Jordan Niebrugge Set To Play In The Australian Open

Jordan Niebrugge

The Emirates Australian Golf Open is set to begin in Sydney, Australia Thursday and a familiar name will be competing at the Australian Golf Club.

Jordan Niebrugge, the 22-year-old amateur whose grandparents live in Teutopolis, will tee off at 7 a.m. Thursday in Sydney which will be 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon here in Illinois. There is a 17 hour time difference.

Niebrugge, a senior at Oklahoma State University and a member of the golf squad, competed at the 2014 Masters Tournament where he played the first two rounds and missed the cut. Then in 2015, Niebrugge finished tied for medalist honors at the Hillside qualifier which resulted in an invitation to the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews. He went on to win the silver medal for being the low amateur and he tied for sixth place overall. That earned him the lowest score by an amatuer in the history of The Open Championship.

Now he moves on to the Australian Open along with some of the major names in the pro golfing ranks including Jordan Spieth who begins his title defense at 7:05 a.m.

Niebrugge, the son of Rod and Judy Niebrugge, was born just outside of St. Louis in Bridgeton, Missouri His family, including his older sister Alyssa, now live in Mequon, Wisconsin. His grandparents are John and Betty Helmink and Roger and Jackie Niebrugge from Teutopolis.

"He and his dad left last Thursday," said Grandma Jackie. "They went ahead to practice. Hopefully he will do well. He did well at the British Open. He's just an amateur but this is all so fun and exciting for us."

Niebrugge will be playing with Peter Uhlein from the USA and James Nittles from Australia. The Open is contested from Thursday, November 26 to Sunday, November 29.