Page 29 - Golf Champion -September 2021

anton, Mich., rallied from a three-hole deficit with a solid par on the 502-yard, par-4 15th, as Greaser drove
Cthe help of three birdies over the final eight holes on into the “mini-Church Pews” bunker and was forced to lay
Sunday to capture the 121st U.S. Amateur Championship up short of the green. He missed an 18-foot putt to tie the
at demanding Oakmont Country Club with a 2-and-1 hole.
victory over Austin Greaser, of Vandalia, Ohio. Both players parred the next two holes, the par-3 16th
Greaser, 20, assumed a 3-up lead with a par on the par-4 and par-4 17th. On the drivable 17th, both found the deep
ninth hole at Oakmont, the 27th of the match. But Piot bunker to the left of the green, and Piot put his second
began his winning comeback on the next hole, the 474- shot over the green into another bunker. But he got up
yard, par-4 10th, a hole that the fifth-year Michigan State and down for par from there, and Greaser missed his 10-
senior owned this week: he won it in all five of his previous foot birdie putt that would have extended the match to
matches, and twice more in the championship match vs. No. 18.
Greaser, a junior at the University of North Carolina.
Piot hit his 9-iron approach shot to 4 feet and converted What the Champion Receives
the birdie putt, then won No. 11 with a par as Greaser ● A gold medal and custody of the Havemayer Trophy
three-putted for a bogey from about 12 feet. Piot then for one year
won the par-5 12th with a par and the par-3 13th with a ● A 10-year exemption into the U.S. Amateur
conceded birdie to take his first lead in the match since Championship
he led, 1 up, at the 18-hole lunch break. ● An exemption into the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country
“When I got down, I knew that my driver had been a bit Club in Brookline, Mass., as well as an exemption
shaky,” said Piot, the No. 31 seed, who becomes the first into the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews and
golfer from Michigan to win the U.S. Amateur. “I just tried a likely invitation to the 2022 Masters Tournament
to stay confident in myself. I wanted to play the back nine
in 4 under and I ended up playing it in 3 under.” What the Runner-up Receives
Greaser stopped the bleeding by converting a 20-foot ● A silver medal and a three-year exemption into the
birdie putt to match Piot’s up-and-down birdie on the U.S. Amateur Championship
short par-4 14th, but Piot extended his lead to 2 up with ● An exemption into the 2022 U.S. Open and a likely

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