Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

8/25/2010 at 12:52pm

A 6-over-par score for two rounds on two courses in the Seattle area is what it was going to take to qualify for one of the 64 match-play spot in the 110th U.S. Amateur. And Little Rock's Alex Carpenter, a sophomore at Abilene Christian College and who has had a terrific summer in Arkansas amateur golf, was in position to clear that hurdle following Monday's first round.

But Carpenter's score soared on Tuesday at the famed Chambers Bay course, where the match play portion of the U.S. Amateur will be staged the rest of the week. Carpenter shot a 11-over 82 to finish 12-over for the two stroke-play qualifying rounds, finishing 155th and out of the running for match play.

Austin Cook, the reigning ASGA Stroke Play Champion and the second qualifier along with Carpenter from the regional qualifying held earlier this month at Big Creek Golf and Country Club in Mountain Home, also failed to advance, carding a 15-over for the two days. The Jonesboro golfer, who plays for the University of Arkansas, handled Chambers Bay on Monday in decent fashion, finishing with a 5-over 76, but soared to a 10-over at The Home Course.

Carpenter was a winner of multiple ASGA designated tournaments this summer and the Southern Amateur Championship, held at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala. In qualifying for one of the two spots in the Amateur, Carpenter set a new Big Creek course record in the first-round with a 10-under-par 62, breaking his own record he had set a day earlier in the ASGA-designated tournament at Big Creek.

Cook's Razorbacks teammates who also qualified for the Amateur at other sites, John Eure and Ethan Tracy, also did not advance to match play. Eure, from Crofton, Md., was 1-over after Monday's round at The Home Course, but skied to an 80 on Chambers Bay on Tuesday to finish 118th. Tracy, a native Ohioan who qualified by winning the regional in Dayton, had rounds of 76-78 for 11-over par to rank 138th.

Jeff Wilson, a 47-year-old Californian, was the qualifying medalist among 312 golfers with a 7-under par 136. He had opened with a 10-under at The Home Course and shot 3-over at Chambers Bay. The match play portion will run through Saturday, with a 36-hole final. Results from the Amateur can be followed at the USGA site.

Chambers Bay, in University Place, Wash. and the longest course in U.S. Amateur history at 7,742 yards and a par-71, will be the site of the 2015 U.S. Open. The Home Course, at Dupont, Wash., is 7,420 yards and a par-72. All of the matches are staged at Chambers Bay.

Tagged: Big Creek Golf Course & Country Club, U.S. Amateur, Austin Cook, Alex Carpenter