Colton, Bacon Advance to Cherry Hills
Luke Colton and Shane Bacon, qualifiers for the 123rd U.S. Amateur Championship.
LARCHMONT, N.Y. (July 11, 2023) – Just a couple weeks after posting a top-10 finish in the Ike, Shane Bacon of Westport, Conn., continued his stellar play as of late with rounds of 70-70 at Bonnie Briar Country Club to earn his spot in the U.S. Amateur Championship, August 14-20 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. Medalist Luke Colton, a 16-year-old from Frisco, Texas, led the way on the 36-hole day, shooting 73-65 for a 4-under 138 total.
“It's still pretty surreal,” said Bacon, 39, after advancing. “I mean to get a chance to play in the oldest championship that our country has and to kind of think about my life doing this, where I was trying to play competitive golf, and then got into the amateur space, then got into the broadcasting world, my first event I ever did that was like a real TV event was the U.S. Amateur, so to kind of have the full circle moment is pretty cool.”
While Bacon registered nine bogeys on the day, he had plenty of firepower to go with that, recording 11 birdies on the day en route to his 2-under total. Colton had 12 birdies on the day to help offset eight bogeys, five of which came in his opening 73.
“The chipping and the putting was key,” said Bacon to his scoring. “I stayed real patient and then something that I've always struggled with in terms of balancing is when to be aggressive. Either I go into rounds and I play extremely conservative, or I’d play extremely aggressive. I thought me and Kevin – who caddied for me and is a local caddie here – what I think we did a great job of today is being aggressive when you need to be aggressive.”
One example was closing on the drivable par-4 18th. Bacon was coming off birdie on the par-5 17th, with fellow competitor Arthur Ouimet in the mix to advance as well. Kevin mentioned Bacon finding the back of the green in the morning round, leading Bacon to use the driver again and he hit it pin-high, just right of the green. After a nifty chip from a sidehill lie, Bacon closed with birdie to eventually clinch his spot by a shot.
Bacon also admitted his quality play and especially his finish in the recent Ike at Brooklawn spurred him on to his performance today.
“The Ike gave me a lot of confidence,” said Bacon, whose dad grew up in Denver not far from Cherry Hills. “I needed to see myself finish a round, finish a tournament. To close with that 66 and to be low [final] round with all those great players there, I walked away from that with a lot of confidence. I was ready for my next competitive event and I knew this was it.”
Meanwhile, despite his opening 73, Colton stayed poised and ready for this afternoon round.
“The first round I didn’t get off to a great start and then I kind of handled it, made a few mistakes, but second round I was able to get it back together,” said the rising high school sophomore. Colton found himself in the qualifier at Bonnie Briar since initial plans had him competing in an AJGA event in the area. Though he didn’t end up competing in that event, he kept his spot in the qualifier and played some additional golf in the area.
Colton began his second round on No. 10 and made the turn to the front 2-under. He kept momentum rolling, adding five birdies – including four of his last five – to close in 31 and fire 6-under 65.
“I guess the key for this course for me was probably a lot of course management,” said Colton, who was only able to play seven holes in his practice round before it got rained out. “It's a tricky course and it's a lot of fun, so I was able to just keep my ball in play where I could see it and from there I think it's pretty scorable.”
Earlier this summer, Colton qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur and now is excited about earning a spot in the U.S. Amateur as well.
“It's great. It's an honor,” said Colton. “This is my first year I’m going to be competing in the U.S. Junior and U.S. Am, so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s the best golfers there, so it’s a good opportunity to challenge myself.”
Ouimet of Manchester, Conn., earned first alternate with a score of 1-under 41 while Matthew Ferrari of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., took the second alternate position with an even-par 142 on the day.