By Marc Weems
Youngstown State University men’s golfer Kevin Scherr qualified for the 2018 U.S. Amateur Championship after posting rounds of 71 and 73 at Woodmore Country Club in Mitchellville, Md. on July 18. After that, he played at the Amateur at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Pebble Beach hosted the U.S. Amateur for the first time since 1999 and for the fifth time overall. The tournament, which is organized by the United States Golf Association (USGA), has served as a proving ground for some of the best golfers in PGA Tour history.
Past winners of the event include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Spyglass Hill Golf Course will co-host the tournament during medal play for the second time.
Scherr is coming off an impressive freshman campaign in which he earned two top-10 finishes and was YSU’s top finisher on two occasions. He participated in all 11 tournaments and 30 rounds while averaging a team-best 76.7 strokes per round.
Scherr also led the Penguins at the Horizon League Championships with a three round 224 (73-75-76) to notch a career-best, sixth-place finish.
Scherr was a standout at Nazareth High School in Nazareth, Pa. He competed in 31 junior men’s amateur and high school tournaments, with a 0.0 USGA Handicap Index.
As a senior and team captain, he led Nazareth to an undefeated regular season and conference and district titles and a second-place finish at the state championships. The Lehigh Valley Golf Hall of Fame has presented him with the Lehigh Valley Junior Golf Tour Player of the Year Award each of the last three years (2015-2017).
Scherr was one of 312 golfers in the tournament field after 7,463 qualifying entries were accepted. Any amateur golfer whose handicap index did not exceed 2.4 was eligible to compete at one of the 79 sectional qualifying sites from July 2-25.
Despite not qualifying for the last two rounds and finals, Scherr finished a +11 with rounds of 78 and 76 at the U.S. Amateur with four birdies. He finished T-193 which was ahead of 108 other golfers.
YSU’s first match is the Turning Stone Tiger Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Missouri at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y. on Sept. 2.