‘Proud moment’: Drue Nicholas competes on his home course at the U.S. Amateur Championship
The Drexel graduate took the first drive of the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club. He overcame some early round nerves to shoot a 71. He’ll look to make the cut for match play after Tuesday’s round.
As Drue Nicholas approached the tee box of hole No. 1 at Merion Golf Club early Monday morning, he felt jittery.
“[I was] just shaky,” Nicholas said. “It’s like I had a lot of caffeine, but I didn’t have any caffeine.”
The Egg Harbor Township native took the first drive of the U.S. Amateur Championship at his home club, marking the return of the nation’s premier amateur tournament to Merion since 2005.
Nicholas overcame some early round nerves to shoot a 71, leaving him tied for 46th at 1-over in the 312-player field Monday afternoon.
Nicholas was a four-time all-Coastal Athletic Association golfer at Drexel before graduating in 2025. He won the Philadelphia Open in July and qualified for the U.S. Amateur with a two-under round during U.S. Amateur Final Qualifying at Llanerch Country Club in Haverford Township.
» READ MORE: The U.S. Amateur Championship comes to Merion Golf Club. Here’s your guide to the week.
That qualification opened the door for the Merion member to compete at his home course in his second U.S. Amateur. He finished stroke play 9-over par in the 2025 tournament at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.
Nicholas became a member at Merion in April and estimated he’s played the course 20 times since joining.
He had some trouble through the front nine, with bogeys on holes No. 1 and No. 6 and a double bogey on hole No. 5, but back-to-back birdies on No. 11 and No. 12, plus an early birdie on No. 3, kept him in contention to make the 64-player match play bracket on Wednesday.
“The back five here are obviously very difficult, but I think I plotted my way around them pretty well,” Nicholas said. “I was thinking they’re hard, but if you hit it in the fairway, there are opportunities. Once I got through the first six holes — granted I was 3-over and a little disappointed — but I knew I could do something on the back stretch.”
Nicholas had a sizable crowd cheering him on Monday that included family, friends, former Drexel teammates, and Merion members.
After he tapped in a putt on the 18th green to finish his round, he took a moment to pose for a photo with the group that had come out to support him.
Caleb Taylor, Nicholas’ former teammate and roommate at Drexel, said seeing Nicholas compete on this course was a “proud moment.”
“Everybody that loves golf knows Drue,” Taylor said. “He really embraces the golf culture of Philadelphia. As a former Drexel teammate of his, we’re proud as teammates and alumni. He represents Drexel really well. He represents amazingly. He’s a great guy.”
Nicholas will spend Tuesday fighting to make the match play cut at Philadelphia Country Club, which is co-hosting the qualifying stroke play with Merion. He’s much less familiar with the course at Philadelphia Country, but playing a round away from his home course may relieve some pressure.
While the cut line for match play will be set after Tuesday’s rounds, Nicholas is hoping he could make it with a 1-under round at Philadelphia Country on Tuesday.
“If I miss out shooting even, I can sleep at night,” Nicholas said.
Philly roundup
Joshua Ryan missed out on the Philadelphia Open championship in a playoff with Nicholas, but the Norristown native got off to a hot start at Philadelphia Country on Monday.
Ryan shot a 67 with six birdies and was tied for the lead at 3-under. Ryan, a former golfer at Liberty University, will try to shield his place in the match play bracket at Merion on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be a different test tomorrow,” Ryan said. “You could very easily shoot a high number over there. I’m just going to keep playing. It’s nice to have a little bit of a cushion, but we’ll see where the field sits at the end of the day and just keep playing good golf.”
Downingtown native Nicholas Gross finished his round at Merion 3-over, and Newtown Square native Hunter Stetson was 6-over at Philadelphia Country.
Three other locals, Patrick Isztwan (Huntingdon Valley), Michael Lugiano (Jackson Township), and Charlie Barrickman (West Chester) remained on the courses at Merion and Philadelphia Country Monday afternoon.