Martin Fires Opening Round 73 at US Amateur

Aug. 24, 2009

Clemson, SC – Clemson senior Ben Martin fired an opening round 73 at the Cedar Ridge Golf Club in Tulsa, OK on Monday and stands in 42nd position after the first round of the United States Amateur. The 312-player field will conclude the stroke play portion of the event on Tuesday.

The top 64 players after the 36 holes of stroke play will advance to match play on Wednesday. All of the match play competition will be played at Southern Hills Golf Club in Tulsa, OK.

Martin shot his 73 on the par 70 Cedar Ridge Golf Club that is 7331 yards in length. He is in good shape to make the cut for the match play if he plays a similar round at Southern Hills on Tuesday.

Martin got off to a rough start with three bogeys, all on par fours, within the first eight holes. He then made birdies on the 9th and 14th holes, before making bogeys on 15 and 16 to get back to three over.

Two former Clemson golfers are also in the field. Phillip Mollica of Anderson, SC had an opening round 74 at Southern Hills and Sam Saunders of Windermere, FL had an opening round 81 at Southern Hills. They will both play Cedar Ridge on Tuesday. Mollica has a chance to make the cut as he is in 62nd place.

The individual leader is Tim Jackson of Germantown, TN who had a 68 at Southern Hills. Only five players in the 312-player field broke par on either of the two courses.