Clemson senior Ben Martin finished runner-up Sunday afternoon in the championship match of the U.S. Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club. Martin was defeated 7 & 5 by Byeong-Hun An, who at age 17 became the youngest winner in the history of the prestigious amateur event.The 36-hole championship match brought a close to a grueling week for Martin. It began on Monday, when the Greenwood, S.C. product fired an opening round 73 during the first day of stroke play. He followed that with a two-under par 68 in the second round, which positioned him as one of the top seeded players for the match play portion of the championship.
Martin then won five matches to advance to the finals. He defeated Tyson Alexander in 21 holes during his first match play event. In the second round of match play, he knocked off Chris Ward of McKinney, Texas in 19 holes. He beat his third-round opponent, Nico Geyger of Chile, by a score of 2 & 1. In the quarterfinals, Martin again won by a score of 2 & 1, defeating David Lingmerth of Sweden. On Saturday, Martin put together his best effort during the match play portion of the event and won 5 & 4 against Texas senior Charlie Holland in the semifinals.
