Two Haas undergrads─Michael Weaver and Brandon Hagy, both BS 14─competed in the U.S. Amateur golf tournament this month, with Weaver making it all the way to the championship match and Hagy reaching the semifinals.
Weaver teed off against Steven Fox, a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, in the championship match Sunday, Aug. 19, at the 112th U.S. Amateur in Colorado. Weaver, the third Golden Bear ever to reach the event's finals, led Fox by two holes with two remaining before Fox made a late comeback to win amateur golf’s biggest prize, the Havemeyer Trophy.
Despite the heartbreaking defeat, Weaver earned an exemption to participate in the U.S. Open and also a likely invite to The Masters in 2013 by reaching the finals.
"The finish was unfortunate, but I'll grow from it," said Weaver. "It really was a great experience."
Hagy, meanwhile, reached the semifinals before also falling to Fox, Weaver and Hagy were among five Cal players to compete in the U.S. Amateur─more golfers than any other collegiate program in the nation for the second time in three years.
Both Hagy and Weaver redshirted on the golf team to gain admission into Berkeley-Haas. "I do want to attempt to play professionally, and, hopefully, make it," he was quoted saying on the U.S. Golf Association website. "But I also wanted to pursue a degree that I was interested in and something I thought would be useful should things not work out with golf.”
A third Haas student, Joël Stalter, BS 14, also plays golf for Cal but did not compete in the U.S. Amateur. Hagy and Stalter were named to the Pac-12 Conference Men's Golf All-Academic teams in June.