Michigan State University golfer James Piot of Canton was defeated in the 120th U.S. Amateur Championship’s round of 32 match play at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon Thursday morning.
Pepperdine University golfer William Mouw beat Piot 3 and 2 and moved on to the round of 16 Thursday afternoon. The national championship continues through Sunday.
Piot, who made it to match play via a second-place finish in the 36-holes of stroke play to start the week, led the match with Mouw 1-up through six holes.
Mouw, however, birdied holes No. 7 and 8 to take a 1-up lead and never trailed again. He went 2-up with a birdie on the par 5 No. 13 hole and then closed out the match at 16.
Piot, 21 and a senior with two years of golf eligibility remaining at MSU, called the experience great in a Wednesday night phone interview and said the Bandon Dunes courses were unique.
“It’s some place out here,” he said. “The courses are tough, especially when the wind blows hard, and it does that a lot.”
Piot has had a busy summer. He finished second in the Michigan Amateur Championship earlier this summer to Tyler Copp of Ann Arbor after being stroke play medalist, and then played in the Sunnehanna Amateur Championship in Johnstown, Pa., and in the Western Amateur Championship presented this year at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind. He missed the final 16 for match play at the Western by one shot following the 72 holes of stroke play.
-Greg Johnson
