Rycroft's Max Sekulic after he qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship. Photo Credit: Washington State Men's Golf twitter account.

By Shane Clausing

Max Sekulic

Rycroft’s Sekulic qualifies for the 121st U.S. Amateur Championship

Jul 3, 2021 | 7:00 AM

Rycroft’s Max Sekulic has qualified for the 121^st U.S. Amateur Championship.

The current Washington State University Men’s Golf Team member qualified for the event after he shot back-to-back 66’s (-8) in a qualifying event at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club, Washington State’s home course.

“I had to play a 36-hole qualifier, I had to play 18 in the morning and 18 in the afternoon,” explained Sekulic. “It’s pretty tough to qualify for and you have to play really well. It was a lot of fun.”

In order to qualify, Sekulic had to finish in the top two of the tournament. With his score of 66, he ended up winning the tournament and qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Championship.

While the U.S. Amateur Qualifier was a big stage for Sekulic, he says he was confident he’d have a good chance at qualifying.

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“My goal was to make it. It (the qualifying tournament) was at our home course. I felt I had a leg up in terms of course knowledge and the amount of times I played it.”

Sekulic added the only way to qualify for the tournament was to take some risks.

“You want to make the big tournaments and you want to play really well and play against the best players. When it’s 80 guys for two spots, you kind of have no choice but to take chances and be aggressive with the intent of shooting a really low score and entering the field.”

Around the world, 8,000 players attempted to qualify for the tournament. Max is one of 312 who made it.

The U.S. Amateur Championship will take place from August 9-15 at the Oakmont Country Club, in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, which is just outside of Pittsburgh.

The U.S. Amateur has also seen some of the best names in golf take part. Some past winners include Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar and Bryson DeChambeau.

The Oakmont Country Club has also been the home to several U.S. Open and PGA Championships.

Sekulic tells EverythingGP while there will be a bigger spotlight and he’ll be playing on one of the best courses in the United States, he’s not scared to take it on.

“I’ve been fortunate to have experience on really tough golf courses. It’s easy to be intimidated by the big fields and big-name courses, but I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to not only play a great course but to play against the best amateurs in the world. It’s a great test and indicator to see where your games at.”

Before the U.S. Amateur, Sekulic will be participating in tournaments in Minnesota and in Washington.

Max wanted to thank his parents Nick and Caroline Sekulic, his coach, Ken Fukushima, Randy Robb, and Luke Workman for everything they’ve done to help him advance in his career.