Rhode Island Connections at U.S. Amateur
The 121st U.S. Amateur is underway at famed Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.
There are two Rhode Islanders in the field and two other players with Rhode Island connections.
The Amateur starts with two days of stroke play qualifying and then match play begins later in the week.
RI Connections
Brad Valois
Valois is a four-time Rhode Island Amateur champion and three-time Junior Amateur Champion.
Nationally, Valois has competed in 18 USGA events and has made match play in the US Junior, US Mid and US Amateur championships. He has also formerly been ranked inside the top 125 WAGR both as a collegiate and mid amateur competitor.
After struggling with his game and confidence for a few years, Valois reemerged on the Rhode Island Golf scene this past year.
At this past year’s RI Amateur, Valois made it to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Bobby Leopold in an epic match that took extra holes.
A few weeks later he qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Crestwood.
Davis Chatfield
The 2016 Rhode Island Amateur Champion is having a big summer.
After making it to the semifinals of the U.S. Four Ball along with Notre Dame teammate Palmer Jackson, Chatfield finished fifth at the Northeast Amateur at Wannamoisett.
He started the final round just two shots off the lead before sliding a bit.
He took medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur qualifier at Crestwood.
Dylan Menante
Menante took home the trophy at the 2021 Northeast Amateur Championship at Wannamoisett.
The Pepperdine star posted a four-round score of 9-under par, including a bogey-free 67 in the final round.
“It’s super exciting, it has been a long wait in the process. I have had four seconds this year and lost three times in a playoff, so happy I didn’t have to go to a playoff and won outright,” Menante told GolfNewsRI after the round.
R.B. Clyburn
Clyburn’s sister Alexandria was a middle blocker on the Bryant University volleyball team in 2010 and 2011.
R.B. Clyburn is in his first U.S. Amateur after qualifying at Capital City Club.
Clyburn, a college basketball official who has worked in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), did not play golf at the collegiate level. At 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, he was a wide receiver on the Georgia Tech football team for 2½ seasons (2007-09). He later played three years of professional basketball, including two in England and one in Australia, earning an NBA D-League tryout in 2014.