough for the moment. In the afternoon, he was matched against Korea’s Gunn Yang, who on Wednesday eliminated Schniederjans’ Tech teammate Seth Reeves.
About the Author
