OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill.– Grab your guidebooks because there’s a new Japanese sensation in the United States.
Kenta Konishi never let up on Cole Hammer on Wednesday in the Round of 64 at the U.S. Amateur, jumping out to an early 4-up lead on the 15-year-old boy wonder, watching his margin dwindle to one and then rapidly building it back up for a 4-and-3 victory.
Hammer is six years Konishi’s junior and just happy to make match play in his first appearance at the U.S. Amateur.
Make no mistake, though, this was an unknown (Konishi is 632nd in the World Amateur Golf Rankings) taking down a rising star (Hammer is Golfweek's No.