Senior golfer Amory Davis made some noise in Washington at the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship Wednesday when he downed 47-year-old Jeff Wilson, the tournament's top seed. Davis defeated Wilson 3 and 1 to advance to Thursday's round of 32, in which he was eliminated from the tournament 3 and 2 by Brad Benjamin.
Despite the loss, Davis can take pride in simply participating in the match-play portion of the event. Wednesday morning, he competed in a playoff featuring 16 players fighting for six spots in match play. Five players promptly birdied the par-4 10th hole while Davis managed only a par, leaving him among eight players vying for one final spot in the 64-man field. Davis came up clutch on the 460-yard 11th hole, sticking a five-iron close to the pin and converting his birdie putt to advance.
Just a few hours later, he went up against five-time USGA medalist Wilson, who became the first stroke-play medalist to lose in the first round of match play since 2001. It capped an extremely long day for Davis, who started off that morning with a 7:15 a.m. tee time and ended it around 7 p.m. in the last group to finish.
Davis and his fellow Cavalier teammates kick off their season Sept. 26 at the Fall Preview hosted by Oklahoma State.