SAN FRANCISCO -- The 2025 U.S. Amateur seems to have found itself with a mystery guest this week. His name is Jimmy Abdo, and he's still hanging around after two more victories on Thursday.
After scraping through 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying at The Olympic Club's Lakeside Course, making two late birdies in the second round Tuesday afternoon and surviving a 20-man playoff (for 17 spots) Wednesday morning, Abdo had to rally Wednesday afternoon to win his first match (Round of 64) 1 up against the No. 4 seed, Logan Reilly. Abdo was 2 down with eight holes to go, but proceeded to make four birdies in a row down the stretch (Nos. 14 through 17) and dispatch the Auburn recruit, who is widely considered the top college prospect in the country.
Abdo survived an even closer call Thursday afternoon, when he was forced to make a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to defeat Northwestern star Daniel Svard, 1 up once again, this time in a Round of 16 match.
Earlier in the day, he beat the University of Houston's Wolfgang Glawe 4&3 in the Round of 32. Abdo was only 1 up after nine, but he's been a birdie machine on the back nine at Lakeside, and he separated himself from Glawe by going 3 under on holes 10 through 15.
For the most part, the match-play portions of the U.S. Am are filled every year with top players from big-name Division I colleges, and the occasional youthful phenom, three-time champion Tiger Woods being a prime example of that. This year, it's Miles Russell, a 16-year-old lefty who made the cut in a couple of Korn Ferry Tour events last year, when he was 15.
Like Abdo, Russell has made his way through the first three rounds and will play Oklahoma State All-American Eric Lee in Friday's quarterfinal round.
Another player getting lots of attention is Arkansas senior-to-be John Daly II, the son of two-time major champion John Daly, Sr. A long-hitter, although probably not as long as his father was in his prime, the younger Daly knocked off Daniel Bennett 3&2. Bennett, formerly the No. 1-ranked junior in South Africa, will be sophomore at Texas this fall.
But in addition to Russell and the college stars, there is also Abdo. Not only did he go virtually unrecruited through his junior and senior years at Edina High School, but even after he helped the Hornets win a state team championship in 2024, there was no interest from DI coaches.
So he decided to play DIII and headed off to Gustavus Adolphus College. It was noted in a story about Abdo this week that there might not be another player in the U.S. Am field who could tell you that Gustavus is located in St. Peter, Minn.
Abdo played well enough as a Gustie freshman to be chosen as the MIAC Rookie of the Year, and when the college season was over, he put his name in the Transfer Portal, hoping that there might -- finally -- be some interest from at least a couple of DI coaches.
There wasn't.
So Abdo will be going back to Gustavus for his sophomore year, starting in another few weeks. But in the meantime he's showing that his golf skills are considerably greater than he's gotten credit for until now.
Nearly every other player who made it past the round of 32 is in the top 200 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Svard is No. 57. Glawe is No. 76, and Reilly 156.
Abdo is 4292 -- but with a bullet.
"Being the underdog," he said Thursday, "I feel like there's way less pressure on me to perform well. I feel I can go out there and play pretty free. That's what I did for most of the holes out there today."
U.S. Amateur
At The Olympic Club -- Lakes Course
Par 70, 7,185 yards
San Francisco
Stroke-play qualifying (top 64 advanced to match play)
1. Preston Stout 67-65--132
2. Tommy Morrison 66-67--13
3. Miles Russell 70-66--13
4. Logan Reilly 67-70--137
T5. Nate Smith 69-69--138
T5. Reed Greyserman 69-69--138
T5. Bryan Kim 70-68--138
T48. Jimmy Abdo 72-71--143
What it took -- 143 (20-man playoff for 17 spots)
Andrew Ramos 73-73--146
Matthew Armstrong 79--76--145
Nate Stevens 80-75--155
Match play
Round of 64 (seedings in parentheses)
(61) Abdo def. (4) Reilly 1 up
Round of 32
(61) Abdo def. (29) Wolfgang Glawe 4&3
Round of 16
(61) Abdo def. (13) Daniel Svard 1 up
(37) Jackson Herrington def. (53) Caleb Bond 20 holes
(49) Niall Shiels Donegan def. (1) Preston Stout 1 up
(56) Jacob Modleski def. (57) Paul Chang 2 up
(63) Mason Howell def. (47) Max Herendeen 2&1
(26) John Daly II def. (10) Daniel Bennett 3&2
(3) Miles Russell def. (19) Mahanth Chirravuri 2&1
(11) Eric Lee def. (38) Josh Duangmanee 2 up