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HAMILTON, N.Y. – Local qualifying for the 126th U.S. Amateur Championship took place on Monday at Seven Oaks Golf Club. Eighty four players teed off, but only eight golfers inevitably advanced into the final stage of qualifying for this year’s national championship.

RELATED: Final Results / U.S. Amateur Home

Benjamin Sheridan, a Canadian sophomore who plays golf at Robert Morris University had the low round of the day, shooting six-under. He birdied the first hole, and made the turn at one-under at the Colgate University golf course. After another birdie on 12, Sheridan looked well on his way to qualify. A couple holes later he all but secured his spot in the next round by eagling the 410-yard 14th hole with a 60-degree wedge from 76 yards out. 

“[The pin] was kind of tucked in the front. There wasn't a lot of room to land it short, because [the ball] would just stay short, so you had to land it on, and [my ball] kind of landed perfectly, and just trickled in,” Sheridan said. “Kind of got away with one there, because honestly, I would have been happy with anything inside 12 feet.”

Sheridan followed up the eagle with two consecutive birdies on 16 and 17. An easy par on 18 wrapped up the round at six-under par.

“[I] played well, drove it pretty good, made the putts I had to make, felt steady on the back,” Sheridan said.

Canada’s Alexandre Mercier, two-time NYSGA champion Anthony Maglisco and Massachusetts native Patrick O’Leary, all tied at 4-under par to advance. Mercier and Maglisco both went bogey-free, the only two golfers to escape tricky Seven Oaks without a blemish. Mercier birdied both par 3s on the front-nine and then had back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 to secure his spot.

Maglisco had spent the four previous days winning the Central New York PGA Men’s AIM Championship by seven strokes. On Monday, the Syracuse native stayed hot by converting birdies on two of the first five holes and cruised the rest of the way. O’Leary found birdies on three par 3s including the 241-yard 11th hole and 169-yard 14th hole. Two more birdies and a lone bogey meant a four-under finish and a spot at the next round.

Christopher Kono of Connecticut, finished in fifth place at two-under par.

Three players finished tied for sixth place taking the final three automatic-qualifier spots. Thomas Grenier, Ethan Reid, and Aleck Simms each finished at one-under in order to advance. The trio of Canadians each had clutch moments down the home stretch.

Greiner was one-over through 4 and parred the 12 holes. He then eagled the 18th hole, a par 5, in order to book his place in the next round. Reid found himself three-over after the 10th hole but proceeded to pour in three straight birdies to go back to even. He birdied the short-par 4 17th hole to get to one-under and to move on. Simms, after a slow front-nine, went three-under on the back including a birdie on the final hole to move into the last qualifying position.

David Mecca and Ellis Kinnaired outlasted three other golfers to secure alternate spots 1 and 2 respectively. They finished their rounds at even par.

All contestants played only 17 holes today as the par-5, 7th hole was omitted from competition.