Fuenmayor, Kato Qualify For U.S. Amateur

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State men's golfers Mateo Fuenmayor and Sean Kato both earned a spot in the 2021 U.S. Amateur.
 
Fuenmayor won a sectional qualifying tournament in Dupont, Wash., with a 9-under 68-67--135, while Kato finished in a tie for second place with a 6-under 70-68--138.
 
The 121st U.S. Amateur will be held Aug. 9-15 at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., and the Longue Vue Club in Verona, Pa. The 312-player field will compete in 36 holes of stroke play with 64 players advancing to match play.
 
Fuenmayor played in six tournaments as a freshman this past season at Oregon State and had a scoring average of 74.29. His best finish was a tie for 14th place at the Seattle U. Redhawk Invitational.
 
Kato missed all but one tournament in 2021 with a shoulder injury. He played in all 12 tournaments as a freshman in 2018-19 and seven of the eight tournaments as a sophomore. His best career finish was a tie for fifth place at the Oregon State Invitational in the fall of 2019.
 
Championship History
The U.S. Amateur Championship is the oldest USGA championship and it was created in 1895 because of a controversy. In 1894, two clubs -- Newport (R.I.) Golf Club and New York's St. Andrew's Golf Club -- had conducted invitational tournaments to attract the nation's top amateur players. Both clubs proclaimed their winners as the national champion, while Charles Blair Macdonald, a prominent player and course architect, was the runner-up in both.  Before the final day of the St. Andrew's tournament, it was announced that an association composed of all the clubs in the United States would be formed in the ensuing months. This new national governing body would oversee a universally recognized championship and create a written set of rules.
 
With that, representatives from Newport Golf Club, St. Andrew's Golf Club, The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., and Chicago Golf Club founded the USGA on Dec. 22, 1894, and the inaugural U.S. Amateur Championship was conducted the following year, along with the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Amateur. The Amateur and Open Championships were conducted at Newport Golf Club during the same week of October and Macdonald became the first U.S. Amateur champion. Since the inaugural event, the U.S. Amateur has enjoyed an illustrious history of great champions, including Bob Jones, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods. In 1930, Jones completed his Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. Woods, in 1996, became the first to win three consecutive Amateur titles.
 
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).