Uniontown’s Maxwell Moldovan ran into an English buzz-saw in the Round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship today.
After shooting a 146 in the 36-hole stroke play qualifier at the Inverness Club in Toledo on Monday and Tuesday, Moldovan was seeded 26th in match play.
In his first match on Wednesday, he faced fellow Green Highs School teammate Cade Breitenstine of Akron, and dispatched him 3&2.
Then on Thursday morning, he faced 58th-seed Sean Curran of New Lenox, IL and earned a 2&1 victory in the Round of 32.
In the opposite Round of 32 bracket, it looked like Yuki Moriyama of Japan would handily win his match, as he had Englishman Joseph Pagdin as many as 3-down, and 2-down with three holes to play. But Pagdin made two birdies in three holes at the finish then made birdie on the first extra hole to advance — showing a super-hot hand.
That hot hand continued against Moldovan.
In the Thursday afternoon 15 holes that Moldovan played against Pagdin, Moldovan shot 1-over par on the challenging Inverness Club course. Pagdin was a sizzling 4-under par, making five birdies against a lone bogey.
Hard to beat that. Great run, Max…
