Tide's Swan Advances in U.S. Amateur

CHASKA, MINN. ?? Who knew defense was crucial to a golf game?

University of Alabama golf coach Jay Seawell said it was his sophomore golfer’s defensive play that helped Matthew Swan win his opening match Wednesday and advance to the second round of match play here at the 106th United States Amateur.

Swan, a Montgomery native who won his way to the third round of match play at the 2005 U.S. Amateur, will play Ryan Posey at 6:40 a.m. CT in the second round on Thursday. He defeated Canada’s Greg Machtaler 5 and 4 in Wednesday’s first round of match play.

“I was proud of Matthew today,” said Seawell who has been at Hazeltine National Golf Club all week following the play of a quartet of Crimson Tide golfers in the field. “He got on top of the guy early and wouldn’t let him back up for air. In match play it’s important to put the pressure on early. It’s so different than stroke play. It’s a one-on-one game. It doesn’t matter what you’re shooting because it’s hole by hole. It’s who puts the pressure on and gets up. And that’s what Matthew did. He got up early, and it got too hard for that guy to get back.”

Swan, a 2005 graduate of Trinity Presbyterian in Montgomery, agrees.

“Definitely. I won the first hole, and that always helps, gets you off to a real good start,” said Swan, a member of the USA’s 2005 World Junior Team. “I think I lost one hole the whole match so that was really key. It kind of gets that momentum going.”

It also likely helped that Swan has become a regular at the U.S. Amateur. This is his third straight appearance and he’s only 19.

“It helps to have that experience,” said Swan who fell in the third round to eventual champion Edoardo Molinari last year. “I knew what it was like. So I definitely think that helped. It certainly didn’t hurt.”

The field is now down to 32. The 16 winners in the second round Thursday morning play round three in the afternoon. Swan, like all competitive golfers, doesn’t mind the early morning tee time or playing two rounds in a single day, especially in an event of this magnitude that started with 7,182 entrants in qualifiers around the country. He is now one of 32 who remain.

“That’s fine with me. I had to get up at five this morning, so I’ll actually get to sleep in a little bit later tomorrow (Thursday).”

Among those who made the U.S. Amateur field of 312 were three of his Alabama teammates, Mark Harrell, who finished second in stroke play, Thomas Hagler, and Michael Thompson.

“Some people were talking about that,” said Swan of the Tide contingent. “They were asking if we had anybody else up here and I said there were four of us, including myself. And there were so impressed, saying, ??wow, that’s awesome.’ So it definitely speaks a lot for the program.”

Harrell was the two seed in match play because of his stroke play finish. The junior from Hazlehurst, Ga., drew Georgia Tech’s Roberto Castro. Castro won 3 and 2.

“I hate it for Mark,” said Seawell. “He had such a great week. It’s tough when you draw a three-time All-American. And Mark played well. Roberto just played better. I think Mark learned lot from this entire experience and will come home to Tuscaloosa a better player than he was when he came here this week. He worked so hard. I would have liked to see him play better today. But I’m still so proud of him. We play stroke play in golf and we are judged by what we shoot and on that side of this tournament, Mark showed that he is one of the best in the country. He’s two under par after three rounds at the U.S. Am and that’s pretty good. You’re not going to see that often at the end of a USGA event. I’m proud of all our guys. Our players are hanging in with the elite guys in college golf. I think we’re all excited about going home and seeing what we can do after all this.”

HOLE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
YARDS	462	435	633	194	412	405	543	176	432	410	606	466	247	352	642	402	182	474
PAR	4	4	5	3	4	4	5	3	4	4	5	4	3	4	5	4	3	4
MACHTALER, Greg
MACHTALER, Greg	5	4	7	3	5	4	5	4	4	5	5	5	3	4
SWAN, Matthew	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	3	4
SWAN, Matthew	1up	1up	2up	1up	2up	2up	3up	3up	3up	4up	4up	5up	5up	5up

HOLE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
YARDS	462	435	633	194	412	405	543	176	432	410	606	466	247	352	642	402	182	474
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Tide's Swan Advances in U.S. Amateur

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