ATLANTA, Ga. - From the vast hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to all across the United States, App State men's golf alum Josh Nichols is blazing a trail through the amateur golf world.
Nichols spent his four years of college from 2009-13 at Appalachian State playing under head coach Bill Dicus. He sits in the top five for several team records such as eighth in lowest individual single-season stroke average (2012-13 season) and tied for first for lowest 18-hole tournament round at 65, which is 7-under-par.
Since graduating, Nichols has been competing in amateur events across the nation, and as of Thursday night he's on the brink of a major breakthrough at the U.S. Mid-Amateur in Atlanta, Georgia.
Throughout this week he has surged his way through two rounds of stroke play and five more rounds of match play. The initial field of 264 golfers has been whittled down to two finalists – the App State grad from Kernersville, North Carolina, and former pro golfer Matt Parziale of Brockton, Massachusetts.
The two will square off in a 36-hold final match play event Friday for the title of 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion. The final begins at 8 a.m. ET on the par-70 Capital City Club's Crabapple Course.
The rewards for the champion are hefty. While both finalists are exempt into the 2018 U.S. Amateur (Pebble Beach, Calif.), the champion will receive a full exemption from local and sectional qualifying into the 2018 U.S. Open (Southampton, N.Y.) and a likely invitation to the 2018 Masters (Augusta, Ga.).
In the semifinals, Nichols defeated Mark Harrell of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, when he sank a 6½-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 1-up victory. He outlasted Scott Anderson, the No. 3 seed, for a 2-up win in the quarterfinals.
Over his previous four events played, Nichols finished top five in all of them and won twice. Those wins came back-to-back at the Triad Amateur Golf Classic (-2) and the 93rd Carolinas Open (-8). His tie for third place in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifying at Colonial Country Club qualified him for the U.S. Mid-Am for the second straight year.
Follow live scoring of the championship match here: http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/championships/2017/u-s--mid-amateur-/scoring.html.
