N.j Native Huang & Partner Advances To U.S. Four-ball Championship
William Huang, a 15-year-old native of Princeton and Canadian Marc-Olivier Annotte set the pace in winning the medal at qualifying for the third USGA amateur Four-Ball Championship qualifier on Wednesday, August 30, at Watchung Valley Country Club in Watchung.
The event , administered by gthe New Jersey State Golf Association, was originally slated for Shackamaxon Country club in Scotch Plains, but heavy rains the previous day forced the switch to Watchung Valley.
The U.S. Four-Ball championship takes place in late May at Jupiter Hills in Florida.
Huang, who still plays out of Hopewell Valley Country Club, and Annotte, 22, a native of Montreal, combined for a seven-under-par 64 to garner medalist honors by one stroke.
A total of three automatic spots and two alternate spots were on the line. Five teams shot 64 and played off for the other two qualifying spots and alternate spots.
Among the groups to play off after shooting 65s were former Vanderbilt teammates John Voetsch of New Vernon N.j., and Spencer Ciesla of Jacksonville, a native of Bernardsville; Loyola of Maryland teammates Erick Alonso of Haworh, N.J., and Bennett Wisner of Hempstead, Md.; last year’s medalists Ed Brown and Jay Whitby of Delaware; Old Dominion former terammates, both 30, Jeffrey Long of Ashburn, Va., and Matt Rendall of New York, and Justin Lomenzo of Commack, n.Y., and Andrew Chambers of Boca Raton, Fla.
Advancing to the U.S. Fur-Ball championship were Alonso and Wisner and Long and Rednell. Both teams birdied the third playoff hole, the par-5 third hole.
An eagle chip-in from 30-feet by Huang on their ninth hole, No. 18, jump-started Huang and Annotte.
“We missed the green on both 16 and 17, and I said, let’s make birdie or eagle on the next hole. That changed all the momentum for us,” said Annotte, who attended the University of Quebec at Montreal. The teammates are both coached by renowned instructor Mike Adams of Hamilton Farm.
They then birdied five of the final holes against one bogey, to account for the 64 over the 6,609-yard venue.
Huang, a sophomore at Phillips-Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, advanced to match-play at the NJSGA Junior Championship at Watchung Valley, losing to defending champion Jake Mayer of Plainfield on the final hole.
“I told Marc not to hit a lot of drivers today. It was all about fairways and greens. The greens were receptive and the ball was rolling nicely,” Huang said.
“William knows the course from the Junior and he told me what to hit and where to hit them,” Annotte said.
