Onward and Upward

CU’s Brandon Knight defeats No. 25-ranked amateur in the world in a rout and advances to round of 32 at U.S. Amateur

By Gary Baines 

Based on seeding — and World Amateur Golf Ranking — the match didn’t seem likely to play out this way.

But it’s golf, so sometimes things can go very unexpectedly.

University of Colorado golfer Brandon Knight, from Pleasanton, Calif., was seeded 48th after the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Amateur at historic Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. His round-of-64 opponent on Wednesday, Texas Tech golfer Connor Graham of Scotland, was seeded 17th after being a couple of shots better than Knight in stroke play.

That’s not a big deal, but Graham is the No. 25 amateur in the world rankings, while Knight is No. 534.

And it wasn’t so much that Knight beat Graham that might have been surprising, but the margin of victory.

Specifically, Knight won the first four holes of the match en route to a 6-and-5 rout, giving the senior a spot in the round of 32 on Thursday. He becomes the first CU golfer since Justin Biwer in 2022 (round of 16) to advance to the second round of matches.

Derek Tolan, the two-time Colorado Open champion and CU associate head coach who is caddying for Knight this week, said the CU senior put on a clinic in his first match.

“Today was an absolute thing of beauty,” Tolan told CUBuffs.com.

“He did an awesome job of playing the shot in front of him and not worrying about his opponent, which I think is so important in match play. It’s easy to get caught up in everything going on and not be laser focused on the shot at hand.”

Knight is competing in the U.S. Amateur for the third time, but is making his first appearance in match play. It’s the fourth time in the last five years that a CU golfer has made match play in the championship.

In the round of 32, Knight will face 16th-seeded Noah Kent of Naples, Fla., a University of Florida golfer who beat Kaiser Stone of Alameda, Calif., 1 up on Wednesday.

Results for all the players with strong Colorado ties at the U.S. Amateur in Ardmore, Pa.:

MATCH PLAY ROUND OF 64 (Wednesday)

CU golfer Brandon Knight def. Connor Graham, Scotland, 6 and 5

STROKE PLAY (Monday and Tuesday)

Advances to Match Play

33. CU golfer Brandon Knight 69-72–141

Failed to Advance to Match Play

71. Former Coloradan Parker Edens 74-69—143

160. CU golfer Tyler Long, Evergreen 74-73–147

197. Collin Engelhardt, Castle Rock 73-76–149

259. Former CSU golfer Bryce Hanstad 81-72–153

294. Former Colorado School of Mines golfer Lukas Taggart 78-80–158

For all the results from the U.S. Amateur, CLICK HERE.

About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com