Swearingen sinks two birdies at U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier

Nevada’s Owen Swearingen shot a 9-over-par 81, tying two other players for 43rd out of a field of 55, at the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifying tournament Thursday in Omaha.

On the par-72 Champions Run course, Swearingen, who will be a senior at Nevada High School in the fall, sank two birdies (both on par-5 holes) and scored par on eight holes, tallying a 40 (+4) on the front nine and a 41 (+5) on the back nine. He tied Gage Gallo of Roanoke, Texas, and Andrew Whittaker of Elkhorn, Neb.

The top four finishers — Hunter Swanson (-3), Will Hennessee (-2), Luke Gutschewski (-2), and Coltrane Mittag (-2), the latter three of whom had to battle it out with other golfers in a playoff — automatically qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship later this month at the Country Club of North Carolina.