Playing perhaps the match of his life, Burtonsville’s Denny McCarthy made seven birdies Friday morning in the U.S. Junior Amateur quarterfinals and needed every one to subdue Richard Jung of Canada in 19 holes, 1 up.
The 17-year-old McCarthy, a senior at Georgetown Prep, overcame a two-hole deficit after nine holes and made birdies on the final three, including the first sudden-death hole, to advance to the semifinal round Friday afternoon at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich.
The Virginia-bound McCarthy will face Alabama-bound Justin Thomas of Goshen, Ky., a quarterfinal winner, 2 and 1, over Scott Wolfes of St. Simons Island, Ga. Their match begins at 1 p.m.
McCarthy is bidding to win the biggest tournament in junior golf. Past champions include Johnny Miller, David Duval, and Tiger Woods (1991-93), the only player to win more than one Junior Am title. No player from the Washington area has ever won the event, which dates to 1948.
Few matches in the history of the tournament have been as fiercely-contested as the one between McCarthy and Jung, players who were eliminated in the round of 32 last year. Jung, a 17-year-old from Toronto, had played the previous three match-play rounds in 4-under-par. He was even better on the front nine Friday, making five birdies, shooting a 31.
But McCarthy was nearly as good. The Argyle Country Club product matched three of Jung’s front-nine birdies, to stay close at 2 down, a deficit he sliced in half with a birdie 3 at No. 10.
Jung remained 1 up until he made his only mistake of the match, bogeying No. 16, a 169-yard par 3. McCarthy made par to draw even.
Then the competition kicked into high gear as both players matched each other birdie-for-birdie at No. 17 and No. 18. Then on the first extra hole, McCarthy made another birdie and Jung couldn’t answer.
For the 19 holes, both players made seven birdies and one bogey each. It was McCarthy, however, who made the biggest birdie of the match and his career.