Wolfpack's Shipp Makes Early Exit from US Amateur
NC State golfer Ben Shipp had high hopes heading into his third and most likely final shot at the US Amateur golf championship.
He shot rounds of 68 and 67 during the stroke play portion of the event to finish third in the field of 264 players at 8-under par. But despite that strong start and the high seeding that came with it, Shipp couldn't sustain his momentum into match play.
The senior from Duluth, Ga., was beaten 5 and 4 by Cameron Sisk of Arizona State, who had to survive a playoff earlier in the day just to get into the 64-man match play bracket at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore.
Shipp bridied the opening hole to take a quick lead, but fell behind when Sisk made birdie on three of the next four holes. The Wolfpack star held off the charge for awhile. But the match slipped away from him when Sisk won holes 12, 13 and 14 to close things out.
A first-team All-ACC and honorable mention All-American selection this season, Shipp won three tournament titles during his career with the Wolfpack. His Enters stroke average of 71.66 entering his senior season was the fourth-best in program history.
He previously played in the US Amateur in 2017 at Riviera and 2018 at Pebble Beach, missing the cut for match play on both occasions.
Although he played better in the qualifying rouds this time, he made what turned out to be some ominously prophetic comments about the Bandon Dunes course in a pretournament interview earlier this week.
"I mean, you can't let the ball get up in the wind," he said. "That's the biggest thing. It's just a four-and-a-half hour grind.
"At Riviera and Pebble, you can kind of get it going and get on a streak, and there's even some holes you can relax a little bit. Out here it's just constant, constant pressure on every shot. It is, it's just a different type of golf with the firmness and the wind."
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