FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s golf team continues to shine after capturing its first NCAA Division II National Championship this spring, as incoming freshman Hunter O’Mahony (Tequesta, Fla.) has qualified to compete at the U.S. Amateur Championship in August.
 
O’Mahony posted a two-round score of 144, even par, to capture the medalist honors at his sectional qualifier at The Wanderers Club in Wellington, Fla. Gary Nicklaus, son of former PGA player Jack, finished one stroke behind O'Mahony and also advanced to the U.S. Amateur.
 
The U.S. Amateur will be hosted at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. from Aug. 13 through the 19. The par-71 course will play at 7,432 yards, the fourth longest course in U.S. Amateur history. The USGA accepted a total of 6,443 entries for the 2012 tournament, with 44 exemptions and 131 sectional qualifiers (through July 23) earning the right to play at Cherry Hill.
 
Competition begins with a pair of stroke-play qualifying rounds Aug. 13-14, trimming the field to 64 players. The top 64 players after the first two rounds of golf then advance to match-play competition that begins with round one Wednesday, Aug. 15 and concludes with the championship round Sunday, Aug. 19.
 
The Golf Channel will provide television coverage of the first and third rounds of match play Aug. 15-16 from 3-5 p.m., and also the quarterfinal round on Aug. 17 from noon-2 p.m. NBC will air the weekend’s semifinals and championship rounds coverage from 4-6 p.m., Aug. 18-19.
 
HISTORY: This is the 112th U.S. Amateur Championship. The U.S. Amateur Championship is the oldest golf championship in this country, one day older than the U.S. Open. Except for an eight-year period, 1965-1972, when it was stroke play, the Amateur has been a match-play championship.
 
Throughout its history, the U.S. Amateur has been the most coveted of all amateur titles. Many of the great names of professional golf, such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Craig Stadler, Jerry Pate, Mark O'Meara, Hal Sutton, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, grace the Havemeyer Trophy.
 
It was, however, legendary amateur Robert T. Jones Jr., who first attracted national media coverage and sparked spectator attendance at the U.S. Amateur. Jones captured the championship five times (1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1930). His 1930 victory was a seminal moment in golf history when, at Merion Cricket Club in Ardmore, Pa., Jones completed the Grand Slam, winning the four major American and British championships in one year.
 
Sixty-six years later, in 1996, Tiger Woods attracted similar interest and enthusiasm at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore., when he won a record third straight U.S. Amateur, having registered 18 consecutive match-play victories. In 1994, Woods, at 18, had first entered the record book as the youngest ever to win the Amateur Championship, following his three consecutive Junior Amateur titles (1991-1993). That record has since been broken twice, first by 17-year-old Danny Lee in 2008 at Pinehurst No. 2 in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C., and then in 2009, when 17-year-old Byeong-Hun An won at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., with a 7-and-5 victory over Ben Martin, of Greenwood, S.C.