Green Sets USGA, APL 36-Hole Scoring Mark

Maple Grove, Minn. – Danny Green, 47, of Jackson, Tenn., set a USGA and U.S. Amateur Public Links 36-hole stroke play record of 13-under-par 131 Tuesday to win medalist honors at the 2004 Championship at Rush Creek Golf Club.

Medalist Danny Green 'lips in' his birdie putt on the ninth hole. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

Green, the 1999 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion and runner-up at the Public Links in 2001, posted a 4-under-par 68 following Monday's Public Links record 9-under 63, to break the mark of 132. The standard had been shared by three players at the Public Links as well as four others at three different championships, including the U.S. Amateur.

“I hadn't been putting well,” said Green, who is the second-oldest player in the field. “I had 137 putts in four rounds at the Northeast Amateur. I'm a good putter. I believe in my putting. I knew it would come back. Hopefully, it will stay with me all week. Hopefully, it will stay with me for about a month.”

On an atypical windy day, Green logged four birdies and did not have an over-par hole on his 36-hole scorecard.

“These dry, windy days will suit me fine,” said Green, who was a member of the 2001 USA Walker Cup squad. “They can have that southwest humid air. They can keep that down in Tennessee.”

 Green, who is playing in his 12th Public Links, has advanced to the final match in three different USGA championships but had never won medalist honors previously. He takes the honor, but with reservations.

“It's always nice to be medalist but you're a marked man,” said Green. “I keep up with the statistics. The No.1 seed gets knocked off over half the time. I've got my work cut out. Whoever I draw, I'll start fresh. I've gotten some breaks and he didn't. He'll probably play better than he's been playing and I probably won't play as good, but that doesn't mean I can't win.”

Ryan Moore, 21, of Puyallup, Wash., the 2002 champion and 2004 NCAA individual, was one stroke behind Green at 132 after shooting the day's low round, a 5-under-par 67, which included five birdies.

“It wasn't what I exactly set out here to do,” said Moore of the possibility of winning medalist honors. “I wasn't going for trying to take it real low but obviously I'm not going to step up to 2-footers and try to miss them.”

Moore, who won the Sahalee Players Championship in Seattle, Wash., on Saturday and arrived in the Minneapolis area early Sunday morning after a red-eye flight, has scored at par or better in 34 of his last 35 competitive rounds since last October.

Chris Stroud, 22, of Groves, Texas, and a first-team All-American at Lamar University, who was the semifinalist in both 2002 and 2003, added a 69 to his first day's 64 and trailed Green by two strokes.

“I knew the wind was going to pick up,” said Stroud. “With firm greens and [flagsticks] tucked and with wind, it's going to be tough. It's a totally different golf course (Tuesday).”

Testimony to the difficulty of the 7,132-yard, par 72 layout brought with the wind were the 16 sub-par scores in the second round, compared to the 45 in Monday's play.

In a positive turnaround, Daryl Fathauer, 18, Jensen Beach, Fla., began his round on the 10th tee and shot 42 for his first nine holes. He followed with a 30 on his second nine to tie the Public Links mark and finish with a 72. His 36-hole total of 2-over-par 146 made the cut.

The Warren G. Harding Trophy for the Team Championship, for the lowest score of two 18-hole rounds from two individuals, was awarded to San Antonio's Jay Reynolds and Terrence Miskell, who together fired a 12-under-par 276.

An 11-man playoff for the final eight places in the 64-player match play field came at 148 (4 over). After five rounds of 18-hole match play, the 36-hole championship match will be played on July 17.

The U.S. Amateur Public Links is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.