John Daly II, the son of two-time Major champion John Daly, along with World No.1 Jackson Koivun were among the big names through to Thursday's round of 32 at the Olympic Club in the 2025 US Amateur Championship.
Daly, who recently won the Southern Amateur Championship, beat close friend Cooper Claycomb 1up despite winning just one hole in the match. He birdied the par-4 11th to go 1up on Claycomb, with the pair halving all other 17 holes.
“All the putts I missed short, I hit the lines exactly where I wanted. The one on 6, it was a 360 lip-out. There’s nothing you can do about that,” said University of Arkansas senior Daly, who failed to advance to the match play stages last year.
Daly II is through to the last 32 for the first time ever
“It stinks that I had to play Cooper. He’s one of my good friends, but it was a fun match.”
While it was joy for Daly, another golf legend's son experienced a painful defeat.
Ian Poulter's son, Luke, who came close to qualifying for both the US Open and The Open this year, lost the last two holes to go down 1dn to Scotland's Niall Shiels Donegan.
Poulter was 1up on the 17th tee before Donegan finished birdie-birdie to knock him out.
Poulter's US Amateur ended in tough circumstances after a birdie-birdie finish from his opponent
“It’s amazing. Being out here for the past few days, it’s just a bunch of friends and family from the local muni club, and they’ve just been getting me fired up,” Donegan, who has lived in the Bay Area for 17 years, said.
“To be able to do that in front of all of them, it means the world.”
Luke's dad Ian is in action at LIV Golf Indianapolis this week, the final individual event of the season, where he is among the names in danger of relegation.
Elsewhere, World No.1 Jackson Koivun made his one-and-only birdie on the 17th to defeat Ryan Voois 2&1 with the Auburn man favorite for the title - but he'll surely have to play better to keep his run going.
World No.1 Koivun is through despite just one birdie in the round of 64
AJGA no.1 Miles Russell is also through after a 4&2 victory over Travis Woolf, while World No.2 Ben James advanced courtesy of a 2&1 win over Parker Claxton.
WAGR No.4 Preston Stout is another pre-tournament favorite through after birdieing five of his last six holes to beat Pennson Badgett 4&3.
Tyler Weaver remains the sole Englishman after the US Open competitor defeated Scotland's Connor Graham, who played in last month's Open Championship, 2&1.
The round of 32 match-ups begin at 8am PT on Thursday, with the round of 16 taking place from 2pm PT this afternoon.
US Amateur round of 32 matches
- Preston Stout vs David Liechty
- Niall Shiels Donegan vs Christian Maas
- Paul Chang vs Tyler Weaver
- Jacob Modleski vs Cameron Tankersley
- Jimmy Abdo vs Wolfgang Glawe
- Daniel Svard vs Andrew Bailey
- Brady Siravo vs Jackson Herrington
- Caleb Bond vs Davis Johnson
- Mason Howell vs Ben James
- Jackson Koivun vs Max Herendeen
- Nate Smith vs John Daly II
- Daniel Bennett vs Rintaro Nakano
- Miles Russell vs Billy Davis
- Jase Summy vs Mahanth Chirravuri
- Tim Wiedemeyer vs Josh Duangmanee
- Eric Lee vs Cohen Trollo
How to watch the US Amateur
- Thursday Aug 14: Golf Channel 7-10pm ET, Round of 16
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