Four Australians and two New Zealanders tackle US Amateur Championship
The 8th hole at the Olympic Club near San Francisco – image USGA
If you think the field for next week’s US Amateur Championship at the Olympic Club near San Francisco is large in numbers (and it is at 312), then consider all of those who attempted to gain access to the event from the original number of more than 5200 with handicaps of 2.4 or better.
Nearly half of the field gained access via the automatic entry criteria, but the remainder had to survive the grind that is local and sectional qualifying.
Amongst the final line-up who will play 36 holes of qualifying ahead of the match play phase are four Australians and two New Zealanders as they look to join Nick Flanagan, Danny Lee and Curtis Luck as Australasians to win amateur golf’s most prestigious male title.
Decland O’Donovan, Billy Dowling, Aarow Aarav Shah and Coby Carruthers will join New Zealanders Zachary Swanick and Josh Bai when the 36 holes of strokeplay begins on Monday, 11th August, California time.
Donovan, from the Avondale Golf Club in Sydney, is the current and former NSW Amateur Champion and, a week ag,o won the Canadian Amateur Championship in Ottawa.
Queensland’s Billy Dowling continues to impress in both amateur and professional events, the 20-year-old, who is coached by Nancy Harvey at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast, plays his golf at the Brisbane Golf Club.
20-year-old Dowling has played a series of amateur events in both the UK and the US in recent weeks, making the quarter finals at the British Amateur Championship. He won the South Australian Amateur Championship late in 2024 and has recorded several top tens in PGA Tour of Australasia events.
18-year-old Aarow Aarav Shah of Indian origin, but more recently based in Melbourne, is in high school in the US, and has signed to join the University of Southern California in the new semester, but earlier this year won the Dustin Johnson Junior Championship at Myrtle Beach.
20-year-old Coby Carruthers from the Concord Golf Club in Sydney has played a number of events in Britain and the US in recent weeks and finished 5th at the prestigious Porter Cup.
New Zealand’s Zachary Swanwick, now playing his golf at the University of Florida, recently finished 3rd at the Western Amateur. The Hawkes Bay native is a former Australian and New Zealand junior champion. Swanwick and O’Donovan are the only two of the six Australasians to have gained automatic entry into the event.
Josh Bai from Auckland has struggled in recent events in the US, but is a former runner-up at the US Junior Championship. He is now a freshman at the University of Florida where he joins his fellow countryman Swanwick.
