SAN FRANCISCO — This week in the U.S. Amateur, Niall Shiels Donegan is having the most fun he has ever had on the course. Well, of course he is. Playing in front of an energetic crowd of his closest friends and family just 30 minutes from his Mill Valley, Calif., home, Shiels Donegan won in dramatic fashion for the second consecutive day at The Olympic Club, beating Notre Dame standout Jacob Modleski in 19 holes to advance to the semifinals.

The fun that Shiels Donegan is having, however, isn’t just because he is playing well. It’s the other way around, he says; the great play this week is the result of a recent change in his mental approach.

“I’ve had a mindset switch over the past couple weeks, just trying to get out of this outcome stuff,” said Shiels Donegan, who after two years at N

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