The demanding Oakland Hills – venue for the event – image USGA
New Zealanders Joshua Bai and Zack Swanwick have graduated to the matchplay phase of the US Junior Amateur Championship at the Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan, Bai as the 4th qualifier and Swanwick in 45th place of the 64 who made it through 36 holes of strokeplay from an original field of nearly 300.
18-year-old Bai from Auckland finished runner-up in this event last year, losing 2 down in the final but a best of the day round of 65 on day two of the 36 strokeplay competition has left him amongst the leading players entering match play tomorrow.
Napier’s Swanwick, who will attend the University of Florida, was the leading amateur at this year’s New Zealand Open when finishing 10th in the PGA Tour of Australasia event.
The 18 year old is the Australian and New Zealand Junior Champion and at last year’s Australian Open recorded an opening round of 67 before missing the cut.
Australia had just Cody Brenner in the field and he missed the cut by many.
