ERIN, Wis. – Former LSU men’s golf standout and 2011 NCAA champion John Peterson saw his run at the 2011 United States Amateur Championship come to an end Friday in the Sweet 16 of match play after falling in 19 holes to No. 52 seed Max Buckley at Erin Hills Golf Club.
After winning a pair of 1-up decisions in the first and second rounds on Thursday, Peterson came up short in his bid to advance to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinal by dropping a sudden-death decision to Buckley.
Peterson quickly went 3-down to the SMU senior after dropping each of the first three holes for the match as Buckley made birdie on Nos. 1, 2 and 3. But Peterson quickly rebounded by making par to win the par-four fourth hole, before squaring up the match with consecutive birdies at the par-three sixth hole and par-five seventh holes. Buckley then took a 1-up lead at the turn with his birdie at the par-four eighth hole.
After falling 2-down with his bogey at the par-five 14th hole, Peterson pulled off some late-round heroics with a birdie at the par-three 16th hole and par at the par-four 17th hole to square the match and send it into extra holes as each competitor finished with matching pars at No. 18.
When they returned to the first tee for the start of sudden death, Buckley made a birdie and Peterson made a par at the par-five first hole as Buckley secured his spot in the quarterfinal in 19 holes.
As the No. 7-ranked amateur worldwide in the official World Amateur Golf Ranking, Peterson will await a potential selection to the U.S. Walker Cup team before embarking on a professional career as one of the nation’s top young talents in the game. The 2011 Walker Cup will be held Sept. 10-11 at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Aberdeen, Scotland.