Peters Township grad shoots 61 to take medalist honors at U.S. Amateur

Peters Township graduate Jimmy Ellis began the week with little to no expectation at the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship.

Ellis, who now lives in Atlantic Beach, Fla., had to buy golf balls and a glove from the pro shop for the second round of stroke play.

The stakes began to get higher Tuesday as his score went lower.

Ellis, 39, made 10 birdies on the way to a 61 at Chaska Town Course in Chaska, Minn. to secure medalist honors for stroke play. His 9-under-par round put him at 10-under 132, one shot better than Ethan Evans, a junior at Duke.

Ellis nearly made a 30-foot eagle putt on No. 18. He was 13-under on his last 22 holes.

The top 64 out of 312 players advance to match play at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Ellis, an oil and gas landman for Marcellus Mineral Group in Canonsburg, is the 2024 Florida state amateur champion. He climbed 48 spots after a 1-under 71 in the first round.

He is playing in his second U.S. Amateur and sixth USGA championship.

Ellis is a former Pennsylvania Open and Pittsburgh Open champion. He helped lead Peters Township to a WPIAL championship in 2004.

“It’s just blind squirrel,” Ellis told the USGA. “I literally made everything today. I bet if we play this tournament 100 times, there’s zero percent chance I would be the medalist.

“(My goal this week was) just try to sneak into match play and try to upset some big name. That would have been the cool thing to do. But this is just weird.”

The 132 total was one shot off the tournament stroke-play record set by Hayden Wood at The Riviera Country Club and Bel Air Country Club in 2017.

Billy Horschel shot 60 at Chaska Town Course during the 2006 U.S. Amateur.

Franklin Regional and Notre Dame graduate Palmer Jackson made it to match play. He was tied for 22nd at 2-under 140 with a 14-players-for-11-spots playoff set to happen Wednesday morning before seeds are official and the bracket is set.

An Ohio University alum, Ellis became the first mid-amateur medalist at the U.S. Amateur in more than a decade. Mid-amateurs, in the spirit of the title, are players who are out of college, at least 25 and are not pursuing a professional golf career.

Three other local players, J.F. Aber of Sewickley and Matt Mattioli and Amani D’Ambrosio of Pittsburgh, all missed the cut.