That Rotten First Hole

Justin Thomas of Goshen played his future Alabama teammate, Scott Strohmeyer, this morning in the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur, and it was a ding-dong match.

Thomas got off to a terrible start, with a double-bogey on the very first hole to put Strohmeyer (who bogeyed the hole) one up. Thomas then bogeyed the second hole to fall two down. Thomas won the fourth hole, but lost the sixth and seventh. After bogeying the ninth hole, he was four down with only nine holes left.

Then the comeback began. Strohmeyer bogeyed the 10th hole, cutting his lead to 3. He also lost the 13th hole with a bogey, leaving him 2 up with five to play. Thomas birdied the 246-yd par 3 15th, trimming Strohmeyer's lead to 1. Another Thomas birdie on 16 squared the match. Strohmeyer then responded with a birdie on 17 to re-take the lead. But Thomas birdied the 605-yd final hole to re-tie the match: all square after 18 holes.

Unfortunately for Thomas, the match -- now in sudden death -- then returned to the first hole, where he had made a double bogey hours earlier. This time he made a bogey -- his first since the 9th hole -- and Strohmeyer made par. So Strohmeyer will advance to the round of 16, and Thomas goes home. But he had a great summer.