Columbus’ Albright, McDaniel ready to tee off in U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship

Local golfers Kyle Albright and Charlie McDaniel have played some iconic golf courses in the past — perhaps none more so than Winged Foot Golf Club.

Winged Foot has hosted 12 major championships, including five U.S. Opens, two U.S. Women’s Opens, one PGA Championship, one U.S. Senior Open and two U.S. Amateurs.

The two, who are in Mamaroneck, N.Y., for the second annual U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, played a practice round on the West Course on Thursday and the East Course on Friday.

“The course is in excellent shape. It’s exactly what you would expect for a USGA championship,” Albright said after Thursday’s practice round.

Albright and McDaniel will tee off in the best-ball tournament at 1:54 p.m. Saturday on the East Course. They will play the West on Sunday.

There are 128 two-man teams in the championship The low 32 teams after Sunday’s second round will advance to match play, which begins Monday. The final match will be played Wednesday afternoon.

“Winged Foot has very small and fast green with a lot of slope. The fairways are tight, and the rough is between 1-2 inches,” Albright said. “If you get on the wrong side of the hole; it makes for a difficult up and down . With Charlie and I playing countless times together; we are definitely going to be relaying on each other for advice.”

McDaniel and Albright won a Four-Ball qualifer at River Golf Club in John’s Creek, Ga., last September with a 7-under-par 63.

McDaniel played for Columbus High, while Albright played for Hardaway High in the early 2000s.

McDaniel won a region championship in 2004, while Albright and the Hawks finished third in the Class AAAA state championships that year.

Albright went on to play at Columbus State.

The two played together and won the Member-Guest tournament at the Country Club of Columbus in 2014.

Columbus has had a pair of USGA winners: Madden Hatcher III won the U.S. Junior in 1976 and Bill Ploeger won the U.S. Senior Amateur in 1999.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Columbus’ Albright, McDaniel ready to tee off in U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship."