Sophomore Caleb Shetler and incoming transfer Kotaro Murata recently qualified for the 121st U.S. Amateur golf championship at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. The dates of this year's championship are August 9 through August 15.
Shetler earned his berth in the U.S. Amateur as the low qualifier at the Santa Rosa Country Club qualifying tournament in Santa Rosa, Calif. The second-year Spartan posted scores of 69-62=131 on the par 72, 6,733-yard course. He birdied 12 of his last 30 holes and did not have a bogey after the sixth hole of his morning round. In his after round of eight-under 62, Shetler had four birdies on his first nine and four birdies on the back nine. There was a streak of three holes, nine through 11 in which he went birdie-birdie-birdie.
With only two qualifying spots for 83 golfers, low scores were a "must." Seventeen players finished under par. Corey Ghiringelli of Santa Rosa joined Shetler as a U.S. Amateur qualifier from the Santa Rosa Country Club with his 134 total, three more than Shetler's 131. Like Shetler, Ghiringelli had a bogey-free afternoon round with seven birdies including five on the back nine and built a three-stroke gap over Nicholas Klock and Andrew McDonald, who are designated as the alternates should Shetler and/or Ghiringelli become unavailable.
Enrolling at San Jose State this fall after two years at the University of Hawaii, Murata earned one of three qualifiers at the Mission Inn Resort and Country Club in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla., with a two-under par 142. Timothius Tamardi from Indonesia and Aram Yenidjeian from Argentina grabbed the remaining U.S. Open Amateur slots with scores of 139 and 143, respectively. They were the only players in the 70-player field on July 2 under par for 36 holes.
"It's exciting. I plan to go back there with the boys, and be at Oakmont where I've spent some time with Arron Oberholser," said San José State head coach John Kennaday. "They did it (qualify) in fine fashion. Now, we've got to figure out the puzzle of Oakmont and that (the course) has puzzled many people before."
"The golf course is pretty straightforward. There's no need to trick it up. It's just flat out hard. I'll be able to guide them around and share some insights that they can hopefully take advantage of."
Shetler and Murata are vying to become the first U.S. Amateur champion with a San Jose State affiliation.
All players will play 36 holes of stroke play on August 9 and 10. The low 64 golfers advance to the match play format on August 11. The two finalists face off in a 36-hole match play format on Sunday, August 15. In all, the winning golfer plays nine rounds over seven days.
Conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), 312 players from an original field of close to 7,000 amateurs are competing for one of the longest standing and continuous championships in the country. This year's champion will emerge from a combination of stroke and match play on the par 70, 7,254-yard Oakmont Country Club and par 70, 6,647-yard Longue Vue Club courses. The 2021 U.S. Amateur is the sixth hosted by Oakmont, one of the USGA's favorite tests of golf in the eastern time zone. Nine U.S. Open's and two U.S. Women's Open championships were hosted at Oakmont.