July 11, 2001
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Northwestern men's golfer Tom Johnson (Fair Oaks, Calif.) advanced to the match play portion of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, shooting 70-74--144 in two rounds of stroke play. That score put him in a tie for eighth overall and made him one of the top seeds in the 64-player field that will participate in match play competition.
The U.S. Public Links Championship is being contested this year at the par-71 Pecan Valley Golf Club in San Antonio. The first round of match play will be conducted Wednesday, and two rounds will be conducted both Thursday and Friday leading up to the 36-hole championship on Saturday.
Johnson, who will be a sophomore at NU this fall, will meet Michael Austin (Burton, Mich.) in the first round Wednesday morning.
Johnson was tied for the lead among the 156 players who competed in stroke play competition after Monday's first round, but shot 74 Tuesday to finish four strokes off the pace set by James Vargas (Miami, Fla.) and Nick Cassini (Athens, Ga.).
The U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship is one of 13 championships sponsored by the United States Golf Association (USGA). It is open to amateur golfers who, since Jan. 1, 2001, have been bona fide public course players and have not held privileges of any course that does not extend playing privileges to the general public, or privileges of any private club maintaining its own course and hold a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 8.4. A bona fide public course player may hold incidental privileges of a course not open to the public when such privileges are provided by (1) an educational institution at which he is a student, or (2) a federal armed service of which he is member, or (3) an industry by which he is employed.
The winner of this event receives -- in addition to custody of the James D. Standish Jr. Cup -- an invitation to compete at next April's Masters Tournament, and an exemption from local qualifying for next year's U.S. Open Championship.