CHICAGO – Vanderbilt men’s golfer Michael Riebe had a spectacular week at the 124th Western Amateur Championship, as the rising sophomore qualified for the championship match at Beverly Country Club and ultimately earned runner-up honors at the world’s third-oldest amateur event.
Riebe survived four rounds of stroke play that began on Tuesday and won three matches to earn a spot in the title match at the Western Amateur. He dropped a 5&4 decision to Jay Leng of Stanford in Sunday’s championship. Riebe became just the second Commodore golfer to advance to the Western Amateur’s title match, joining Gordon Sargent, who accomplished the feat in 2021.
The Encinitas, California, native had to wait a day to play for a spot in the championship because the semifinals and finals, originally scheduled for Saturday, were postponed to Sunday due to rain. Riebe opened Sunday with a 1-up win over Auburn’s Logan Reilly. The sophomore had to overcome an early 2-hole deficit in his semifinal match and was tied with Reilly at the turn. Still knotted up through 16 holes, Riebe sank a roughly 30-foot putt on Hole 17 to go up for good and move on to the afternoon’s title match.
Riebe qualified for match play at the Western Amateur after carding 14-under 270 through four rounds of stroke play. He finished under par in all four rounds, posting scores of 66-69-67-68 to tie for sixth. In Friday’s Round of 16, Riebe collected a 2&1 win against Florida’s Zackary Swanwick. The Vanderbilt sophomore closed out Friday with a 4&3 victory over Kayun Mudadana in the quarterfinals.
A total of seven Vanderbilt men’s golfers were competing at the 124th Western Amateur. Sophomore Will Hartman also qualified for match play after concluding stroke play at 12-under 272. Hartman had to survive a 4-for-3 playoff at the end of stroke play to advance to the Round of 16, where he fell to Mudadana in 20 holes.
Senior Carlos Astiazaran (1-under), sophomore Jon Ed Steed (even), senior Chase Nevins (2-over), junior Ryan Downes (3-over) and freshman Luke Colton (7-over) each played in the first two rounds of stroke play at the Western Amateur.
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