Matthew McClean and Hugh Foley have successfully navigated the 36-hole strokeplay qualifying section of the 2024 USGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Kinloch Golf Club in Virginia and they’ll now switch to matchplay mode.
Travelling together and staying together, both McClean and Foley made it to matchplay in 2022 and went all the way to the final where McClean got the upper hand, and they both occupy opposite sides of the draw meaning that a 2024 repeat, however unlikely, is not out of the question.
An opening three-over 73-over 73 on the Kinloch Course left McClean considerable work to do, but a hat-trick of birdies in successive holes over the front nine of the Independence Golf Club course on day two had him back to level-par through six.
It was all pars from there, apart from two birdies on 13 and 15 which sandwiched a bogey on 14 and his one-under overall tally saw him finish strokeplay in a tie for 28th.
Although they both played the same courses and teed off at the same time each day, McClean and Foley occupied opposite sides of the course and the Royal Dublin man began round two on the 10th and his tale was a little different. A level-par round at Kinloch was followed by another at Independence, making two birdies on his opening nine with one dropped shot, and then a bogey on the seventh – his 16th – which dropped him back to level-par for the championship.
His closing par was crucial as it kept him above the one-over mark where 14 players will return on Monday morning to playoff for the final 12 spots in the round of 64 bracket.
30th seed McClean will play 35th-seeded Andrew Jarvis of the Cayman Islands, while Foley, who is seeded 44th, takes on 21st seed Adam Miller from Wisconsin.
Argentinian Segunda Oliva Pinto and American Evan Beck finished as co-medallists after finishing on -8 after two rounds, while three-time winner and defending champion Stewart Hagestad is on course for a fourth-title after covering the opening 36 in -3.