By Dave Shedloski

Village of Pinehurst, N.C. – Sam Saunders put on the kind of late charge Wednesday afternoon that would have made his grandfather proud. The rally staggered his opponent, Sihwan Kim, but it didn’t knock him down. Kim, a first-team All-American from Stanford University, eventually prevailed in extra holes in a first-round match at the 108^th U.S. Amateur.

Down three with three holes remaining at Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 Course, Saunders seized on the only opening Kim provided all day, converted three clutch pars, and sent the match with Kim to overtime. However, a poor drive sprayed to the right and into the trees on the 19^th hole, the par-4 first, gave Kim back the momentum, and this time he didn’t let it slip away, converting a 5-foot par putt for the 1-up decision.

Kim next faces Matt Hill of Canada, who eliminated Jamie Lovermark, 1 up. He promised to finish better. "I will need to play the same, except finish better," said Kim, 19, of Buena Park, Calif., who bogeyed the last three holes in regulation as Saunders surged.

"I gave it my all, but I guess I just ran out of gas," said Saunders, 21, who is the grandson of golf legend Arnold Palmer. "To be three down with three to go and take it to extra holes is an accomplishment, especially against a good player like Kim. I hit some good shots coming in, but it drains you when you put so much effort in to getting back to square."

Saunders said the drive on the extra hole was more costly from the standpoint of momentum. "He was leaking oil, but I think that settled him down a little bit."

Kim, who won the 2004 U.S. Junior Amateur, agreed. "When my opponent hits in the woods or something like that, all I need to do is just hit the fairway and hit the green, and most likely I'll win, so that kind of kept the pressure down."

That didn’t mean the finish was easy or in any way routine. Saunders, attempting to hit "an all or nothing shot" through a hole in the trees, struck a branch with his second offering and caromed even deeper into the woods. However, Kim played too safely on his second from the fairway, pulling his wedge shot slightly to a portion of the green that fed into the left front bunker. Saunders skied a wedge over the trees and onto the green with his third, but his ball trickled into a hollow off the front edge. He putted up to about 2 feet to ensure a bogey.

Kim, off a slight uphill lie, splashed out to 5 feet, and then drained the putt.

That was one of many key putts he sank all day in a match in which each player managed to convert his share.

Saunders kept his hopes alive with two bloodless strokes on the par-3 15^th and 17^th holes. The first, from 8 feet, kept him alive after Kim had made a 10-foot par putt. The second was an uphill 6-footer for a par to win his second hole in a row. He pumped his fist as the putt dropped after escaping the left bunker.

Kim’s momentum evaporated on the 501-yard par-4 16^th hole when he caught a bad break. His drive faded toward the right fairway bunker, but instead of going into the sand, it hung up in high native grasses on the far side. All he could do was hack out and he ended up conceding the hole.

"Definitely, it cut my mojo," Kim said. "I was putting well and hitting really well to that point. But that little thing kind of cuts my mojo, but it was kind of my fault, because I needed to get back right on it, but I guess that didn't quite happen today."

Instead, Kim hit his approach on 17 into the front right bunker and couldn’t get up and down. On the 18^th, while Saunders smashed a drive 328 down the middle of the fairway to set up a wedge and easy par, Kim found the rough, hit over the green, and missed a 10-footer that would have ended it.

If Saunders lost the match anywhere, it was on the two par 5s where he carded bogeys. On the fourth hole a poor drive cost him. On No. 10, he was in the middle of the fairway from 276 yards and tried to hit a sling hook into the green. Instead, he smother-hooked his ball into the left trees, which put him 3 down.

"That definitely hurt, especially when there are only two par 5s and you make bogeys," said Saunders, a junior at Clemson University. "I gave up too much on those holes."

Still, he almost made it all the way back. "I will definitely learn from this," he said. "That was the most pressure I have ever faced, and I played some pretty good golf coming in. Sihwan played really well, though, and he made a couple fewer mistakes. That was the difference."

Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on www.usamateur.org.