On to the Next!: Francoeur wins opening match, advances to U.S. Amateur Championship Round of 32

Kyle Gaudette, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
·2 min read

Aug. 18—Amesbury's Chris Francouer is one of 32 golfers remaining in the 2022 U.S. Amateur Championship.

The former St. John's Prep standout won his opening match of the match play portion of the championship on Wednesday, defeating David Timmins of Sandy, Utah, 3-and-2. The win advances Francoeur, the No. 41 seed, to the Round of 32 on Thursday, where he'll face off against No. 56 seed Nicholas Gross of Downington, Pennsylvania at 8:30 a.m. from host Ridgewood Country Club (N.J.).

You can track Francoeur's round tomorrow at: https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/2022/u-s—amateur.html.

Francoeur qualified for the match play portion of the championship by finishing inside the top 64 of the two-day stroke play section that took place on Monday and Tuesday. He was tied for the lead out of over 300 golfers after the opening round when he posted a 3-under 68, and came back with a 7-over 77 on the second day to finish in a tie for 39th with a two-day total of 145 — ultimately getting him the No. 41 seed.

And that earned him a match against the No. 24 seed in Timmins.

Thanks to two birdies and a par on the difficult par-4 fourth hole, Francoeur was able to take a 1-up lead after the front-9 of play. A tough double-bogey on the 10th hole, however, allowed Timmins to tie it up. Francoeur responded with a birdie on the par-4 12th to go back 1-up, but Timmins made par on the par-5 13th while Francoeur made bogey — squaring the match back at even with five holes left.

But from then on out, Francoeur caught fire.

He pared the par-4 14th while Timmins made bogey to go 1-up, then made consecutive birdies on 15 (a par-3) and 16 (a par-4) to win the match 3-and-2. In total, Francoeur made six birdies on the day and was 1-under on normal stroke play through his 16 holes.

If he continues to win, Thursday will be a long but exciting day for Francoeur.

As previously stated, Francoeur will tee off his Round of 32 match at 8:30 a.m. against Gross, who advanced by beating No. 9 seed Cohen Trolio of West Point, Missouri, 3-and-1 on Wednesday. The winner will move on to the Round of 16, which will be played in the afternoon. Francoeur is of course focused on the match at hand, but if he were to win he would play either No. 8 Luke Potter of California or No. 40 Bartley Forrester of Georgia in the "Sweet 16" at just after 2 p.m.

It could be a long 36 holes — or more! — on Thursday, but two wins would have Francoeur remarkably in the U.S. Amateur Championship quarterfinals.