ST. LOUIS – Dave Ryan won the U.S. Senior Amateur on Thursday for his first USGA championship, holding off Matthew Sughrue 2 up at Old Warson Country Club.
The 62-year-old Ryan, from Taylorville, Illinois, won the Illinois Senior Amateur by nine strokes last week. He beat two-time Senior Amateur champion Paul Simson in the round of 16 and two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Tim Jackson in the semifinals. Against Simson, Ryan had the third known hole-in-one on a par-4 hole in a USGA championship, acing the 270-yard 14th.
The 57-year-old Sughrue is from Arlington, Virginia.
Sughrue won the opening hole, and Ryan took the next five, making a 12-footer for birdie on No. 2, a two-putt par to Sughrue's bogey on No. 3, a 7-footer for birdie on No. 4, a 20-footer for birdie on No. 5 and a 15-footer for birdie on the par-5 sixth.
Sughrue rallied to tie, taking the par-4 11th with a par, the par-5 12th and par-3 13th with birdies and the par-4 15th with a par.
Ryan won the 621-yard, par-5 16th with a par. Sughrue missed the green left and down a ridge and his 15-footer for a halve lipped out lipped out. They halved the par-3 17th with pars, and Ryan ended the match with a conceded par on the par-4 18th.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.