BATON ROUGE – LSU’s Connor Gaunt moved on to the round of 32 at the 123rd U.S. Amateur with a 6 & 4 win over Ethan Paschal in the opening round of match play at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado.
Gaunt, who was seeded No. 42 in the 64-player match play field, clinched the win over 23rd-seeded Paschal with a birdie on the 14th hole. Gaunt will face No. 55 seed Austin Greaser in the round of 32 at 10:50 a.m. CT on Thursday.
Gaunt advanced to match play after posting a 1-under 142 (70-72) during the 36-holes of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday.
During the round of 64 on Wednesday, Gaunt never trailed in the first-round match as he went 1-up following a par of the 327-yard, par 4 third hole. He extended his lead to 3-up after back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4-5. Gaunt strung together consecutive birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 and then parred No. 12 to extend his lead to 6-up.
Gaunt, who is entering his final year at LSU in 2023, clinched the first-round victory with a par at No. 14.
In 14 holes on Wednesday, Gaunt registered four birdies, two coming on the only par 5s he played during the opening round.
Thursday’s action will see the field narrowed to eight players as the round of 32 and 16 will be played. The quarterfinals matches are scheduled for Friday, followed by the semifinals on Saturday and the 36-hole championship match on Sunday.
Peacock will stream second-round action from 4-5 p.m. CT followed by the Golf Channel from 5-7 p.m. CT.