MAPLE GROVE, Minn. -- Danny Green, who set the stroke-play record at the U.S. Amateur Public Links, had to go four extra holes to win his first-round match on Wednesday. Green, of Jackson, Tenn., needed 22 holes to win a seesaw match against Martin Catalioto, the lowest seed out of the 64 who qualified for match play at Rush Creek Golf Club.
Green, 47, was 2 up after 13 holes. Catalioto, a 21-year-old from Ramsey, N.J., then won 15 and 16. The match was even until Catalioto had to chip out from under a tree and bogeyed the 22nd hole.
'It was a tough match,' Green said. 'I knew that I wasn't going to play as well as I had been playing, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to win. Luckily I got through it.'
Green shot a 13-under 131 over the first two days of stroke play, setting a USGA and Public Links record and earning medalist honors as the top seed in match play.
The biggest upset of the first round came from 60th-seeded Brendan Steele of Idyllwild, Calif., who defeated No. 5 Matthew Every of Daytona Beach, Fla., 2 and 1.
Second-seeded Ryan Moore, the 2002 champion from Puyallup, Wash., beat Andrew Price of Mission Viejo, Calif., 2 and 1.
Brett Swedberg and Adam DeLawyer, the only two Minnesotans to qualify for match play, both lost in the first round.
Second- and third-round matches are Thursday, with the 36-hole championship match Saturday.
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