The 2005 US Amateur is now into the finals. NBC has tape delayed coverage from 4-6pm EST today of the semi-finals, and the 36 hole championship match will be on NBC from 4-6pm on Sunday.
For an update on the matches, the USGA’s article on the semi-final matches can be found here.
What I find interesting about the US Amateur this year is the fact that 16th seed will be facing the 55th seed in the finals. This is what I believe is the beauty of match play golf and what makes accomplishments like Tiger’s 6 straight USGA event wins so impressive.
Never in the NCAA Basketball tournament does a 14th seed make it to the finals. However in bracketed tournaments, such as the USGA Amateur and Public Links or even the professional match play events such as the Accenture World Match Play or the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship, you often get higher ranked players defeating the lower ranked players.
For example, if you look at this year’s Accenture Match Play, you had two #4 seeds playing each other (Toms defeated DiMarco). However, only 1 #1 seed made it into the Semi-finals (Goosen) and both Woods and Singh did not make it to the “Sweet 16.” It gets even more interesting if you look at the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship. Annika, who at the time was definately the women’s #1 player, did not make it past the quarterfinals. And the winner, #31 seed Marisa Baena.
Anyways, the exciting and enjoyable thing about match play is that it is one-on-one and during an 18 hole match, a #1 seed can easily lose to a higher seed. And even though it might not be the most exciting thing to watch on TV, it is golf at its purest.
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