It wasn’t long ago that Longmeadow’s Ryan Downes became the youngest to ever win a Massachusetts Amateur title, doing so back in 2023 at nearby Essex County Club.
Two years later, the Vanderbilt University star is representing the Commonwealth proudly at the prestigious United States Amateur Championship held at the famed Olympic Club in San Francisco.
Downes was among the leaders after Monday’s Round 1, carding a 2-under par 68 to land in the top five. He struggled a bit at times during Tuesday’s final stroke play round, firing a 5-over par 70 after a bogey on 17 and double bogey on 18 to finish.
But his two-day cumulative score of +3 was still good enough to land inside the elusive cut line at the time of print deadline (some players had yet to finish at that time but the projected cut line was set at +4). Should his score hold up and allow him to move through, Downes will enter the match play portion of the tournament, which pits the top 64 players in one-on-one bouts until a winner is crowned on Sunday.
With a total of nine 18-hole rounds of golf over a seven day period, the U.S. Am. is perhaps the most grueling and unpredictable golf tournament there is. Players not only have to qualify for the event itself — a tough task in its own right — but then play well enough to etch their name into the match play field, win five individual tests, and a 36-hole finale to come out on top.
The match play bracket will be finalized Wednesday morning with competition for the Round of 64 commencing shortly thereafter. To follow Downes and the rest of the competition via live scoring, please visit https://championships.usga.org/usamateur.html.