GLENVIEW, Ill. – The 10th tee at 8:10 a.m. was the place to be on Tuesday at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois.
Christiaan Maas, of South Africa, and Drew Goodman, of Norman, Oklahoma, started the day on the 10th tee in the same group and ended it one-two atop the leaderboard at the 121st Western Amateur.
Maas, University of Texas sophomore, carded a 6-under-par 65 to take the lead through 18 holes. Goodman, a junior at the University of Oklahoma, finished one stroke behind his playing partner and in a four-way tie for second at 5-under 66.
While Maas got the best of this edition in the Red River Rivalry, both Big-12 Conference standouts shined in the first of four rounds of stroke-play qualifying.
“We just had a really good group, and I think we were able to feed off each other a little bit,” Goodman said. “I’m really looking forward to playing together tomorrow.”
Along with Jonas Baumgartner – a senior at fellow Big-12 powerhouse Oklahoma State who finished at 1-under – the trio combined to make 17 birdies on the day. For Maas, the low round was a bit unexpected.
“I wasn’t feeling good yesterday and had a couple swing changes over the last month, but then I started great and felt the momentum,” he said.
Maas made birdies on four of his first eight holes and rebounded from a bogey on No. 1 with three more birdies coming home. He said the swing changes ultimately paid off on the tree-lined fairways of North Shore because they set up consistent fades with the driver.
“There seem to be more doglegs to the right here, so that suits me perfectly,” Maas said. “It’s just hitting those big fades that help keep me in the fairway. That’s important with the long rough.”
Goodman adopted a similar fairway-first mentality, and it led to a nearly flawless opening round.
Through 17 holes, Goodman was bogey-free with six birdies on his card, but a missed fairway and burnt edge on his par putt added a bogey to the tally on his final hole.
“I wasn’t planning on practicing after my round today, but that bogey gives me a little motivation to go hit a few balls now,” Goodman said with a smile. “Overall, I felt like a played pretty good, though. You’re just trying to survive and make that first cut, and however you cut it, 5-under is a good start.”
Tied with Goodman in second at 5-under are Brendan Valdes, of Orlando, Florida; Gustav Frimodt, of Denmark; and Matthew, Riedel, of Houston, Texas.
Valdes was one of two players to navigate North Shore bogey-free. The Auburn junior recorded five birdies in his first nine holes to go with an even nine pars coming home.
“I kind of felt like I blacked out at the start,” Valdes said. “It was pretty cool and allowed me to end up just cruising in. My chipping and putting were great today and allowed me to play free, knowing I could get out of tough spots.”
Valdes’ Auburn teammate, John Marshall Butler, of Louisville, Kentucky, also went bogey-free to finish with a 4-under 67. He’s part of a group tied for sixth at 4-under that includes 2021 Western Amateur champion Michael Thorbjornsen, a Stanford senior from Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Another previous WGA champion is not far behind. Caleb Surratt, the 2021 Western Junior champion and reigning Elite Amateur Cup winner, is tied for 13th at 3-under.
Fifty players broke par in the opening round ahead of the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying cut. After tomorrow’s 18 holes, the field will be narrowed to the low 44 and ties.
For the full leaderboard, click here.
First played at Glen View Club in 1899, the Western Amateur is the world’s third-oldest amateur championship, behind only the British Amateur (1885) and the U.S. Amateur (1895). It regularly attracts the top players from across the country and around the world, with past champions like Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.
A grueling combination of stroke play and match play makes the Western Amateur one of the most demanding events in golf. The field of 156 players will compete in 72 holes of stroke play over three days to determine the Sweet 16 for match play.
The match play competition will be streamed live for free on thewesternamateur.com and Peacock (subscription required), with more than 12 hours of coverage over Friday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 6.
Attendance and parking at the Western Amateur are free.
For second round tee times, click here.