It hasn’t been an Aussie invasion, precisely, maybe more of an intrusion, but those from Down Under have left an indelible mark on USGA championships this summer, including a historic US Mid-Amateur victory from Lukas Michel on Friday morning (AEST).
Michel, 25, became the first foreign-born player in its 39-year history to win the US Mid-Am, defeating Joseph Deraney of Tupelo, Mississippi, 2 and 1, in the 36-hole final at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colorado.
He also became the second Australian native to win a USGA event this summer, joining US Women’s Amateur champion Gabriela Ruffels. A third Australian, Sue Wooster, was the runner-up in the US Senior Women’s Amateur, while Karl Vilips, 18, reached the quarter-finals of the US Amateur.
Deraney was 3up through 10 holes and again was 3up through 23 holes, at which point Michel mounted a comeback. He squared the match with a birdie on the 30th hole, then birdied the 33rd and 34th holes, both par 5s, to go 2up. He closed out the match on the penultimate hole by matching Deraney’s par.
Lukas Michel has done it!
The #USMidAm goes to the Aussie! pic.twitter.com/hxW5ofkLXx
— USGA (@USGA) September 19, 2019
It was an upset victory by any measure, save, perhaps, for age. Deraney, 36 and a reinstated amateur, has been on a roll this summer, beginning with his second-place finish in the Carlton Woods Invitational in early May. He missed the cut in the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open (for which he qualified by virtue of his victory in the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur the year before), then in succession won the Mississippi State Amateur, the Greenwood Invitational and the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur for the second year in a row.
INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY
With a 2&1 victory over Joseph Deraney in the #USMidAm final, Lukas Michel, of Australia, became the first international winner in the championship’s 39-year history. pic.twitter.com/dbWwnTvQSN
— USGA (@USGA) September 19, 2019
Deraney, who starred in college golf at the University of Mississippi, was 217th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, while Michel was 281st.
The victory earns Michel an exemption into the US Open at Winged Foot and likely an invitation to the Masters next year.
“Pros can play their whole life and not get that opportunity,” Michel said. “Nothing gets better than that, I don’t think.”
