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Quarterfinals set at California Amateur
Eddy Lai <br>(NCGA Photo)</br>
Eddy Lai
(NCGA Photo)


VALENCIA, CA (June 23, 2016) -- What started out with 156 players has trimmed itself down to just eight, as the 105th California Amateur Championship completed Round of 16 play Thursday at Valencia CC. Collegians have been the story of the tournament thus far, with two of them earning co-medalist honors in the stroke play portion of the event and 14 of the 16 competitors Thursday being 23 years of age or less. But the two mid-ams who remained in the field held their own, with SCGA Tournament regulars Tim Hogarth, who won this event in 1999, and Sean Birren both winning their matches.

Birren, who won the SCGA Public Links Championship in 2015, was in a close match all day against P.J. Samiere of San Diego State. With no man ever taking a lead of more than 1up, Birren eventually won as both men collected pars on the 18th hole. After being down 1 through four holes, Birren took 1 up leads on holes 6, 8 and 16, the last of which he never relinquished.

For Hogarth, he breezed through Round of 32 action on Wednesday with a 7 and 6 victory, but did have to play the course through 17 holes on Thursday, winning 2 and 1 against T.J. Masters. Hogarth, who has a lot of experience on the Valencia CC track, played his 17 holes in 1-under par on Thursday.

Some of the best play of the day came off the clubs of Shintaro Ban of UNLV, who defeated Fresno's Greg Gildea 4 and 3. Ban entered the back nine 1up, before going on a tear that included two birdies and an eagle over a 5-hole stretch.

"I told my caddie that if the 11th hole was playing at 300 yards or less, I was going for it," said Ban of the par-4 hole, which was playing at 305 yards for Thursday's action. "I didn't necessarily think I'd hit the green, especially 15 feet from the hole, but I did and was able to knock in the putt."

The eagle put Ban, who is the brother of last year's champion Shotaro, 2 up in his match with 7 holes to play, but he wouldn't need them, increasing his lead to 3 holes through 14 and ending the match on the 15th green with a birdie. With the win, Ban advances to face Birren Friday morning.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals was recent CIF State Champion Hidetoshi Yoshihara, who will play golf at UCLA in the Fall. He will take on Brandon Tsujimoto of UC Riverside tomorrow.

The full list of quarterfinal matches are:

Eddy Lai vs. Peter Kuest
Shintaro Ban vs. Sean Birren
Hidetoshi Yoshihara vs. Brandon Tsujimoto
Sebastian Crampton vs. Tim Hogarth


Results: California Amateur
WinCAShintaro BanSan Jose, CA600
Runner-upCAHidetoshi YoshiharaIrvine, CA400
SemifinalsCAPeter KuestFresno, CA300
SemifinalsCASebastian CramptonPacific Grove, CA300
QuarterfinalsCAEddy LaiSan Jose, CA200

View full results for California Amateur

ABOUT THE California Amateur

The Championship is open to amateur golfers who have established current indexes of 4.4 and are members in good standing of the Southern California Golf Association, the Northern California Golf Association, or the Public Links Golf Association of Southern California. Nonexempt players must qualify. An entrant may play in only one qualifying event, even if the golfer belongs to clubs in both Southern California and Northern California. The 18-hole qualifying rounds will determine the qualifiers.

The championship field will play 36 holes of qualifying at a Northern or Southern California Location, with the low 32 golfers from that combined field moving on to match play (with a playoff, if necessary, to determine the final spots). Two rounds each of 18-hole match play will follow on Thursday and Friday and the 36-hole final match will be on Saturday.

The location will rotate yearly between Northern and Southern California locations.

View Complete Tournament Information

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