Aug. 27, 2010
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IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa men’s golf team was well-represented at the 110th U.S. Amateur, held at Chambers Bay Golf Club Aug. 23-29. Senior Vince India and junior Barrett Kelpin, along with incoming transfer and junior-to-be Jed Dirksen, all traveled to Tacoma, WA, for the most prestigious amateur event in the nation.
Dirksen, a native of Hampton, IA and transfer from the University of Central Florida, was the lone Hawkeye to advance into match-play competition after finishing stroke-play in a tie for 40th. His two rounds of 70 and 77 left him four-over and earned him the 45th seed for match-play.
Dirksen made it out of the round of 64 with a dominating 6 & 5 win over Michael Morrison of Atlanta, GA. The round of 32 proved to be more difficult when Dirksen found himself two-down after 13 holes against Georgia senior Hudson Swafford. His wins on holes 14 and 15, however, squared the match before he sealed the 2 & 1 victory with wins on 16 and 17.
The round of 16 brought on Stanford graduate and this year’s Northeast Amateur Champion, Joseph Bramlett. Dirksen was one-up after 16, but dropped the 18th to square the match. Taking advantage of Bramlett’s double-bogey in extra holes, Dirksen finished one-up and qualified for the quarterfinals.
Dirksen found himself down for a majority of the front nine in his quarterfinal match against Patrick Cantlay, a top-ranked junior heading to UCLA this fall. After squaring the match on 11, Dirksen took a one-hole advantage on 14 and held it through the 17th. Cantlay shot a par on the 18th and Dirksen’s bogey sent him to extra holes for the second time in as many matches. Both golfers made par on the first extra hole but Dirksen boggied the second while Cantlay’s par sealed the victory in 20 holes.
Both India and Kelpin competed on the first of two courses at Chambers Bay, the Chambers Bay Golf Course. On a course that was stumping the nation’s best, India fired an impressive 74 (+2) opening round but fell off with a second round of 81 (+8), missing the match-play cut by just five strokes. Kelpin recorded a 79 for both rounds of stroke play, finishing 15-over par.
While Dirksen will sit out this fall per NCAA transfer regulations, India and Kelpin will join an experienced Iowa squad for the 2010 fall season. The Hawkeyes finished last season with the highest national ranking in school history. The Hawkeyes, ranked 36th out of 300 NCAA Division I teams in the country, also accomplished Iowa’s best Big Ten finish since 1992 (second) and produced a NCAA Regional berth for the second-consecutive year under Head Coach Mark Hankins.