OAKMONT, Pa. — Talk about a birthday gift.
A day after celebrating his 23rd trip around the sun on Tuesday, Pennsylvania local Mark Goetz earned medalist honors at the 121st U.S. Amateur, finishing the two rounds of stroke play at Longue Vue Club and Oakmont Country Club at 8 under with rounds of 64 and 68, respectively.
The fifth-year senior at West Virginia made just one bogey over the 36 holes, and it came on Wednesday morning during the continuation of the second round after play was halted for four hours due to a weather delay and stopped due to darkness on Tuesday night.
“It’s the most memorable two days of my career by a mile, there’s nothing that will even come close,” Goetz said on Tuesday. “This place can beat you to your core. It’s disgustingly hard. If you play scared out here, you’re a little bit tentative, man it’ll bite you in the butt so fast. So I really didn’t have any expectations this week, and it’s because of how difficult this place is.”
A little rain can't stop this medalist 🏅@WVUGolf's Mark Goetz will enter #USAmateur match play as the No. 1 seed.
— USGA (@USGA) August 11, 2021
Goetz grew up in nearby Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and estimated that he’s played Oakmont a dozen or so times in his life. His 2-under 68 is his lowest score ever at Oakmont by three shots.
“I’m comfortable with where I’m at, for sure. My pace has been great on the greens this week. My caddie and I have made some great decisions and some really good reads from some pretty long and difficult putts,” explained Goetz. “I would just say comfortable with where I’m at.”
Goetz pointed towards his win last season at the Mountaineer Invitational, the first victory of his college career, as one of his key achievements thus far, and opened up on the struggles that led him to this week’s top seed.
“College golf for me has been very, very difficult,” said Goetz. “I was very fortunate to get the opportunity to play at West Virginia. I wasn’t heavily recruited and I pretty much went from square one there. I had to earn my spot and prove myself and I really wasn’t on a scholarship up until my junior year. Going from square one to being left at home and really struggling to being able to get a win in college and help the team out was, it’s kind of like comeback complete. That did a lot for me.”
After a nearly four-hour long delay on Tuesday, play was once again halted at 12:54 p.m. ET Wednesday during a 12-for-1 playoff for the final match play spot.
Three hours and 55 minutes later, the playoff and Round of 64 began. Starting on the par-4 15th, Joe Alfieri, Nicholas Dunlap and David Nyjfall each made birdie to extend the playoff to the 18th tee. Alfieri, a 52-year-old who made the field as an alternate, was eliminated with a bogey while, sending Dunlap and Nyjfall back to the 18th tee. Nyjfall, a senior at Northwestern, advanced with another par to set up a meeting with the top seed Goetz.
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