Congrats to the UCLA men and the USC women, who were named in this week's Golf World as the preseason No. 1 ranked teams in the country. Before Bruins and Trojans fans go off an get a big head, however, consider that since Golf World re-introduced the college coaches' poll at the start of the 2000-01 season, only two men's and two women's schools that were picked for the top spot before the season started won the NCAA title the next spring.

MEN
Year         Preseason pick        NCAA champ
2000-01    Clemson                      Florida
2001-02    Florida                         Minnesota
2002-03   Clemson                      Clemson
2003-04    Clemson                      California
2004-05   Georgia                       Georgia
2005-06    Georgia                        Oklahoma State
2006-07    Oklahoma State          Stanford
2007-08    Stanford                     UCLA

WOMEN
Year         Preseason pick        NCAA champ
2000-01    Duke                             Georgia
2001-02   Duke                             Duke
2002-03    Duke                             USC
2003-04    Duke                             UCLA
2004-05    UCLA                            Duke
2005-06    UCLA                             Duke
2006-07   Duke                             Duke
2007-08    Duke                             USC

Interesting, too, is where the teams that won the national title were actually ranked in the preseason poll. On the women's side, there have been no "surprises" but on the men's side, twice in the last nine years the eventually NCAA champion was well under the radar (as in not ranked at all) to start the fall.

MEN            NCAA champ            Preseason ranking
2000-01     Florida                        12th
2001-02     Minnesota                  16th
2002-03     Clemson                      1st
2003-04     California                    Not ranked
2004-05     Georgia                        1st
2005-06    Oklahoma State       2nd
2006-07     Stanford                      Not ranked
2007-08     UCLA                             5th

WOMEN      NCAA champ            Preseason ranking
2000-01     Georgia                       7th
2001-02    Duke                              1st
2002-03    USC                                8th
2003-04     UCLA                             3rd
2004-05     Duke                             2nd
2005-06     Duke                             2nd
2006-07     Duke                             1st
2007-08     USC                                4th

What's all this suggest? On the women's side, if you're ranked inside the top eight (USC, UCLA, Duke, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Georgia, Purdue and Florida) you've got a chance in 2008-09. And if you're on the men's side, this could be a year an "unknown" emerges.

As they say, food for thought.

Golf World's annual college golf preview package appears in this week's issue. Back again is our traditional "Players to Watch" department where yours truly offers up 50 men's and women's players who I think we should keep an eye on during the 2008-09 season. (If your favorite golfer is missing, don't hesitate to comment below. Some might recall my Colt Knost mishap a two years ago, where he was honestly my 51st guy and sure enough had a standout year.)

Also in the package is the preseason men's and women's coaches' polls for all divisions. Check out where your school ranks. For Division I, the two defending champions--UCLA men, USC women--top the polls.

In the coming days, I'll supplement the package in the magazine here on the blog with conference previews and a more in depth at some of the top rated teams.

Players to watch links:

Top 10 men

Best of the rest

Top 10 women

Best of the rest

PINEHURST, N.C.--How long does it take for it to sink in that you've just earned a spot in the Masters and the U.S. Open? For Drew Kittleson, the blank expression on his face moments after he won his semifinal match Saturday at the 108th U.S. Amateur Championship suggested it might be a little while.

Even as his father, Kurt, and a half-dozen of Kittleson's friends who flew in from his native Scottsdale the night before were congratulating him after his 4-and-2 victory over Adam Mitchell, the 19-year-old Florida State sophomore still seemed to be at a loss for words.

"I thought about it, don't get me wrong," said Kittleson (right) of the spoils that come with advancing to the finals of the U.S. Amateur, "but the match is done and I guess that's it. I can't believe it."

For New Zealand's Danny Lee, the emotions of what he had accomplished by winning his semifinal tilt with Patrick Reed, 3 and 2, seemed more apparent. The 18-year-old who could break Tiger Woods' record as the youngest winner of the championship, rejoiced by speaking to his parents back on other side of the world.

"[Mom] was crying," said Lee, who last saw her in early May before coming to the U.S. to play the summer amateur circuit. "She was really, really happy. And so was my dad. And I'm really excited."

The Kittleson/Lee final here at Pinehurst No. 2 seems only fitting. The two have been taking care of business the entire week, neither player having a match that's extended past the 16th hole. Lee has made 18 birdies with match-play concessions in five matches; Kittleson has 21 birdies. Lee has trailed just one hole during the entire championship, Kittleson only 12 holes.

Kittleson actually found himself in new territory, however, when he fell 2 down through four holes versus Mitchell, a senior at Georgia, after his opponent holed out his third shot from 109 yards for eagle on the par-5 fourth. "I had to flip the switch and turn it around and get something positive going," Kittleson said.

He did just that, winning the ninth and 10th holes to square the match. But when he took real control was on the 11th hole, where Mitchell, after hitting it to 10 feet from the waste area right of the fairway, three-putted while Kittleson converted for par to take the lead.

Behind KIttleson's match, Lee was battling with incoming Georgia freshman Reed, both players not quite as sharp as in previous days. A birdie on the third hole gave Lee an early lead, which grew to 2 up when Reed missed a 2 1/2-foot par putt on the seventh. After the two exchanged holes on the eighth and ninth, Reed cut Lee's lead to 1 up with a 30-foot birdie on the 13th.

On the 14th, however, Reed let any momentum he was gaining slip away when he missed the green from the fairway after Lee was already lie three on the putting surface. Both players bogeyed, and when Lee made an 18-footer for birdie on the 15th, the match was all but decided.

"I'm feeling really comfortable around the greens," Lee said. "I think that my short game's improved quite a lot."

Come Sunday's final, the two competitors will be playing for a spot in the British Open to go with the other majors, not to mention the Havemeyer Trophy and a place in USGA history.

"I'll be nervous, but I'm sure it's going to be fun out there," Kittleson said.

Maybe by then he'll have come to grips with what he's already accomplished.

***

After feeling a "click" his left shoulder while warming up for his quarterfinal match Friday, Danny Lee said that there was still some soreness but that it wasn't an issue while playing his semifinal match against Patrick Reed.

"It was feeling much better than yesterday, but it still hurts a little bit," Lee said Saturday. "It will be OK tomorrow."

For precautionary reasons, Lee (right) went to Moore County Regional Hospital after his match Friday and had an X-ray taken of the shoulder, which confirmed no damage had been done to the bone.

***

That Drew Kittleson was even in the field at the U.S. Amateur, much less advancing to the finals, is thanks to a bit of good fortune. In his sectional qualifier at Camp Creek GC in Watersound, Fla., Kittleson hit an approach shot on his final hole from a fairway bunker 185 yards away to six inches to make a birdie and get in a three-player-for-two-spots playoff. He then made a birdie on the third playoff hole to punch his ticket to Pinehurst.

***

Can't say either Lee or Kittleson aren't willing to put in the work to win the U.S. Amateur title. Lee was already on the driving range Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m., his tee time two hours later. Kittleson, meanwhile, was on the range at 4:10 p.m. Saturday afternoon, three hours after the end of his semifinal match. He then walked over to Pinehurst's supersized practice green to work all alone on his putting.

***

Already the oldest player to advance to the match-play portion of the U.S. Amateur, Brady Exber found himself playing another role Saturday morning: substitute caddie. Patrick Reed's father, Bill, had been carrying the bag all week for his son but had been bothered by blisters. Finally after nine holes in the semifinal match with Lee, the Reeds had to call in a back-up looper for relief.

"You know what they say about a caddie, you need to show up, shut up or stay up," joked Bill, who traded places with Exber on the 10th green. "Well, I couldn't stay up anymore."

Exber, 52, had befriended Reed during the second-round match. Upon hearing that Bill potentially might not make it the entire round, Exber offer his services.

"I was glad to help," Exber said. "Patrick is a good kid. And he's a good player. you can see it in his game."

Patrick was appreciative of Exber's service ("Great guy, great gentleman.") but was proud of his pop as well. Said Reed: "Without my dad, though, on the bag this whole week, there's now way I would have gotten all the way here to the semis."

***

Aside from spots in the first three majors of 2009, the winner of Sunday's championship match receives an invitation to play in the 12th annual Georgia Cup, an 18-hole match pitting the winner of the British Amateur (this year it's Reinier Saxton of the Netherlands) against U.S. Amateur champion. The event takes place at the GC of Georgia's Lakeside course in Alpharetta, Ga., and is set for March 31, 2009.

Photos: John Mummert/USGA

PINEHURST, N.C.--Will a University of Georgia golfer be holding the Havemayer Trophy come Sunday at Pinehurst No. 2? With two of the four semifinalists at the 108th U.S. Amateur Championship being Bulldogs, the chances aren't bad as fans of the Athens, Ga., school have more than just football to be cheering about of late.

Georgia senior Adam Mitchell fought back from an early 2-down deficit Friday to beat Texas junior Charlie Holland, 2 and 1, in their quarterfinal match while incoming UGa freshman Patrick Reed cruised to a 4-and-3 triumph over Canada's Graham Hill to advance to the final four.

Both Mitchell (right) and Reed are dyed in the wool Bulldogs; Mitchell's dad, Jim, who is also caddieing for him this week, played baseball at the school. Asked if a Georgia player could win the Amateur or the top-ranked football team could win the national title, which would they prefer, Mitchell actually paused for a moment.

"Ouch," Mitchell said. "That is about the hardest question you could ask me right now. I would have to go with the U.S. Amateur. I mean it's fun to have your football team win, but I guess it would be really cool to have a Georgia Bulldog win the U.S. Amateur. That would be something special."

What was also special was the way Mitchell changed the momentum of his match with Holland. Two down playing the seventh hole after failing to get up and down for par on the sixth hole, Mitchell hit a bad drive into the right trees. Punching back to the out to the fairway, 40 yards short of the green, he proceeded to chip his ball in for a birdie while Holland made a par.

"I told my dad I was going to land it just short and I was going to take one hope and roll right to it," Mitchell said. "And I did it just like I planned. I went from [possibly going] 3 down to 1 down, really in one instant."

A birdie on the par-4 eighth squared the match, and Mitchell took the lead for good when Holland three-putted the par-3 ninth for a bogey. His good fortune continued on the 11th hole when he holed a shot from 152 yards for an eagle to go 2 up.

Reed, an 18-year-old from Augusta, Ga., felt some nerves at the start of his match with Hill, bogeying two of the first three holes yet remaining all square. A wedge shot from 115 yards to seven feet on the par-5 fourth set up a birdie that gave him a lead he would maintain for the rest of the match. Said Reed (left): "From that point, I basically just hit the ball a lot better and started making some putts and put the pressure on him rather than having all the pressure on myself."

Indeed, the pressure did seem to get to Hill, who lost the ninth, 10th and 11th holes with a double-bogey 5, triple-bogey 8 and quadruple-bogey 8.

"I hope it's two Bulldogs fighting it out at the end," Reed said.

In order for him to get there, Reed must beat New Zealand's Danny Lee in one of two Saturday semifinal matches. The recent Western Amateur champion's game wasn't as solid as it was on Thursday--he actually made three bogeys--but his five birdies were good enough to give him a 4-and-3 victory over Morgan Hoffmann.

Lee's day got off to a rough start when during his warm-up on the driving range he felt a click in his left shoulder. "I've never had anything like that before and I wasn't sure what to think," Lee said.

Medics gave Lee some massage treatments, put on some ice packs and gave him some Advil. Lee said at one point the family friend that has chaperoned him during the summer wondered if he might not be able to play the match, but that Lee never seriously thought about pull it. "I was going to play," he said.

Mitchell's Saturday opponent is Florida State sophomore Drew Kittleson, a 19-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., who knocked off two-time quarterfinalist Derek Fathauer, 3 and 2. Mitchell and Kittleson were in the same threesome during the first round of last month's Porter Cup, where MItchell shot a 62 en route to the tournament title. "I know him really well so nothing will surprise me," Kittleson said.

***

So how do you prepare for course as treacherous as Pinehurst No. 2 and its saucer greens? A few weeks in Scotland doesn't hurt, contends to Drew Kittleson. The collegian went on a trip with his Florida State teammates overseas earlier this month, playing several links courses, including Turnberry, Muirfield, Royal Troon, Prestwick, North Berwick, Kingsbarns and the Old Course at St. Andrews, where he shot a 64.

"We had a pretty unbelievable schedule," said Kittleson, who got back to the U.S. only three days before coming to Pinehurst. "I played really well out there and for about two weeks before then I was playing well, so I'm peaking at the right time."

Photos: J.D. Cuban/Golf World

PINEHURST, N.C.--It's been eight straight days of competitive golf and counting for Danny Lee, who came to the 108th U.S. Amateur Championship straight from playing at the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship down the road in Greensboro this past weekend. And while the 18-year-old New Zealand native says he could use a day off soon, his performance at Pinehurst No. 2 suggests otherwise.

After winning his second-round match in the morning, 6 and 4, over Jacob Berger, Lee dismissed Connor McHenry, 7 and 6, in the afternoon's third round to be one of eight players still in the match-play field. Over the course of 26 holes Thursday, Lee made nine birdies and no bogeys, looking far and away to be playing the best golf of anyone here in the North Carolina sandhills.

Lee contends that it was his solid play on the devilish Donald Ross greens that spurred his easy victories. "Every putt I had it just fell in the hole," he said. "It was an amazing day."

Lee's standout play can be traced back longer than his T-20 finish at Sedgefield CC last Sunday. Earlier in the month he won the Western Amateur in convincing fashion, shooting four rounds in the 60s during stroke-play qualifying and taking as big as a 5-up lead in the final versus Erik Flores. Having come over to the U.S. for a third straight summer to play on the amateur circuit, he had also posted top-10s at the Northeast Amateur, Dogwood Invitational and Porter Cup.

Suffice it to say, Lee is the clear favorite, particularly after U.S. Walker Cup team member Rickie Fowler bowed out in the third round, losing to recent Porter Cup champion Adam Mitchell, 5 and 4. If Lee were to follow through and claim the Havemeyer Trophy Sunday afternoon, he would be the youngest winner of the championship, breaking Tiger Woods' mark set in 1994. Lee would be 18 years, 1 month old; Woods was 18 years, 7 months, 29 days when he beat Trip Kuehne at TPC Sawgrass.

In contrast to Lee's easy day, Derek Fathauer needed 42 holes to advance to the quarterfinals for a second straight year. The 22-year-old who finished his college career at Louisville this spring, beat incoming Oklahoma State freshman Peter Uihlein in 20 holes during the second round, then knocked off Uihlein's college teammate, Kevin Tway, with a 22-foot birdie on the 22nd hole.

It didn't appear Fathauer would be going extra holes versus Tway considering he had a 3-up lead with four holes to play in their match. Yet Fathauer's swing suddenly became loose, leading to a bogey on the 15th, double bogey on the 16th and bogey on the 17th to bring the match back to all square. "He finally was making a few mistakes and I had my chances," Tway said afterward.

Both Fathauer and Tway birdied the 19th hole before the former finally closed out the match two holes later.

"I happy I've gotten this far, but I'm pretty beat," Fathauer said. "I'm going to eat and then have no problem getting some sleep tonight."

Tway was understandably down about the outcome. "I'm real disappointed after having come back," he said. "To fight so hard and to not have it be good enough to win, it hurts."

***

Having knocked off his second-round opponent, Jake Koppenberg, 6 and 5, Rickie Fowler didn't appear to be the likely victim of a third-round blowout himself. Yet when his U.S. Palmer Cup teammate, Adam Mitchell proceeded to win six straight holes from Nos. 3 to 9, leaving little for Fowler to do but smile and accept it wasn't his day.

"He never opened the door for me," Fowler said, who eventually lost 5 and 4. "He made it pretty hard for me to get back into the match. Heck, I had to make an eagle [on the par-5 10th] just to get it do 5 down."

"I just gave myself a lot of birdie putts," said Mitchell, a senior at Georgia who earned second-team All-American honors last season. "I didn't make some, but being on the green and having a chance for birdie kind of forced Rickie, especially when I got ahead a little bit, because he knew he had to, he knew he had to make birdies to beat me, because I was on the green constantly and having birdie putts.

"Rickie's a great player, he's got all the shots, he's got all the game," Mitchell continued. "I just played really well today and did what I had to do. I just forced Rickie to hit a lot of good shots. And fortunately for me he didn't make many putts today.

***

There was two matches that actually went longer than the Fathauer/Tway third-round tilt. Charlie Holland, a junior at Texas, needed 23 holes before beating Stanford sophomore Sihwan Kim in the third round. Incoming Georgia freshman Patrick Reed also closed out his third-round match in 23 holes, knocking off N.C. State sophomore Brandon Detweiler.

Photo: John Mummert/USGA

PINEHURST, N.C.--So much for form holding early on Thursday at the 108th U.S. Amateur Championship. Upsets were the order of the morning under cloudy skies at Pinehurst No. 2, where three former U.S. Walker Cup team members were unexpectedly bounced.

Florida rising senior Billy Horschel never could get in front in his match with Arkansas' Andrew Landry, making six bogey en route to a 5-and-3 thumping.

Conversely, Clemson's Kyle Stanley was 2 up after four holes on Wichita State's Connor McHenry, but saw his lead slip away for good with a double bogey/bogey stretch on the 14th and 15th holes. Pars on the final three holes for both players gave McHenry the 1-up win.

Georgia's Brian Harman missed the green with his approach on the 18th hole in his match with N.C. State's Brandon Detweiler and failed to get up and down, losing 1 up. Detweiler had squared the match on the 17th hole with a 25-foot birdie putt after both players made 20-foot plus birdies on the 16th.

Not all the star powered was lost from the tournament, however. Oklahoma State standout Rickie Fowler took out Western Washington's Jake Koppenberg, 6 and 5, while Fowler's OSU teammate, Kevin Tway, beat medalist Robbie Fillmore from BYU, 3 and 2.

In perhaps the marquee match of the second round, Derek Fathauer, who just finished his college career at Louisville, needed 20 holes to knock off Oklahoma State incoming freshman Peter Uihlein. The play was ragged, admitted both golfers, but clutch par putts on the 18th and 19th holes from each player kept the match going.

Finally on the 20th hole, Uihlein lipped out a five footer for par--his first three-putt of the week--to give the match to his opponent, a quartefinalist in last year's U.S. Amateur.

PINEHURST, N.C.--Clemson junior Kyle Stanley has a number of goals he still wants to achieve as a college golfer, but he's going to have only the next nine months to accomplish them. The 20-year-old from Gig Harbor, Wash., informed Tiger coach Larry Penley that this season will be his last at Clemson, eventually forgoing his senior year at the South Carolina school.

"I'm hoping to play on the [U.S.] Walker Cup team next fall and then I'm going to turn pro," Stanley told Golf World. "I think with another year of play under my belt, my game will be ready to make the move."

Stanley was a first-team All-American during his freshman season at Clemson, when he finished second at the 2007 NCAA Championship. He failed to match his standout performance as a sophomore, but his 72.4 average and six top-10s still earned him honorable mention All-American honors.

"I put a little too much pressure on myself to follow up my freshman year," said Stanley, a member of the 2007 American Walker Cup squad. "I was working on a few things too with my swing. I really see it as a transition year to [this junior season] where I've got a lot of things I still hope to accomplish."

Stanley's form has definitely returned of late. In addition to qualifying for the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines earlier this summer, he won the Southern Amateur, reached the quarterfinals of the North & South Amateur and reached the Sweet 16 at the Western Amateur. He advanced through the first round of the U.S. Amateur Wednesday, beating UNLV All-American Seung-su Han, 4 and 3, and faces Connor McHenry in Thursday morning's second-round match.

Photo credit: Charles LaBarge

PINEHURST, N.C.--Brady Exber is an anomaly at the 108th U.S. Amateur Championship. At 52, he is more likely to be mistaken for a competitor's father than a competitor himself. Yet after playing the longest match of the first round, beating Josh Anderson (age 19) in 20 holes, he remains the oldest golfer still playing at Pinehurst No. 2.

A standout player in his native Las Vegas, winning Southern Nevada player-of-the-year honors a record eight times and earning a spot in the association's Hall of Fame, Exber has had only nominal success in national competition. He qualified for the U.S. Senior Open last year, finishing T-41 at Whistling Straits. (He missed the cut at this year's Senior British Open.) In three previous U.S. Amateurs appearances, he never made it to match play.

Suffice it to say, the former partner in a company that owned and operated four or five Las Vegas hotels is pretty happy about his performance thus far.

"This is just a dream," said Exber, one of six mid-amateurs to advance to match play and one of only four (Mike McCoy, Skip Bermeyer and Kevin Marsh) still around in the final 32. "I mean it, it really is. It's just the greatest thing. It's something that I thought in my working life that I would never be able to do, to take the time and get a game in shape. Thank goodness that I got it just good enough in shape just in time."

Exber's Wednesday victory was not without its harried moments. Holding a 2-up lead with two holes to play, he hit his tee shot on the par-3 17th in the back portion of the green, the ball running down the slope away from the hole. Failing to get it up and down, he and Anderson proceeded to the 18th hole, where Exber hit his drive in the fairway. Despite repeating to himself that he didn't want to hit his approach shot on the par 4 over the green again, that's exactly what happened. "I hit a 165 [yard] club that went 175 [yards]," Exber said. "I hate to say it, but an [it was] an amateur mistake."

Anderson and Exber halved the 19th hole with pars, but when Anderson's drive on the 20th found the rough, Exber took advantage. Hitting his tee ball in the fairway, he hit his approach with a 5-iron to four feet. Anderson failed to hit the green in regulation, eventually conceding Exber's birdie putt.

Asked if his experience helped him eventually prevail, Exber was sincere in the thought that it actually had. "[Josh] has won some big tournaments already, but his emotions got the best of him a couple of times today," he said. "It was just one of those rounds of attrition. I just knew because I had done this enough before that if i just hang in there and just make pars, that the golf course is going to take its toll on the player. I just kind of let the golf course take care of Josh today a little bit."

There's some symmetry in Exber's record at the U.S. Amateur. His first appearance came in 1988 at Virginia's Hot Springs G&CC. After playing in the 1997 championship at he also played in 1998 at Oak Hill.

If the heat and humidity began to take a toll on him Wednesday ("My legs have been good for me for 52 years, but they were feeling a little tired today."), playing his second-round match Thursday morning against 18-year-old incoming Georgia freshman Patrick Reed, and then in a third round match in the afternoon should he win, could pose a challenge for Exber. Suffice it to say he'll do his best and not put too much pressure on himself.

"This year I realized that it's just golf," Exber said. "I mean there's other players on the course and you might have heard of them and they're really good, but at the end of the day it's just golf. And you have got to hit 14 drivers and you have got to strategize a little bit, but it's golf. If you can handle all the outside stuff, just go play golf."

PINEHURST, N.C.--You're Philip Francis, a former U.S. Junior champion who helped UCLA win the NCAA team title last June as a freshman and made the cut at the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic in July. In advancing to the match-play portion of the 108th U.S. Amateur Championship you figure, OK, this is good. Get a favorable draw, gain some momentum and see what happens. Only then, however, do you see just who're playing in the opening tilt at Pinehurst No. 2:

Kevin Tway ... also a former U.S. Junior champion and talented college golfer at Oklahoma State who played in this summer's U.S. Open.

So much for favorable draws.

"It happens," said Francis (right), who hung tough with Tway but eventually fell to the fellow rising sophomore, 2 up, Wednesday. "You're going to have tough matches. That's what happens at the U.S. Amateur."

Francis had plenty of company in the tough opening-round opponent department as there were several showdowns featuring top level players.

What was the reward for Jhonattan Vegas, a semifinalist last year at Olympic Club, for getting back to match play this time around? How about Derek Fathauer, himself a quarterfinalist in 2007 and a U.S. Open qualifier at Torrey Pines who defeated Vegas, 1 up.

Or how about Trent Leon, a two-time honorable mention All-American at Oklahoma State, who after got to match play for the first time in three U.S. Amateurs, only to run up against his future teammate, the top incoming-freshman in the country, Peter Uihlein?

"It makes it tough, playing against somebody you know pretty well not to mention who is a pretty strong player," said Uihlein, who beat Leon, 1 up. "Trent's a senior and our leader, and I'm an incoming freshman. But I snuck away with one. Neither of us played too well."

Three other first-round pairings pitted collegiate All-Americans that just as likely could have been quarterfinal tilts:

* Georgia's Adam Mitchell beat Charlotte's Corey Nagy, 2 up, as Nagy bogeyed his final three holes 

* Clemson's Kyle Stanley defeated UNLV's Seung-su Han, 4 and 3.

* Healed from recent wrist surgery, Georgia's Brian Harman held off North Carolina's Kevin O'Connell, 1 up.

"You play your best and you hope it's good enough," noted Vegas. "I played good golf. I can't complain. That's how golf is."

***

On paper, at least, Thursday's second-round showdowns don't seem quite as difficult as Wednesday's matches, with the exception of the Uihlein squaring off against Fathauer at 7:40 a.m. and UCLA's Erik Flores against Texas' Charlie Holland, both second-team All-Americans last year, at 8:30 a.m.

***

As was the case at Torrey Pines for the U.S. Open, PGA Tour veteran Bob Tway was on the bag for his son Kevin at Pinehurst No. 2, serving as a calming presence for the young player. Said Kevin: "He's been through everything and he can help me out when I get nervous. ?  I can talk to him about the shots and what went right and what went wrong."

Papa Tway's influence may well have come through during Kevin's match with Francis, considering Tway hit just two fairways during the round. "My dad's making me play real smart," Kevin Tway said. "My lag putts are pretty good and I hit the ball pretty far so it's pretty good."

Interestingly enough, Bob Tway is skipping this week's Barclays Classic, despite being No. 119 on the FedEx Cup points list, to caddie for his son.

***

It's already been a pretty solid week for Oklahoma State here in Pinehurst. In addition to Tway and Uihlein advancing to the second round, sophomore Rickie Fowler and incoming freshman Morgan Hoffmann also won their Wednesday afternoon matches.

"The best we could do is have four of five advance because Peter played Trent," noted Fowler, a 4-and-2 winner over Isaiah Telles. "I think it says a lot for the program and the potential we've come for the coming season."

There was actually a sixth Cowboy in the field this week: OSU assistant coach Alan Bratton, who failed to get out of stroke-play qualifying. Bratton stuck around Pinehurst Wednesday, keeping an eye on his polks.

Meanwhile, classes began at OSU on Monday, causing everyone to miss the first few days of school. "I had a quiz that I've already missed," Uihlein said. "But it's OK. Hopefully I'll play well enough to miss my whole first week."

***

The turning point in the Fathauer/Vegas match came when Fathauer made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to take the lead after Vegas squared the match with a birdie on the par-4 16th. "I wanted to make that putt so bad," Fathauer said afterward, noting an interesting motivation.

"On 16 [Vegas] made a putt ... I don't know if I should tell you this ... but I hate when people fist pump, get all pumped up. I just don't think it was called for. But, so I kind of, that got me going. Got me a little upset."

***

Among the favorites entering the tournament after finishing runner-up here in the North & South Amateur last month, Jamie Lovemark instead found himself going home early, losing his match to N.C. State junior Matt Hill, 1 up.

"Nothing felt right over the ball," said Lovemark, who bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes to lose the match. "I had no idea where the ball was going. I've never hit the ball this bad in my life. I've just got to take some time off, kind of regroup and start fresh [for the college season]."

***

There's often talk at USGA events about a medalist jinx, but that doesn't seem to be the case of late at the U.S. Amateur. With BYU junior Robbie Fillmore winning his opening match versus Ross Beal, 3 and 2, it makes seven straight years that the medalist has at lead won in the first round. The last one to lose was Chris Mundorf in 2001 at Atlanta's East Lake GC.

Fillmore faces Tway in the second round Thursday morning.

All photos: John Mummert/USGA

PINEHURST, N.C.--It's one of the U.S. Amateur's more entertaining yet little-known rituals: the annual playoff to determine who are the last few golfers advancing from the stroke-play qualifying field of 315 to the match-play field of 64. This year's version, however, we'll just call supersized as 24 players will vie for the two remaining spots, the cut at Pinehurst Resort falling at five-over 145.

So large is the number of golfers holding on by a thread at the chance still to claim the Havemayer Trophy--it's the second biggest group in tournament history, eclipsed only by 1988's 31--that it will require everyone to return to the No. 4 course Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m. while the first round of match play gets underway on the fabled No. 2 course at 8 a.m.

Among those hoping to buck the playoff odds: local favorite Jack Fields, a native of Southern Pines; Drew Weaver, the 2007 British Amateur champion; Jack Newman, the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links winner; not to mention both Danny Simmerman (of Nashville, Tenn.) and Danny Zimmerman (of Verona, Wis.).

(Blogger's note, 10:35 a.m., Weds.: Three of the 26 players--Newman, Ross Beal and Jason Bittick--made birdies on the first playoff hole to eliminate the rest of the field. Bittick parred the third extra hole to get the 63rd seed, while Newman and Beal made bogeys. On the fifth extra hole, the par-4 15th, Beal two-putted for par from four feet, after Newman had made a bogey, to get the final spot.)

Several high-profile players, meanwhile, don't have to sweat out the playoff. All four U.S. Walker Cup team members playing in the North Carolina pines--Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel, Jamie Lovemark and Kyle Stanley--made it rather easily, as did 2005 U.S. Walker Cup veteran Brian Harman. Also advancing are Canada's NIck Taylor, T-2 at the NCAAs and a quarterfinalist at last year's U.S. Amateur; Derek Fathauer, Eddie Olson and Jhonattan Vegas, three other quarterfinalists from Olympic Club in 2007; and Kevin Tway, a U.S. Open qualifier.

Conversely, a few notable players are going home after just two days at Pinehurst. Mike Van Sickle, a senior at Marquette who had top-10 finishes at this summer's Northeast Amateur, Porter Cup and Southern Amateur, missed the playoff by one shot, as did Oklahoma State assistant coach Alan Bratton. Philip Mollica, who won the North & South Amateur here in 2007, missed by five shots. U.S. Open qualifiers Jordan Cox, Jeff Wilson and Michael Quagliano, as well as former USGA champions Nathan Smith and Austin Eaton and reigning U.S. Junior champion Cameron Peck, will be leaving earlier than they hoped.

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Looking for intriguing first-round showdowns Wednesday? Well there's plenty of them. The way the match-play bracket fell, here are just the first three matches of the day:

8 a.m.: Philip Francis vs. Kevin Tway (the 2006 U.S. Junior champion taking on the 2005 winner)
8:10 a.m.: Peter Uihlein vs. Trent Leon (incoming Oklahoma State freshman taking on the Cowboys' lone senior)
8:20 a.m.: Derek Fathauer vs. Jhonattan Vegas (a quarterfinalist in 2007 taking on a semifinalist)

Later in the morning, at 9:10 a.m., a pair of college All-Americans, Corey Nagy and Adam Mitchell, square off. At 10:10 a.m., Stanford standout Sihwan Kim competes against Clemson's streaking Sam Saunders. Then at 11 a.m., Kyle Stanley, a U.S. Walker Cupper, faces Seung-su Han, a UNLV All-American who is likely to turn pro at the end of this tournament.