By Stuart Hall

Village of Pinehurst, N.C. — Hmmm, the choice of playing Pinehurst Resort & Country Club's fabled Donald Ross-designed No. 2 course or the revamped No. 4 course?

For Jamie Lovemark and Kevin O'Connell the choice was made simple early Monday afternoon at the 108^th U.S. Amateur Championship. After shooting 4-over-par 74 and 2-over 72, respectively, on the No. 4 course, they each were chomping for a piece of No. 2.

"It will be a blast," said O'Connell, 20, of nearby Cary, N.C. "I walked [No. 2] yesterday and it didn't look all that much different than the way it played during the North & South."

The Lovemark-O'Connell pairing, which also featured Andrew Widmar of El Paso, Texas, was a significant match play qualifying pairing in that it pitted two semifinalists from last month's North & South Amateur Championship, which was contested on the same Nos. 2 and 4 courses.

In that meeting, Lovemark rolled to a convincing 6-and-4 victory on the No. 2 course, and eventually lost to Matt Savage in 40 holes in the scheduled 36-hole final.

But for both O'Connell and Lovemark, the experience was invaluable.

"You have to play it a couple of times to appreciate and understand it," said Lovemark, 20, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., and a two-time All-American at the University of Southern California. "Especially around the greens."

His opinion remained resolute in the intervening six weeks.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow," he said. "I just feel more comfortable on No. 2 and tend to play better on it than this course. It suits me better and I've played it more."

Lovemark, the 2007 NCAA Championship medalist and member of the victorious U.S. Walker Cup team, had better hope that remains the case on Tuesday when he has a 1:05 p.m. tee time off the No. 10 tee. The top 64 players from the field of 315 players advance to Wednesday's first round of match play.

"Overall, I played pretty awful," said Lovemark of his Monday round that featured four bogeys. "I have a lot of things to work on."

O'Connell, a University of North Carolina sophomore who was the ACC Freshman of the Year, was of better spirits. O'Connell went out in 2-under-par 33, but brought in a 6-over 39.

"I played beautifully, hit the ball great. I just need to tidy up some putting tomorrow and a couple of better decisions if I do hit it into the rough," said O'Connell. "Today, I just got a couple of doubles on the back, hit it into the rough and tried to go for too much. Tried to go for the narrow openings near the green instead of chipping out and making a tough 4 or 5. I just got a little greedy."

O'Connell said he walked the No. 2 course on Sunday when rains saturated the course and kept players from nothing more than walking and putting. His impression was that the rough on No. 2 was less penal than on No. 4.

O'Connell, who grew up taking lessons at Pinehurst, said this experience with Lovemark was a little less daunting. First off, he didn't find himself 3 down in an instant like he did in July. Second, O'Connell followed his loss to Lovemark by going 3-0 and earning MVP honors in helping the United States win the Fuji Xerox USA vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship at Tokyo Golf Club.

The international experience was a boost to his confidence, as was his shooting a competitive course record at Salisbury Country Club in Midlothian, Va., en route to winning his sectional qualifier.

Both O'Connell and Lovemark did not believe a red number on No. 4 was essential to making the cut, because "it's hard to do that," O'Connell said. "It's not like No. 4 is a cakewalk, but it's probably the easier of the two. Something even or under par tomorrow should get into match play."

Now if No. 2 will only acquiesce.

Stuart Hall is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on www.usamateur.org.