The pressure, however, worked in his favor. Adams shot 5-under par Monday in U.S. Amateur sectional qualifying at Moraine Country Club to claim the first of two available spots in the U.S. Amateur Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club near Denver in August.
Adams, entering his junior year at Wake Forest, is from Charlotte, North Carolina, and made his first trip to Ohio. He liked the idea of playing Moraine because of its reputation as a top 100 course, the timing fit his schedule and it will host the 2024 Western Amateur, another event he hopes to play in.
“I thought it was great,” he said. “I would probably say this is probably the best qualifying course out there from the courses I’ve looked at.”
Adams played in his first U.S. Amateur two years ago at historic Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh.
“I played horrible,” he said. “I’m looking for revenge this year. It was my first big tournament and just going into freshman year of college. But this time, hopefully, I’ll be a little more prepared.”
Adams said he arrived in Dayton expecting nothing less than to qualify. He shot rounds of 70 and 67 on the par-71 course.
“I hit the ball pretty good,” he said. “I got myself in pretty good spots off the tee. I didn’t really play great in the first round but putted pretty good down the stretch the second round. So everything was pretty solid.”
Solomon Petrie, coming off a redshirt freshman season at Kentucky, played in his first sectional qualifier and earned the second spot into the U.S. Amateur. He was too late to register last year, but he put his name in this year during the first hour that registration was open.
Petrie had the hottest home-stretch putter on the course. And he needed it after a four-putt double-bogey on his first hole and shooting 40 on his opening nine. Petrie birdied 15, 17 and 18 to finish 4-under and force a playoff with UK teammate Alex Goff.
Petrie started the playoff on No. 10 by driving into a fairway bunker. But he put his second shot on the green and made a 12-foot putt for birdie while Goff missed his birdie putt.
“It was fun but hard at the same time,” said Petrie, who played high school golf at Akron Hoban. “I wanted us both to go. I told him yesterday, and my dad and a lot of my friends, it’d be sweet if we could Kentucky blue sweep it. It’s tough that we didn’t, but I’m glad I got there.”
Goff holds the No. 1 alternate slot from this sectional. Springboro native Sam Geise holds the second alternate spot after finishing at 3-under par on he course he grew up on working as a caddy and getting to play about once a week.
Geise graduated from Springboro in 2012 and qualified for the Division I state tournament as a senior. He played at Wittenberg and graduated from there in 2016. He now lives in Ponte Vedra, Florida, and works in HVAC sales. His fiance, Jessica Porvasnik, played at Ohio State and plays professionally on the Epson Tour, which is a step below the LPGA Tour.
The trip home also gave him a chance to spend the day with old high school teammate Austin Markham.
“Had one of my best friends on the bag so I got the good caddy vibes going,” Geise said. “I didn’t really have the highest of expectations having a full-time job and just playing golf for fun.”
Geise is happy to be an alternate, but he couldn’t help but think back to the start of the day when his putter wasn’t working and cost him strokes. Geise says Markham is great at reading greens and got him back on track.
“I wish he would’ve putted the first couple of holes for me because I was blasting them by,” Geise said. “I had three three-putts on the front nine.”
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