Aug. 2, 2011
Complete results
U.S. Amateur site
Duluth, Ga. – Georgia Tech’s Anders Albertson shot a 2-over-par 74 Tuesday at the Standard Club, but held onto a share of the lead and earned a qualifying spot into the U.S. Amateur Championship, which will be held Aug. 22-28 at Erin Hills Golf Club in Erin, Wis.
Albertson, a freshman from Woodstock, Ga., who enrolled at Tech in January, has yet to play an event for the Yellow Jackets, but he tied for medalist honors in the 36-hole qualifier with a 5-under-par score of 139. John Engler of Augusta, Ga., a former Clemson star, shot 69 Tuesday to pull into a tie with Albertson. The top four finishers in the 118-player field advanced.
The Etowah High School graduate, who posted a 7-under 65 Monday to take a three-shot lead after the first round, posted three birdies and five bogeys on his card Tuesday.
“I’ve worked really hard the last month or so on my short game,” said Albertson. “Everything was going in for me yesterday. It was a really good day on the greens, and I hit 17 greens, so there wasn’t much chance for mistakes.
“I knew I had a good lead starting out today, but I didn’t know what everybody else was doing. I just tried to focus on what I was trying to do. I asked the rules official when I walked off the green at 18 if my 5-under was good enough, and he said yes. I’m very excited.”
He joins Tech sophomore Seth Reeves, who qualified at the Capital City Club-Crabapple on July 20, and junior James White, who is exempt by virtue of his top-50 world amateur ranking, in the U.S. Amateur field. Tech alumnus Michael Barbosa also is in the field by virtue of having played in the U.S. Open.
Albertson has enjoyed an excellent summer, finishing third at the Georgia State Amateur Championship, fourth at the Monroe Invitational in Pittsford, N.Y., fourth at the Greystone Invitational in Birmingham, Ala., and 17th at the Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta.
“I’ve worked a lot with Jeff Paton (his instructor at the Golf Club of Georgia), and I’ve been striking the ball well all summer long, but not making a lot of putts,” Albertson said. “I’ve worked hard on getting my putting up, and it paid off yesterday.”
Two other Tech golfers will attempt to qualify for the Amateur next week – Richard Werenski in Ellington, Conn. (Monday), and Drew Czuchry in Goldsboro, N.C. (Tuesday and Wednesday). Three other Yellow Jackets had near misses in qualifying, with incoming freshman Ollie Schniederjans, sophomore Bo Andrews and senior Minghao Wang each finishing in the top 11 of their respective events.
