ERIN, Wisc. – With a pair of 1-up wins over No. 36 seed Todd Baek and No. 61 seed Stephan Jaeger during Thursday’s competition, former LSU standout and 2011 NCAA champion John Peterson advanced to the Sweet 16 at the 111th U.S. Amateur Championship being held this week at Erin Hills Golf Club.
Peterson’s run to the Sweet 16 appeared over before it really began after falling behind 1-down to Baek in 14 holes when the first round of match play was suspended Wednesday evening due to darkness. Peterson quickly went 2-down with just three holes to play right out of the gate when play resumed Thursday while making bogey behind Baek’s birdie on the par-four 15th hole.
Peterson then rebounded with a birdie on the par-three 16th hole before halving the par-four 17th hole with Baek to move to the 18th tee trailing 1-down with just one hole to play. He squared the match by making a conservative par on the par-five 18th hole after Baek finished his round with a bogey.
The match remained all square through 21 holes as both competitors had three pars in a row in extra holes on the front nine before Peterson closed it out 1-up in 22 holes with his par at the par-four fourth hole.
Following a short break between rounds, Peterson then returned to the course for a second-round match at 11:40 a.m. with Jaeger, who scored a 3&2 win over No. 4 seed Blayne Barber in the first round.
It proved to be a back and forth match throughout as neither competitor held more than a 1-up lead during any point of the contest. Peterson quickly jumped out to a 1-up lead with his birdie at the par-five first hole, while Jaeger rebounded with back-to-back birdies at the par-four second and third holes to swing the match 1-up in his favor. But Peterson squared the match with his birdie at No. 4 and never trailed again as he took the match 1-up after making birdie at the par-five 18th hole to close it out.
Peterson will now battle No. 52 seed Max Buckley in Friday’s Sweet 16 at 7:50 a.m. CDT as they hope to earn a spot in one of four quarterfinal matches to be held later in the day at 1:30 p.m. Buckley wrapped up his senior season at Southern Methodist University this summer.
The semifinal round of the 111th U.S. Amateur Championship will be held Saturday at 8 a.m. with the two finalists advancing to Sunday’s 36-hole final to determine the winner of the Havemeyer Trophy.