The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men's Golf Maas claims runner-up finish at the Western Amateur
08.05.2023 | Men's Golf
Rising sophomore falls just shy of becoming the eighth Longhorn to win the prestigious amateur title.
GLENVIEW, Ill. — University of Texas Men's Golf rising sophomore Christiaan Maas produced an outstanding run all the way to the final match of the 121st Western Amateur Championship before falling 1-up to champion Kazuma Kobori on Saturday afternoon at North Shore Country Club.
Maas was attempting to become the eighth Longhorn in program history to win the title at one of the most prestigious annual amateur tournaments in the world, joining Rik Massengale (1968), Ben Crenshaw (1973), Justin Leonard (1991 and 1992), John Klauk (2002), Beau Hossler (2014), Cole Hammer (2018) and Pierceson Coody (2020). Leonard was the only previous UT golfer to earn runner-up accolades at the Western Amateur, accomplishing the feat in 1991.
Known as the most grueling test in amateur golf, the Western Amateur begins with a field of 156 golfers who must navigate 72 holes of stroke play over a three-day period before the tourney is cut to 16 players for match play. Maas placed in a tie for ninth during stroke play with a four-round total of 9-under-par 275 (65-72-69-69), earning the No. 11 seed for the match play portion of the event.
Maas posted a 3 & 2 win over No. 6 seed Wenyi Ding in the Round of 16 on Friday morning. During Friday afternoon's quarterfinals session, Maas rallied from a 3-down deficit through five holes to record nine birdies over the next 11 holes and earn a 3 & 2 victory against No. 3 seed Nick Dunlap from the University of Alabama.
Maas returned to the course on Saturday morning and posted an impressive 3 and 2 win over No. 2 seed Drew Goodman from the University of Oklahoma. In Saturday afternoon's championship match, Kobori jumped out to a 2-up advantage through the first four holes, before Maas rallied with birdies on holes 5, 9 and 10 to take a 1-up lead after 10 holes. Kobori recorded a birdie on 12 to tie the score, and the match remained even through 16 holes. Kobori gained a 1-up advantage with a par on 17 and then closed out his victory with a birdie on the finishing 18th hole.
Teammate and fellow rising sophomore Tommy Morrison, who narrowly missed qualifying for match play at the Western Amateur with a 72-hole score of 5-under-par 279 (68-72-69-70), served as caddy for Maas during the match play portion of the event. The previous week (July 24-29), Morrison claimed medalist honors and advanced to the match play quarterfinals at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C. Morrison won the 36-hole stroke play competition with an 8-under-par 135 (66-69) before adding match-play victories in the Round of 64, Round of 32 and Round of 16.
Players Mentioned
