Michael McDermott chips onto the No. 10 (par 4, 442 yards) green during the Round of 16.

1-up wonder: Merion’s McDermott advances to #USMidAm quarters

  ELVERSON, Pa. — A two-footer made — and later missed — on the 18th hole kept Michael McDermott’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship title quest alive Tuesday at Stonewall (Old).

  The Merion Golf Club member converted a putt of that distance to defeat Joe Alfieri of Lutz, Fla., 1-up, in the Round of 32. He watched as opponent Derek Busby of Ruston, La. missed an identical putt, thereby sending McDermott to the quarterfinals with another 1-up win.

  “You may make 100 of them in a row, but when it’s two feet to go 19 holes to get to the next round, you can miss half of them at that point,” McDermott, 41, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., said. “Derek is really great player. I played my heart out against him and kept it close. I feel a little shock when a match ends like that. Other than that, it’s excitement. I’ve never won more than one match at the U.S. Mid-Amateur. To have now won three, for me, is waters I haven’t been in before, even though I always believed I could.”

  McDermott, the reigning BMW Philadelphia Amateur Champion, and Busby, a former professional, arrived at the par 4, 447-yard 18th hole All-Square. McDermott, with tee honors, found a friendly lie in the right heather; Busby blasted a drive down the fairway’s center. McDermott, calculating a 130-yard shot on the downwind downhiller, lifted a gap wedge 167 yards to 18 feet. Busby nearly holed his approach, leaving it nine feet flag-high. McDermott’s birdie attempt remained on the high side, ceasing its movement in concession range. He scooped up his golf ball and stepped aside, expecting to extend congratulations to Busby.

  That never happened. Busby slipped his birdie try two feet by and lipped out the comebacker for a halve.

  In the morning against Alfieri — a rematch from the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur Round of 64, McDermott held a 3-up advantage through 15 holes, but bogeys on Nos. 16 (par 4, 498 yards) and 17 (par 3, 234 yards) brought the 18th into the equation. Needing a two-footer of his own to prevail, McDermott, after a moment of hesitation at address, delivered.

  He will now face Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Calif., who won the Metropolitan Golf Association’s Amateur Championship last month, in the quarterfinals at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow.

  “I’ve heard his name a lot recently,” McDermott, the No. 45 seed, said. “I know he’s a great player. I’m going to have my hands full, but you don’t get to the final eight and not have your hands full. I’m looking forward to it.”

  McDermott sensed Busby would be a handful at the outset. A birdie-birdie-par start for the first, and the two were still All-Square.

  “I was walking off the No. 3 green and just said to my dad (Neil), ‘I’m not going to win this with any mediocre effort. I have to play lights out against this guy,’” McDermott said.

  After winning No. 9 (par 3, 219 yards), McDermott trailed Busby by one and held tee honors for the remainder of the contest.

  “I felt like that was helpful because I sort of know where his ball’s going to go,” McDermott said. “He was going to hit it down the middle. He was going to hit it at the pin. It was helpful to not be polluted with good images of my opponent.”

  Images of wayward drives past nearly changed McDermott’s thinking, for the worse, on No. 16 (par 4, 498 yards). He ignored a habit of pull, convinced he was finally capable of a cut.

  “My caddie [Bill Christine] was trying to talk me out of hitting driver because I kept doing the same thing,” McDermott, a five-time William Hyndman, III Player of the Year, said. “I said, ‘The hole is 500 yards, and you want me to hit 2-iron. That’s insane.’ So I said I honestly can cut it, and when I did, it was like something miraculous happened. Par there is going to win a lot of times.”

  And it did. McDermott, after cutting a drive into the fairway, missed the green right with a 7-iron from 209 yards, but a delicate chip led to a concession.

  This is McDermott’s eighth U.S. Mid-Amateur appearance. He’s never emerged from the Round of 32.

  Until now.

Round of 32

  In a topsy-turvy tilt, Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Gregor Orlando fell to co-medalist and No. 1 seed Michael Muehr of Potomac Falls, Va., 2&1. Only three of the matches 17 holes were halved.

  “I wasn’t really hitting the ball that great. I was missing a lot of greens,” Orlando, 25, of Philadelphia, Pa., said. “Like I said yesterday, I needed to hit more greens and make more putts if I wanted to continue on. It’s one of the things I just didn’t do today. I was a little sloppy, but overall I’m pretty happy with how everything turned out. I’m glad I was able to come here and compete. I’m proud of myself.”

  Standing 3-down thru 11 holes, Orlando capitalized on Muehr miscues with wins on Nos. 12 (par 4, 341 yards) and 13 (par 4, 460 yards). However, Muehr, a U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist in 2011 and veteran of 16 USGA championships, quelled the comeback notion with a birdie and win on No. 14 (par 4, 388 yards). Orlando’s 7-iron on the par 3, 177-yard 15th hole came out a touch heavy. He lined a chip 20 feet past a front left hole location to fall back into a three-hole deficit.

  Yardley Country Club’s Christopher Ault, with the usual match play concessions, carded the stroke-play equivalent of 4 under en route to a 3&2 triumph over Brad Valois of Warwick, R.I.

  “We made sure we weren’t going to let somebody back in the match today,” Ault, 30, of Yardley, Pa., said. “I just kind of caught fire and got too far in front. It’s good to be playing well.”

  Three straight wins put Ault in the driver’s seat at 4-up. He drilled a 6-iron 185 yards to seven feet on No. 8 (par 4, 417 yards). Dialed-in and determined, he stopped a 7-iron at three feet for a birdie on the par 3, 213-yard No. 9. Ault claimed No. 10 (par 4, 442 yards) with a two-putt par after Valois, a four-time Rhode Island Golf Association Amateur Champion (2006, 2007, 2011, 2013).

  However, Ault, seeded No. 51, couldn't maintain such a high level of play in the Round of 16. He suffered a 3&2 defeat at the hands of co-medalist and No. 3 seed Scott Harvey of Greensboro, N.C., the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion.

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