Trae Cassell earns U.S. Senior Am medal as defending champ falls

Trae Cassell claimed medalist honors at the U.S. Senior Amateur, finishing 36 holes of stroke play at 5 under to earn the No. 1 seed heading into match play at Baltimore Country Club in Lutherville, Maryland.

How did stroke play finish?

Cassell, of Rancho Santa Fe, California, posted rounds of 68 and 67 to finish seven shots ahead of the next-closest players, Brian Quackenbush, Mike Fritz and Louis Brown, who tied for second at 2 over. Brown won the championship in 2024. "I hit the ball well and I thought my way around pretty well," Cassell said.

Who was eliminated before match play began?

A 13-for-3 playoff was needed to fill the bottom of the 156-player bracket. Marc Ehudin, D. Scott Mackesy and Niketan Desai advanced, with Desai immediately drawing Cassell as his first-round opponent. Defending champion Mike McCoy, recent Golfweek Senior Amateur winner Todd Doss and Rick Cloninger, part of the winning 2025 International Senior Invitational team, were among those eliminated in the playoff.

Who else is in contention?

Kevin VandenBerg, who has spent nearly three years atop Golfweek's National Senior Amateur Rankings, tied for fifth and took the No. 6 seed. Bryan Hoops, winner of multiple Golfweek events and this summer's British Senior Amateur, tied for eighth. Jason Pridmore, a former professional motorcycle racer ranked 11th by Golfweek and this year's Trans-Miss Senior Amateur winner, tied for 15th in his second U.S. Senior Am start.

Match play continues through Thursday, when a champion will be crowned.