Two Share First-Round Lead at Western Amateur


Two players from the other side of the world took the lead Tuesday in the first round of the 112th Western Amateur, but contestants from the Chicago area and the Midwest made their presence felt at The Beverly Country Club on the city's Southwest Side.

Australian Geoff Drakeford, 22, and Zecheng Dou, 17, of China, both shot 6-under par 65s in perfect weather on the classic 7,016-yard, par 71 Donald Ross layout.

"I missed three eight-footers on the front nine or it could've been scary," said Drakeford, who won last week's Porter Cup in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

The bespectacled Dou, who goes by "Marty," started his afternoon round on the back nine and shot 2-under 33 with birdies on both par 5s, including the treacherous 18th hole. It was the birdie on 18 that ignited him, as he went on to birdie holes 1-3 on his back nine, leading to a 4-under 32.

Drakeford and Dou had one bogey each, on Nos. 15 and 17, respectively. Fifty-six players were par or better in the first round, with 33 scoring under par.

Adam Schenk, who recently finished his college golf career at Purdue, shot five under and is in third place.

An intriguing four-way tie for fourth includes Texas sophomore Beau Hossler, who contended at the 2012 U.S. Open as a high school senior; Tianlang Guan, who at 14 made the cut at the 2013 Masters; SMU's All-American Bryson DeChambeau, who sported an ivy cap reminiscent of Payne Stewart, and New Zealand sprite Josh Munn, whose summer travels have taken him to some of the world's most prestigious tournaments.

"The greens here are ridiculously quick," said Drakeford, who birdied four holes on the front nine to turn in 32 then birdied 11, 13 and 14 on the back before making bogey on No. 15 and parring in. "They're really good, but you can't be above the hole." He proved it when his short birdie putt from above the hole on the steep back-to-front-tilted No. 18 green slid five feet past, leaving him a knee-knocker for par, which he made.

Dou said windy conditions earlier in the week had him concerned that Beverly might be especially difficult. "It was really windy two days ago, and I thought the course was going to play tough," Dou said. "Coming in today I felt really comfortable. The wind was a lot softer, not moving as much."

Born in China, Dou spent several years in Canada as a youngster but now lives in Beijing, where he attends high school. He is considering attending college in the U.S.

Schenk, of Vincennes, Ind., birdied Nos. 1, 3 and 5, bogeyed 6 and reeled off three straight birdies on 13,14 and 15 to finish 34-32-66.

"I got off to a good start and… finished up 2-under on the front nine, then just got hot on the back nine, made three [birdies] in a row and parred in," said Schnenk, 22, who has exhausted his eligibility with the Boilermakers. "The greens are in good shape," Schenk said. "They're firm, rolling fast so you have to be careful with your speed…"

Hossler, 19, who made it to the Western Amateur's Sweet 16 match play round last year, made six birdies on his last eight holes to shoot 4-under 67 on bi-polar nines of 37-30. Hossler's back nine barrage was the more impressive because his consecutive birdies on the last three holes included a 2 on the difficult 195-yard, par 3 17th. "I feel like I stole a stroke-and-a-half there," he said.

"It was a bad start for me but fortunately I got on a run at the end," said Hossler, a sophomore at Texas who finished second last week at the Porter Cup. "The course is hard. Putting is definitely difficult, if you're above the hole, and fortunately I gave myself some good looks where I could be aggressive. That was really the difference… It was a little bit of stress-free golf on the last eight holes, which was really nice."

Hossler said he missed a few short putts on the front nine, but adjusted his stroke and hit his approach shots under the hole, leaving himself with uphill putts.

Munn birdied five holes, including three of the course's four par 5s, and parred the par 5 18th. His only bogey came on the difficult par 3 17th, where he three-putted.

"The course is in fantastic condition," said Munn, a member of the New Zealand national team who played the British Amateur, St. Andrews Links Trophy and the Brabazon Trophy in Great Britain earlier this summer. "I haven't played greens like this before. I really enjoy fast greens, and they're really true. The whole course is just immaculate. It's cool to be here."

This is Munn's final event of the summer in the U.S. He played in the Western last year, too, at The Alotian Club in Little Rock.

Having grown up on the windy north island of New Zealand, Munn said he would be happy if Chicago lived up to its Windy City moniker this week. "If there's a bit of wind this week, I'm used to it," said Munn. "The stronger the wind the better."

Two University of Iowa golfers, Raymond Knoll and Brian Bullington - who hail from the Chicago suburbs of Naperville and Frankfort, respectively - shot 1-under 70 along with Cheng-Tsung Pan, U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Mike McCoy and Oklahoma State's Wyndham Clark.

The above report is courtesy of the Western Golf Association. For more information and scoring details, visit http://www.wgaesf.org.