CHASKA, Minn. — A marathon day in the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National is complete, with the field being trimmed from 32 to eight following 36 holes of match play. It was a day that began with a bit of an upset after rising Illinois senior Jackson Buchanan defeated the top-ranked amateur in the world, Luke Clanton, who has had three top-10s on the PGA Tour this summer and came to Minnesota straight off a top-five in Greensboro.
A couple of mid-amateurs notably advanced to the Round of 16, including 36-year-old Christian Brand, who won the West Virginia Amateur by 21 shots earlier this summer. While Brand lost on in the afternoon, another mid-amateur, 36-year-old Bobby Massa, advanced to the quarterfinals after birdieing the 23rd hole in the darkness to defeat Canadian Ashton McCulloch. Other than Stewart Hagestad, who has twice made the quarterfinals, Massa is the only other mid-am to make it this far since 2014.