(Editor’s note: Golfweek’s Cameron Jourdan is following all the action from Olympic Club. Check out his updates from the second round here.)
SAN FRANCISCO — Standing in the rough right of the 18th green, Preston Stout faced a devious task.
The pin sat in the front portion of the back-to-front sloped putting surface, and Stout had no room for error. He attacked the ball with his wedge, but it came up about a foot short, tumbling back down the hill and sitting on a tuft of grass. With a bunker between he and the pin, he hit a nifty pitch to about 8 feet before pouring in the closing par putt.
It may not have been his best shot of the day, but it certainly was a bow on what was the best round during the stroke-play portion of the 2025 U.S. Amateur.
Stout, the rising junior at Oklahoma State and fourth-ranked amateur in the world, signed for a 5-under 65 on Tuesday at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course, the best round of the week and one that helped him claim medalist honors of the biggest amateur championship in the world.
“I think it just tells me that my games in a good spot,” Stout said. “The tournament starts over tomorrow, so doesn’t mean that much, but just tells me that my games where it needs to be and that I’m playing nicely.”
Stout, a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team who won the Northeast Amateur by eight shots earlier this summer, had six birdies and only one bogey on his card, but his finish was stellar. He birdied Nos. 15-17, taking advantage of Olympic Club’s consecutive par 5s on Nos. 16-17, then his clutch par save on 18 salvaged his stellar Tuesday in the Bay Area.
“The back nine is pretty gettable,” he said. “I think a lot of wedges, short irons. I just try to be patient and go and attack on the back.”
Stout has had a stellar summer, and the medalist honor is just another bullet point on his resume. On his bag this week is Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton, who caddied Viktor Hovland to the U.S. Amateur title at Pebble Beach in 2018. He also was looping when Peter Uihlein won the U.S. Amateur in 2010 at Chambers Bay.
“Just helps me make some smarter decisions, you know, stuff like, sometimes I’m like to attack a little too much, so he kind of keeps me playing a little safe,” Stout said. “He’s awesome. He’s the man.”
Now, he has Stout as the No. 1 seed heading into Wednesday’s match play, where anything can happen. Last year, Cowboy teammate Ethan Fang, who earlier this summer won the British Amateur and finished runner-up at the Western Amateur, was the No. 64 seed in match play and made a run to the quarterfinals.
Stout topped Tommy Morrison by two shots after stroke play and is four ahead of top-ranked junior Miles Russell, who finished runner-up to Stout in the Northeast Amateur.
But stroke play at the U.S. Amateur belonged to Stout. Now it’s time to shift gears.
“I love match play,” he said. “I think it’s the best form of golf, and it’s super fun, yeah, I’m excited. I think one hole at time is big in match play, so just trying to just take that mentally into it.”
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