McCarthy Defeated at U.S. Amateur Golf Championship

Rockville’s Denny McCarthy ran into a hot golfer and ended up losing, 3 and 2, to Tim Madigan of Rio Rancho, N.M., in the round of 64 at the U.S. Amateur Championship Thursday morning at the Erin Hills golf course in Erin, Wis.

The two players teed off at 6:27 p.m. Wednesday and played only three holes before play was suspended because of darkness. The match resumed early Thursday morning.

Madigan got birdies on the first three holes and was 3-up at the end of play Wednesday.  After McCarthy got a bogey on the 617-yard No. 7 hole, Madigan held a four-hole lead.

“I really didn’t get off to a good start yesterday afternoon,” said McCarthy, the Georgetown Prep High School graduate who will be attending the University of Virginia. “I missed a couple of short putts and got down early. That was really tough to come back from.”
McCarthy came back with birdies on Nos. 9, 11 and 15 to cut the deficit to two holes. However, a bogey on the par-3 16th hole ended the match.

“I was four down after nine and I was just firing at pins,” McCarthy said. ”I made a putt on nine to get me going. Then I made a good birdie on 11.”

Madigan, however, hung tough and never gave McCarthy the opening he needed to come back.

Overall, it was a solid tournament performance for the 18-year-old.  He finished with a one-over-par 73 at Erin Hills on Monday then blistered the Blue Mound Country Club with a four-under 66 on Tuesday.

“I played pretty consistently in the tournament,” McCarthy said. “I played pretty well today, it just wasn’t enough.”

Erin Hills, which played a mammoth 7,760 yards for the U.S. Amateur, provided an interesting challenge for McCarthy.

“This is really a unique course,” McCarthy said. “If you don’t keep the ball in the fairway, you’re going to be in trouble.”