Jimmy Ellis of Atlantic Seaside, by his personal account, is an unlikely U.S. Beginner medalist

Surrounded on all sides by NCAA champions, Walker Cup gamers from the U.S. and Europe, highschool children who’ve made cuts on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour and main championship low amateurs, 39-year-old Jimmy Ellis of Atlantic Seaside blitzed all of them on Tuesday within the second spherical of U.S. Amateur stroke play.

Ellis, the reigning Florida Beginner champion whose faculty golf profession peaked to no nice diploma at Ohio College, made 10 birdies and shot 61 on the Chaska City Course to complete at 10-under-par 132 and a three-shot lead over Luis Masaveu of Spain on the time his spherical completed shortly earlier than 3 p.m. (EDT).

Ellis’s lead held as much as a late dash by Duke junior Ethan Evans, who shot 63 at Chaska to complete second at 9-under. Masavaeu, North Carolina junior David Ford (68 at Hazeltine) and Virginia senior Paul Chang (71 at Hazeltine) tied at 7-under.

Because the stroke-play medalist, Ellis would be the prime seed for match play however his opponent will not be recognized till a 14-for-11 playoff to finish the 64-player subject is completed on Wednesday morning. The gamers will begin at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).

Ellis acted like probably the most shocked individual in Minnesota, a minimum of since Gov. Tim Walz obtained a fateful cellphone name two weeks in the past.

“It’s simply blind squirrel, actually,” the Atlantic Seaside Nation Membership member instructed golfweek.com. “I actually made all the things immediately. I wager if we play this event 100 instances, there’s zero p.c likelihood I might be the medalist.”

Jimmy Ellis almost breaks Billy Horschel’s U.S. Beginner file

Ellis birdied three of his final 4 holes on Monday at Hazeltine Nationwide to tie for 49^th at 1-under, then climbed 48 rungs up the leaderboard within the second spherical, serving discover with birdies on his first two holes and three of his first 5.

His solely stumble was a bogey at No. 7. All Ellis did was birdie his subsequent two holes, 4 of his subsequent six after which, simply to point out off, birdied his final three holes. He performed his final 22 holes at 13-under.

Ellis posted the second-lowest stroke-play qualifying rating within the 124-year historical past of the U.S. Beginner. There are two connections between Ellis and the record-holder: Billy Horschel is a Ponte Vedra Seaside resident and lives a couple of half-dozen miles from Ellis; and Horschel shot 60 on the identical Chaska City Course within the 2006 U.S. Beginner.

Ellis completed one shot off the 36-hole file of 131, set in 2017 by Hayden Wooden on the Riviera Nation Membership and Bel-Air Nation Membership in Los Angeles. Ellis is tied with 5 different gamers for the second-lowest 36-hole rating, with the final coming in 2020 by Wilson Furr at Bandon Dunes.

Ellis topped a subject stuffed with faculty, novice stars

And Ellis is doing it is a subject that comprises gamers reminiscent of 15-year-old Miles Russell of Jacksonville Seaside (the 2 play regularly at Atlantic Seaside), Hogan Award winner Jackson Koivun, who led Auburn to the nationwide championship, U.S. Junior Beginner winner Trevor Gutschewski, British Open low novice Calum Scott, Western Beginner champion Ian Gilligan of the College of Florida, Canadian Beginner champion Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island and Florida State participant Luke Clanton, who has completed among the many top-10 in three PGA Tour occasions this season.

“A few of the names are so humorous,” he mentioned of the sector. “I simply assumed it will be [Vanderbilt star and 2022 NCAA champion] Gordon Sargent … the entire names you hear on TV. It’s humorous to see my identify. I won’t even win my membership championship.”

Who’s Jimmy Ellis?

A Pennsylvania native, Ellis moved to Atlantic Seaside 18 months in the past. He owns the Marcellus Mineral Group based mostly in Canonsburg, Pa., an organization that assists landowners on the right way to promote mineral rights if oil or pure fuel has been discovered on their property.

Ellis and his spouse Erin have a 7-year-old son, Palmer, and a 4-year-old daughter, Lilah.

Ellis shot 64 within the last spherical at Quail Valley in Vero Seaside on June 9 to win the Florida Beginner.

On the time he mentioned, “the one benefit I’ve is I do not care that a lot.”

Tyler Mawhinney stays on a roll

Ellis wasn’t the one First Coast success story in Minnesota. Mawhinney, the 16-year-old Fleming Island Excessive junior who won the Canadian Amateur final week, had six birdies and shot 67 on the Chaska City Course to complete at 2-under 142 and in a tie for twenty second.

Mawhinney, the Class 3A state particular person champion, started his spherical at No. 10, birdied Nos. 12 and 13, and atoned for a bogey on the 17^th gap with a birdie on No. 18.

He turned and birdied Nos. 3, 5 and eight, with just one extra bogey.

Miles Russell misses minimize

Russell was 8-over at one level in the course of the second spherical at Hazeltine and made a powerful run on the finish, making birdie on 4 of 5 holes on his again 9. However he closed with a 71 and at 3-over 145, missed the playoff for the ultimate match play spots by three photographs.

College of North Florida senior Brett Schell, a Bartram Path graduate, shot 76 at Hazeltine to complete at 5-over 147. Brody Stevenson, a Bartram Path graduate and sophomore at Florida Gulf Coast, shot 79 at Chaska and ended 11-over and Andrew McLauchlan, a Windfall graduate who’s a redshirt sophomore at Florida State, additionally struggled with an 80 at Hazeltine and is 13-over.

How can I watch the U.S. Beginner on TV?

Protection of the match-play rounds will on Peacock at 5-6 p.m. and Golf Channel from 6-8 p.m. from Wednesday-Friday.

Parts of the semifinals will probably be on Golf Channel Saturday from 3-6 p.m. and the championship match will probably be on Golf Channel from 2-5 p.m.

This text initially appeared on Florida Occasions-Union: Jimmy Ellis of Atlantic Beach is the U.S. Amateur stroke play medalist