16-year-old qualifies for U.S. Amateur
Last week, when Denny McCarthy of Burtonsville took his first trip to Oklahoma, he made it memorable, winning the 41st Trusted Choice Big ‘I’ National Championship in Ardmore. Little did McCarthy know that he would be returning to the Sooner State later this summer.
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Tuesday at Westwood Country Club in Vienna, McCarthy shot a 2-under-par 70 for the second straight day to capture a berth in the U.S. Amateur. McCarthy, 16, is believed to be the youngest player ever from the Washington area to qualify. He travels to Tulsa for the 109th Amateur, Aug. 24-30, at Southern Hills.
“This is pretty awesome,” said McCarthy, a junior this fall at Georgetown Prep. “This will be the biggest thing I’ve ever played in. It’s kind of the U.S. Open for amateurs.”
In attempting to qualify for the first time, McCarthy secured the Amateur berth by a single stroke. If he had finished a stroke worse, he would have joined seven other players in a playoff for the final slot.
McCarthy emerged from a field of 137 players, which included many local college standouts, but few high school players. Last year Danny Lee, at 18 years, one month, became the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur. The youngest player to compete in the tournament was 14-year-old Ryota Ito of Japan in 2004.
“My goal is to make it to match play,” said McCarthy. “And then I can take it from there.”
In Monday’s opening round at Westwood, when McCarthy drained a 35-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, he was at 4-under-par. But on No. 18, he drove into trees and three-putted for a double-bogey.
After firing at pins on Monday, McCarthy tempered his urge to gamble, making 13 pars Tuesday. The key hole was No. 14, a 507-yard par 5, where McCarthy reached the green in two with a 3-wood from 230 yards out, then jarred in a 70-foot eagle putt.
After that, McCarthy made pars the rest of the way, then awaited his fate as the first-round leaders, including brother Ryan (68-77 – 145), a sophomore this fall at Loyola College, arrived at the scorer’s table.
“I didn’t have my ‘A’ game. I only made two birdies all day,” said McCarthy. “I didn’t think my score would be good enough. I thought I needed a 68 or so to get in.”
McCarthy has had a transcendent summer. In the last week in June, he won three tournaments in a span of seven days — the Mid-Atlantic Junior (73-70 – 143), the Frank Emmet Schoolboy (70-67-73 – 210), which he won by a whopping 14 strokes, and the Argyle Country Club men’s stroke-play title (67-63 – 130).
Last month McCarthy was featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces In the Crowd, an issue McCarthy has been too busy to locate.
“I’ve got friends texting me, saying ‘You look good in Sports Illustrated,'” said McCarthy. “But I still haven’t actually seen it myself.”
Many more texts will follow if McCarthy makes a long run at Southern Hills.
