Thursday was quite the exhilarating experience for Max Buckley. But the ups and downs were worth it for the Rye resident.
He advanced to the round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur Championship by beating Chris Williams, 1-up, Thursday afternoon. Buckley started the day with a 2-up comeback victory over Patrick Christovich of New Orleans.
Buckley, who is entering his senior year at Southern Methodist University, will face John Peterson of Fort Worth, Texas, in a match scheduled to start at 7:50 a.m. Friday CST at Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, WI.
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Buckley said he was thrilled to be in his match against Williamson.
“It was awesome, it was a really good match,” Buckley said. “It was really a fun match to play in. And I think it was just as much fun to watch.”
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Williamson started the match with an eagle on the first hole. Buckley tied the match with a birdie on the second hole, but ended up with a double bogey on No. 3. Buckley quickly regained his form with a birdie on No. 4.
“It was like that the whole way. We were both hitting good shots,” Buckley said. “It wasn’t as if bad scores were winning holes.”
Buckley’s day started with the most difficult of challenges. He was 2-down in his match with Christovich, which had been suspended because of darkness after 14 holes Wednesday.
For the first 12 holes of match play Wednesday afternoon, Buckley didn’t know where his ball was going. But on No. 13 just before it got too dark to play, Buckley found his groove. And he was ready to go early Thursday morning.
“I hit two really good shots on 14 and really made a nice (par) save,” Buckley said just before the start of his afternoon match. He lost the hole when Christovich made birdie, “but I knew that the momentum has started to swing my way. I knew today what I needed to do. I was two down with four holes to play.”
Buckley started the day with a birdie on No. 15. The match became all-square when Buckley got a par on No. 16 and Christovich bogeyed. The same thing happened on No. 17 and Buckley took the lead. The Rye golfer completed a victory with a par on No. 18 as Christovich ended up with a double-bogey.
“After I got the birdie on No. 15, I could sense that the match was going my way,” Buckley said.
