Aug. 25, 2011
ERIN, Wis. - San Diego State men's golfer Todd Baek (Auckland, New Zealand/Rancho Bernardo HS) lost a heartbreaker in the first round of match play, falling to reigning NCAA individual champion John Peterson in 22 holes Thursday at the 2011 U.S. Amateur Championship in Erin, Wis. Baek, who tied for 31st at the end of two rounds of stroke play, was the lone Aztec of four who participated in the 315-golfer field to advance to the match play portion of the tournament.
Baek and Peterson started their first-round match at Erin Hills late on Wednesday afternoon after the second round of stroke play was delayed due to inclement weather. The Rancho Bernardo High product got off to a strong start, going 3 up through the first three holes. Peterson, however, battled back to cut his deficit to just one down following the eighth, 11th and 14 holes as play was suspended for the day.
Resuming action Thursday morning, Baek regained a two-hole advantage after posting a birdie on the par-4 15th. Peterson answered again with a birdie on the 16th and the two both notched pars on the 17th. Needing to just halve the 675-yard 18th hole, Baek instead carded a bogey to Peterson's par continuing the match at all square.
Both golfers pared the first three extra holes, but Baek got into some trouble in a greenside bunker on the par-4 4th and ended up bogeying as Peterson two-putted for par to win the match.
Despite the loss, Baek capped an impressive freshman campaign and offseason that saw him also advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in July and tie for 10th place at the NCAA championships in June. A freshman All-American, he had a 72.26 stroke average and logged seven top-10 finishes in 2010-11.
Baek and the rest of the Aztecs will return to campus next week to prepare for their 2011 fall tournament schedule which will get underway next month.