Steve Ziegler loses heartbreaker in quarterfinals of US Amateur

Photo: Steve Ziegler putts on his final hole at the US Amateur.

The Stanford star in the 2009 US Amateur was Steve Ziegler who lost to eventual champion Beyong-Hun An in the quarterfinals in an event that included 6 Stanford golfers: Steve Ziegler, David Chung, Andrew Yun, Joseph Bramlett, Jordan Cox and recent grad Dodge Kemmer. The event was played at Southern Hills CC in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with nearby Cedar Ridge CC being used as well for the first two rounds of qualifying for the field of 312 players trying to get into the 64-player match play portion of the event to determine the champion.

QUARTERFINAL LOSS IN 21 HOLES BY STEVE ZIEGLER:
Steve Ziegler, Stanford's 2nd team All-American junior, lost in the quarterfinals on the 21st hole to 17-year old South Korean Byeong-Hun An after he fought back from an early 3-down deficit. For the 2nd match in a row Steve won the last two holes to square the match. The strong US Amateur showing came on the heels of a solid summer which included reaching the quarterfinals in the British Amateur in June.

Previous match coverage can be found below.

AFTER THE 2ND DAY OF MATCH PLAY - Ziegler moves on!
Steve Ziegler, Stanford's 2nd team All-American junior, won both his 2nd and 3rd round matches in dramatic fashion to move onto the quarterfinals against 17 year old South Korean Byeong-Hun An. In the 2nd round match vs Will Strickler, Steve had an early 3-up lead and had to hold on down the stretch on to win 1-up. So as he did earlier in the summer at the British Amateur, Steve is playing in the quarterfinals of a 2nd national amateur championship.

In the afternoon 3rd round match vs Dan Woltman, Ziegler played from behind all day and was 2-down with 2 to play. After winning 17 with a birdie 4, Steve birdied the very difficult par-4 460 yard dogleg right finishing hole to tie the match. In sudden death, both players parred the first 3 holes and Steve won it with another par 4 on the 22nd hole.

Dodge Kemmer lost his 2nd round match 3 & 2 to the same player who defeated David Chung, Floridian Connor Arendell.

AFTER FIRST ROUND OF MATCH PLAY
Steve Ziegler and Dodge Kemmer both handily won their first round matches by 5 & 3 an 6 & 5 scores respectively. David Chung lost his first round match 2 & 1 to Arendell. Here are the complete first round match results. See results below for previous Cardinal results.

AFTER TWO ROUNDS OF STROKE PLAY
Three Cardinal players have qualified for the 64-player match play field with Steve Ziegler (73-72) and David Chung (74-71) tying for 20th place. Dodge Kemmer is tied for 45th after his 76-71. Live scoring of first round matches can be found here --- http://www.usamateur.org/scoring/nml/match1.html

Missing the cut by one stroke was Joseph Bramlett after rounds of 76-73 while Andrew Yun missed by 2 shots at 75-75. Jordan Cox also missed the cut with his 77-76.

AFTER THE FIRST ROUND OF QUALIFYING
The tough courses combined with windy conditions led to high first round scoring with only 5 players in the field breaking par 70. First round scores were Ziegler 73 (tied for 42nd), Chung 74 (tied for 62nd), Yun 75, Bramlett and Kemmer at 76 and Cox at 77. It will take solid rounds from all Cardinal players to qualify for match play.

Complete scores and the first round story is included here --- http://www.usamateur.org/news/lategamer824.html.