Jonathan Brightwell was the last guy to get in the North & South Amateur match-play bracket and not have to play off for it. Brightwell drew the No. 31 seed at Pinehurst and, as luck would have it, found himself in a rematch.
Two weeks ago, Brightwell, a recent North Carolina-Greensboro graduate, went toe to toe with incoming North Carolina freshman Peter Fountain in a playoff at the North Carolina Amateur. Fountain came out on top.
Fast forward to Pinehurst. Brightwell was on the putting green Wednesday evening as the bracket was being sorted out. Fountain had returned to the course to play off for outright medalist honors, and ultimately ended up in the No. 2 spot. That meant the two would meet again.
Scoring: North & South Amateur
Brightwell evened the score by dispatching Fountain on the 16th hole and now will meet Tyler Strafaci, who just finished his senior season at Georgia Tech, in the next round.
“It was a good match,” Brightwell said. “It was pretty even most of the way.”
Fountain has two older brothers, Richard (who played at Davidson) and Preyer (who played for North Carolina), and Brightwell has known the whole family. That made for friendly matches. On Thursday, it ultimately came down to a couple of well-timed Brightwell birdies. The one at No. 12 was among them, and then Brightwell won the next two holes (No. 14 with a par) to go 2 up.
The par-3 15th, with its tiny, domed green, can be a turning point in a match. Both men had par, and Brightwell felt the momentum shift in his favor. A comeback would be tough for Fountain.
Brightwell grew up in nearby Charlotte. When he got serious about golf, he developed an affinity for Pinehurst and has come to play as often as he can.
“Need to play it a few times to feel comfortable because you hit some shots around the greens or putts, just in general you feel a little iffy,” Brightwell said of the famed No. 2. “Playing there enough times to know a good game plan or strategy and then being able to actually pull it off. It’s really hard to execute at No. 2.”
Last year’s U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst was the first time Brightwell had ever played that event, a milestone in itself. It came at the end of a summer during which he played five of the top amateur events, including the North & South and the Sunnehanna.
With the pandemic wiping out much of this year’s early-summer schedule, Brightwell returned to the state amateur for the first time in years. His runner-up finish was his best ever.
That’s just a small sign of the growth in Brightwell’s game. He didn’t start playing golf seriously until he was a freshman in high school, devoting time instead to baseball and basketball. He was ranked No. 460 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings at the end of his freshman season at Greensboro but by the end of his (shortened) senior season, had risen to No. 21.
If there was a comfort that came with that rise, it’s all going out the window again next fall. Brightwell is using his extra season of eligibility to finish out his college career at Oklahoma, which ended the season as the No. 1-ranked team in Golfweek’s rankings.
“When the NCAA was able to give us a fifth year, I was all for it,” Brightwell said.
Greensboro will always represent a big part of his story, but Brightwell wasn’t sure what opportunities would be there for him next season. Given that, he entered the transfer portal to see what was available. He never would have pictured he’d end up so far from home.
“They’re already a great team,” Brightwell said of the Sooners. “It’s not going to be easy trying to make the lineup. It’s going to put myself in a situation where I definitely have to get better.”
Brightwell might have flown under the radar at Greensboro, but it’s picking him up clearly now. The rest of his summer calendar is made up by the Big 3 of summer amateur golf: the Sunnehanna Amateur, Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur.
He’s not the only Greensboro player representing on this North & South bracket, either. Teammate Nick Lyerly, who garnered a big victory at the 2018 Eastern Amateur, will take on defending champion Cooper Dossey in the Round of 16.
Among the other marquee matches lined up for Friday are Davis Thompson – at No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the top-ranked player in the field – versus William Holcomb V, a U.S. Amateur semifinalist.
Incoming Florida freshman Tyler Wilkes defeated No. 1 seed Travis Vick on Thursday morning and now will meet Matt McCarty of Scottsdale, Arizona, who knocked off local player Jackson Van Paris in the first round.
Farther down the bracket, Pepperdine teammates Dylan Menante and Joe Highsmith – two of the only West Coast players left on the bracket – will meet.
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