PARAMUS, N.J. — Texas A&M senior Sam Bennett received his third straight match towards a participant from the highest 10 within the novice world rating, this one Saturday getting him into the U.S. Beginner championship match with a 1-up victory over Dylan Menante.
All 5 of Bennett’s matches at Ridgewood Nation Membership have been towards gamers at No. 27 or higher within the novice rating.
Bennett, No. 3 on the earth novice rating, now faces Georgia Southern senior Ben Carr, who’s No. 70 and received his semifinal match 3 and a pair of over Derek Hitchner.
Bennett by no means trailed towards Menante, who was a part of Pepperdine’s crew that received the NCAA title in 2021 however determined to switch to North Carolina for his senior 12 months. However it was tight the entire method in a match delayed at the beginning by storms.
All sq. on the flip, Bennett appeared to grab management when he received the tenth gap with a par and the twelfth gap with a birdie, giving him a 2-up lead with six to play.
However he made bogey after a poor tee on the 14th, and Menante tied the match with a birdie on the par-3 fifteenth gap, solely his second birdie of the match.
Each missed birdie possibilities from about 15 ft on the sixteenth.
The match turned on the seventeenth proper when Bennett on the ropes. He hit his drive on the par 5 into the tough with a tree in entrance of him, limiting his follow-through. He punched out right into a bunker and from 178 yards away, hit it clear to about 12 ft.
Menante missed his birdie putt, and Bennett rolled his in, pumping his fist as he took a 1-up result in the 18th. Menante was in hassle off the tee and will solely punch by timber to the collar of the inexperienced. Bennett twirled his membership after his shot from the golf green, realizing he hit a winner and smiling because the ball settled 12 ft away.
He wanted solely two putts to win, and his putt settled inches away.
Carr, who has three wins at Georgia Southern, twice trailed on the entrance 9. He turned the match in his favor with a par on the eleventh to take his first lead, after which back-to-back birdies on the thirteenth and 14th holes for a 3-up lead.
Carr ended the match on the sixteenth gap.
The finalists get an invite to play within the Masters and the U.S. Open subsequent 12 months at Los Angeles Nation Membership, whereas the winner Sunday additionally will get into the British Open.
