Dan Young Continues Dominant Summer at District Match Play Championship

It has been an eventful summer for Dan Young of Bellevue Country Club. On Sunday, he claimed his third SDGA championship of the season by winning the 2026 District Match Play Championship at Skaneateles Country Club. 

Related: Results

Young finished Thursday’s qualifier three-over, six shots behind co-medalists Nick Bove (NYSGA eClub - Central NY) and Tim Johnson (Pompey Club), but three shots clear of the cut-line. 

On Friday, Young scraped by Joe Petrin Jr. winning on the 17th hole, 2 & 1. Later that day, in the round of 16, he took down co-medalist Johnson 3 & 2. The following day, in the quarterfinal he beat Jim Hirsch, also 3 & 2, to book a spot in the semifinals. 

On Sunday morning, Young found himself in a battle with the other co-medalist, Bove. He entered the 18th up one and won the hole to win the match 2 up. His opponent in the final, Mitchell Archer, had a less stressful run. Archer won his first match 7 & 6, 3 & 2 in the round of 16, 2 & 1 in the quarters, and a whopping 8 & 7 in the semifinal. 

In the final, Archer took the lead by winning the third hole and extended it with a par to win the sixth. Young responded with a birdie on the seventh, the hardest hole on the course, to win his first hole and close the gap. 

Archer came to birdie the tenth hole, a par-3, to build the lead back up. A bogey from Young on 11 meant a 3-hole lead for Archer, the largest of the day. On the 13th hole, Archer double-bogeyed as Young took the hole. On the 14th hole, Young made par while Archer made bogey as his lead dwindled to just one hole. 

Both players found pars on the 15th and 16th holes to keep Archer ahead by one hole. On the 17th, he made birdie which meant Young needed to equal his effort to keep the match alive. Young sunk his birdie putt from 5 feet to move onto the 18th. Young proceeded to make birdie while a par from Archer meant the match was square. 

They went back to the 18th hole for the playoff where Young found himself 270 yards out on the par 5. He hit his second shot to the fringe while Archer flew the green and put himself in a suboptimal position. Archer couldn’t go up-and-down while Young made his third consecutive birdie to win the championship. 

Young had already won the Boys’ 18U Junior Classic Play and 18U Match Play championships. The win at Skaneateles Country Club marked the third in less than a month.