Finn in US Amateur golf championship

[Ravvy]

A young Finnish golfer named Antti Ahokas is making a good showing of himself so far in the US Amateur golf championship. After 36 holes of qualifying he T12, and easily made the cut & advanced into match play which starts tomorrow at Hazeltine.

I'm puzzled by his recent past. He was attending the University of Minnesota and on the U of M golf team, but then left school reportedly to play professional golf in Europe. Now he is back in the USA and playing in amateur events, so clearly he did not turn pro. Anybody find any info about him regarding his departure from Minnesota and return to Finland, not turning pro, & then returning to the USA to play amateur? He is from Lappeenranta, if that helps any.

[Jason]

http://www.golfweek.com/college/around_ ... 759457.php

[Ravvy]

http://www.golfweek.com/college/around_ ... 759457.php

Thanks, Jason. That is the first text I have seen that said he returned to Finland "to play in amateur events and possibly turn pro". All others I saw said he was leaving to turn professional, period.

[Ravvy]

Antti has an interesting first round match; he drew Rhys Davies of Wales as his first round opponent in match play today.

[Ravvy]

If I had just waited a day, ...

Here is an article in the Minneapolis paper this morning, which answers my previous questions about Antti leaving the University of Minnesota part-way through his first year.

http://www.startribune.com/692/story/630094.html

[Ravvy]

At the risk of turning this into a monologue, I'll report that Antti defeated Rhys Davies today, 4 and 2. Antti will face Richie Ramsay of Scotland in match play tomorrow.

A bit unusual, but not unique, to have these match-ups between Europeans in the US Amateur. Out of the 64 qualifiers for match play, 15 of them are non-USA citizens. And here is another glimpse of top amateur golf these days; out of those 64 match-play qualifiers, only five guys are over 25 years old. A bunch of "Flat-bellys", as us old-timers call them.

[otyikondo]

Welcome to bizarro-world. The kid who won the stroke play had an 11-under 60 (!) on day one, and then played a 78 on the other course. That's gotta hurt, even if he did end up winning, and even if the second course was clearly playing tougher.

Nine birdies and an eagle in the first round, and not a single 2 on his card, which is also pretty odd for a round so low.

[otyikondo]

Young Antti has a mountain to climb. He's 3 down after 10 and the last four holes it's looked like the Scot is on fire (eagle-par-par-birdie) while our boy couldn't sink a lead balloon.

Hope springs eternal, but I don't fancy his chances.

They have some monster holes there... one weighs in at 587 metres. Try getting on THAT in two, unless it's an alp.

Edited to add: As I thought, too much to do. He lost 2 and 1, although to his credit he nearly pulled it off - scrambled back to one down with three to play, but the other bloke birdied 16 and that was more or less it, especially since the 17th was a shortish par-3.

[Ravvy]

Yup, Antti won #6 to go 1-up in the match, but then lost four holes in a row (7-8-9-10) and that was too big a hole to climb out of.

Aussie Bronson LaCassie, Antti's teammate and roommate while at the U of Minnesota, lost a heartbreaker. He was 3-up after 12, and had the match dormie at 2-up with 2 to go, then bogied both 17 and 18 to let the match go square, then bogied the first extra hole to lose the match. Ei yi yi, oh my!

NCAA champ Jonathan Moore from Oklahoma State gets the geography prize for his interview yesterday. He said he was in a tough bracket which included "that kid from Sweden", referring to Antti.

Side note, two fellow-adversaries from the St. Louis area made it into match play, and one of them has made it into the 3rd round by winning yesterday and today.

[Ravvy]

A tip of the hat to Richie Ramsay, who used his win over Antti as a stepping stone to the US Amateur Championship; the first Scotsman in 108 years to win the US Am.

The young man from St. Louis did a great job as well, particularly as this was the first time he had played before a gallery of more than 50 people, first time ever on TV, first time interviewed, etc.

[otyikondo]

Nice feather in Ahokas's cap, in the end. Not bad piece of form to push the winner to 2 & 1.