Greensburg’s Mark Goetz upset as top seed at U.S. Amateur
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Mark Goetz’s summer has been filled with ups and downs.
Earlier this week, the Greensburg native and West Virginia senior hit a high note when he won medalist honors at the 121st United States Golf Association’s Amateur by shooting an 8-under par 132 (6-under 64 at Longue Vue Club and 2-under 68 at Oakmont Country Club) during stroke play.
His run in the Amateur match play ended disappointingly Thursday morning after Sweden’s David Nyfjall rallied over the final four holes to defeat Goetz, 1-up, when he ran in a 24-foot birdie putt on No. 18.
Nyfjall, a junior at Northwestern, won the final four holes to rally from 3-down and defeat the top-seeded Goetz.
It was the third time this season Goetz had a victory grasped from his hands on the final hole of a tournament.
Gregor Meyer chipped in from the fringe to edge Goetz at the West Penn Open on July 21, and two weeks ago in the Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur, Carlisle’s John Peters holed out from 193 yards for an eagle on July 28.
Goetz also had a painful moment in 2019 at Oakmont during the Western Penn Amateur.
Goetz had a seemingly comfortable lead with four holes left. But Goetz found out no lead at Oakmont is safe.
The Kiski School grad had bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 and then a 4-over par 8 on No. 18 after hitting his tee shot into the practice range to the right of the fairway.
Thursday’s finish was similar to 2019 and just as disappointing.
“Yeah, it’s a little. It was a pretty big deal for me to get into this event, to tell you the truth,” Goetz said. “Everything on top of that was icing on the cake. I wish I would be around for this afternoon and later this week.
“It was a great week, man. It was a lot of fun. I had a big Hannastown crowd following me. That was awesome. It’s pretty cool. I could name most of those guys in that crowd. It was awesome.”
Goetz looked like he was going to finish Nyfjall off on No. 15 when he was left with a 12-foot birdie putt.
Nyfjall drove his ball in the bunker and had to punch out. But his third shot from 120 yards ended up 2 feet from the cup and he saved par.
“I told my caddie (Matt D’Amico), ‘let’s make this and get out of here,’” Goetz said. “But I ran the birdie putt past and had a tricky slider coming back.”
It started a string of bad luck. Goetz’s drive on No. 16 ended up in the bunker right of the green. Nyfjall pared the hole and Goetz’s par putt slid by.
“You never give up, anything can happen in match play,” Nyfjall said. “I did the best I could.”
On No. 17, Nyfjall drove his ball into the “Big Mouth” bunker and Goetz ended up the rough with a downhill lie short of the famous bunker. Goetz misshit his chip and rolled the ball into the bunker. Nyfjall was able to get up-and-down for par to even the match.
“So it was on the downslope in the second cut just short of the bunker,” Goetz said. “It was kind of a weird lie, but I didn’t do a great job with that one. Looking back, I wish I would’ve had that one back.”
On No. 18, Nyfjall drive ended up in the middle of the fairway for the first time in the final 11 holes. He sank a 24-foot birdie for the win.
Goetz seemingly took control of the match on No. 12 when he nearly chipped in for eagle. He won No. 13 with a par and he made a 2-foot birdie putt on No. 14 to go 3-up.
“I honestly think it reassures to me that this is my favorite place on the planet now,” Goetz said. “I had a 3-up lead there. I’ve had leads here before. We know how that goes, right? (Thinking back to 2019).
“So this place is awesome. I don’t know what I’m going to take away from the play this week. We’ll see. I’m probably going to go to the club, hang out later today, and it will take a while to sink in for sure.”