SAN FRANCISCO — When the roars reverberate across the hills of The Olympic Club, there’s no question which group they’re coming from.
Niall Shiels Donegan was born in Scotland, but his family moved to Mill Valley, California, when he was three, after his mother took a job in the Bay Area. His father, Lawrence Donegan, is a longtime golf journalist, so it’s fitting that Shiels Donegan was born on the Thursday of the 2005 Open Championship.
Mill Valley is roughly half an hour north of San Francisco, so Shiels Donegan has been able to stay at home this week and make the drive across the Golden Gate Bridge each morning to compete in the 2025 U.S. Amateur. Droves of family friends and supporters from Mill Valley have also made their way over the bridge, and their presence at The Olympic Club has been felt all week.
Shiels Donegan is one of eight quarterfinalists at the U.S. Amateur, and he’s by far the biggest crowd favorite among those left standing. Whenever he wins a hole, his support group cheers so strongly that it sends vibrations through the fog lingering around the property.
And the fog has been shaking plenty this week.
All three of Shiels Donegan’s matches have gone to the 18th hole, and every time he has made a putt to win, but none was bigger than the one he made Thursday night to knock off the medalist and world No. 4 Preston Stout and punch his ticket into the final eight.
The celebration only got stronger as he walked up the hill for his Golf Channel interview. “Niall, Niall, Niall,” the boisterous crowd screamed. They surrounded him like a celebrity on the red carpet, and as the TV cameras turned to him for an interview, it was a scene even too good for Hollywood.
“Elated, ecstatic. Yeah, it’s amazing,” Shiels Donegan said. “Just trying to enjoy the moment right now and get ready for tomorrow.
“I think I’ve done a really good job this week of controlling that adrenaline and using it only when I need to, just every shot refocusing, not getting ahead of myself, staying in the present. But, yeah, it’s hard sometimes when you’ve got the crowd around this amphitheater of the 18th green, you’re shaking a little bit.”
That shaking is bound to continue Friday, as he takes on fellow Walker Cup hopeful Jacob Modleski at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time in the first quarterfinal match.
In his match against Stout, Shiels Donegan was 2 down after four holes against a player who had looked unbeatable at times this week. But match play is about momentum, and there were plenty of shifts Thursday afternoon between the duo.
Shiels Donegan won four of the next five holes to go 2 up at the turn, but then Stout responded, winning three straight holes to go 1 up with five to play. The match flipped again at 15, when Shiels Donegan hit a wedge to about 8 feet on the short par-3 and made birdie. He birdied the ensuing par-5, and the lead was his again.
“In the morning, Christiaan Maas hit a similar shot to his that flew a bit further and got past the back ridge,” Shiels Donegan said. “I thought he’d done something similar to that. In the morning, I’d hit one club extra, and it moved quite a bit left. Took the club down one and just hit it hard.
“When it was flying, I was thinking, if this is the number, it could be good. Then I heard the roars, and I was like, oh, tap-in maybe? Then I came up and it was eight foot, and I was like, ‘oh, dang.'”
Shiels Donegan buried a bomb for birdie on 17, forcing Stout to make to extend the match. He did, and they marched to the 18th tee. Stout had a birdie look to win it but missed, giving Shiels Donegan a 5-footer to advance, and there was no doubt.
The crowd went into a frenzy one more time.
“I kind of black out whenever that happens. I just do whatever feels right,” Shiels Donegan said. “I just try and hit the shots and see what happens.”
Friday is bound to be more hectic at Olympic Club, as the local favorite and rising North Carolina junior takes on Modleski, who himself was a witness to the pandemonium taking place in front of him all day.
“There’s not much I can do about it,” Modleski said of being the villain come Friday. “I’m just looking forward to tomorrow and whatever tomorrow brings.”
Regardless of the result, it’s bound to bring more reverberations through the hills of The Olympic Club.
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