Making match play at the U.S. Amateur is no easy task. The field starts with 312 players and has to be whittled down to 64—eliminating almost 80 percent of those who qualified after just two days. A bad stretch during the two rounds of stroke-play qualifying makes the challenge that much more difficult, as some of the top-ranked amateurs in the game learned over the last two days during opening play at Hazeltine National and Chaska Town Course in Minnesota.

To make it to match play this year, you had to shoot at least an even-par 142 score. And while a 14-for-11 playoff is taking place Wednesday to finalize that last few spots in the match-play bracket, these 11 golfers considered among the favorites to hold the Havemeyer Trophy at the start of the week have already seen their dreams fade away.

Jackson Koivon

Dylan Buell

Score: Two-over 144
World Amateur Golf Ranking: 3
Koivon was a dominant player during his freshman season at Auburn, winning all three national POY awards. He was also a quarterfinalist at Cherry Hills last year. But after shooting a 68 on Monday at Chaska Town Course , a second-round 76 dashed his chances in Minnesota.

Ian Gilligan

Score: One-over 143
WAGR: 9
Two weeks ago, Gilligan survived the longest playoff in Western Amateur history during the championship match to claim the prestigious title. An opening-round 76 at Hazeltine on Monday proved too much to overcome.

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Stewart Hagestad

Score: Three-over 145
WAGR: 15
The three-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion is the only mid-amateur to have reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur in the last 10 years, doing it twice (2020, 2022). But four bogeys in five holes at Hazeltine National on Monday cost him.

Hiroshi Tai

C. Morgan Engel

Score: 15-over 157
WAGR: 22
The reigning NCAA champion from Georgia Tech was out of sorts at Chaska Town Course on Monday, shooting a 78.

Maxwell Ford

Score: Seven-over 149
WAGR: 35
His brother David advanced to match play, but the 21-year-old All-American at North Carolina with a solid match-play record shot a 78 at Hazeltine to prevent him from moving on.

Parker Bell

Score: Two-over 144
WAGR: 56
Bell reached the semifinals last year at Cherry Hills but was yet another player done in my Hazeltine National, shooting 75 there on Tuesday.

Miles Russell

Raj Mehta

Score: Three-over 145
WAGR: 86
Earlier this summer, the 15-year-old lefty from Atlantic Beach, Fla., became the youngest player to make the cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event. It led to an invite into the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. But the reigning AJGA player of the year stumbled to a 74 at Chaska Town Course on Monday.

Blades Brown

Tracy Wilcox

Score: Four-over 146
WAGR: 94
Co-medalist a year ago at Cherry Hills, the 17-year-old looked to be in good shape with a 71 at Hazeltine on Monday, but was undone by a 75 at Chaska Town Course in Round 2.

Jasper Stubbs

Joel Marklund

Score: Two-over 144
WAGR: 231
The Australian qualified after winning last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur title and had played at the Masters and Open Championship this year. But the good mojo from that victory didn’t travel with him to the U.S.

Trevor Gutschewski

Score: 12-over 154
WAGR: 499
Winner of the U.S. Junior last month at Oakland Hills, the 17-year-old had hopes of becoming the first to then win the U.S. Amateur title the same year, as Rianne Malixi just did on the women’s side. A pair of 77s ended that dream, although Gutschewski’s Junior title still gets him into next summer’s U.S. Open.

John Daly II

Score: Four-over 146
WAGR: 581
Son of the famed two-time major winner, Daly II was making his U.S. Amateur debut. But a two-over 72 at Chaska Town Course followed by a two-over 74 at Hazeltine caused him to exit early.