BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kevin Marsh, 40, of
Henderson, Nev., won two matches,
including a second-round win over defending
champion Nathan Smith, 35, of
Pittsburgh, on Tuesday to advance to the
quarterfinal round at the 2013 U.S. Mid-
Amateur Championship, held at the par-71,
7,173-yard Country Club of
Birmingham’s West Course.
Marsh, the 2005 U.S. Mid-Amateur titlist,
defeated Smith, a four-time winner of
this championship, 2 and 1. In the third round,
he held off Keith Unikel, 34, of
Potomac, Md., 1 up.
“I told myself at lunch to not have a letdown,”
said Marsh about his morning win
over Smith, a member of last month’s winning
USA Walker Cup Team. “I was proud
of myself for beating Nathan. It wouldn’t have
meant as much if I was not able to
back it up.”
The U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship continues
with the quarterfinal and semifinal
rounds on Wednesday. The championship is
scheduled to conclude with a 36-hole
final on Thursday, Oct. 10, starting at 7 a.m.
CDT.
The U.S. Mid-Amateur is one of 13 national
championships conducted annually by
the United States Golf Association, 10 of which
are strictly for amateurs.
Marsh had a 3-up lead after 10 holes, but
Unikel reeled off three consecutive
birdies to square the match. A pair of pars
helped Marsh win Nos. 14 and 15. He
two-putted from the upper left fringe on the
par-4 14th and sunk a 6-footer on the
following hole.
After a bogey on No. 16 cut his lead in half,
Marsh, the No. 4 seed coming out of
the stroke play portion of the championship,
later found himself in the left fairway
bunker on the 434-yard, par-4 18th. He calmly
struck a 9-iron to within 9 feet to
set up the match-clinching par.
“Pars are really good around here, especially
the last five or six holes,” said Marsh,
who advanced to the U.S. Mid-Amateur
quarterfinals for a fourth time. “I am not
swinging real confidently. It’s all about
figuring
out a way and taking it one hole at
a time.”
Bill Williamson, the third seed, also defeated
two opponents to reach the
quarterfinal round. The 36-year-old from
Cincinnati, Ohio, dispatched Joseph
Saladino, 33, of Huntington, N.Y., 5 and 4, in
the third round. He also won by a
conceded match in the second round when Tim
Hogarth, 47, of Northridge, Calif.,
could not continue on the fourth hole due to
illness.
In his match against Saladino, Williamson won
consecutive holes to build a 3-up
advantage on the outward nine. He made a
20-foot par putt on the par-4 7th and
added another par on the next hole.
Williamson
extended his lead to 4-up on the
par-5 10th with a 15-foot birdie putt. He
closed out the match by holing a 60-
footer from the back of green for another
birdie on No. 14.
“Even though it’s match play I still think you
are playing the golf course and playing
yourself,” said Williamson, whose previous
best
performance in this championship
was reaching the Round of 16 in 2006. “I am
trying to concentrate on the
process.”
Kenneth McCready, the youngest remaining
player in the field at age 25, had to
stave off his third-round opponent Brad Valois,
26, of Warwick, R.I., for a 1-up
victory. McCready, of San Diego, Calif.,
birdied
three of the first six holes to build a
4-up cushion. He struck a 149-yard, 9-iron to
within 6 feet on the par-4 6th.
Valois, the stroke-play medalist at last year’s
U.S. Mid-Amateur, rallied by winning
three consecutive holes on the inward nine
with a birdie and two pars and was 1
down heading to the 18th tee.
“I was 4 up quickly and all of the emotion of
the day got to me,” said McCready,
who won his second-round match, 3 and 1,
earlier in the day. “I got a little
complacent.”
McCready, in his first year of eligibility for the
U.S. Mid-Amateur, pushed his
approach shot into the right greenside bunker
on No. 18, but then hit a “once-in-
a-lifetime” shot with his 58-degree sand
wedge. The ball landed barely onto the
green and rolled to within six inches of the
hole, ending Valois’ comeback attempt.
“There’s nothing better,” he said. “That’s why
you practice. I proved a lot to
myself with that shot.”
Michael McCoy, 50, of West Des Moines, Iowa,
was a 2-and-1 winner over Zach
Atkinson, 31, of Hurst, Texas in the third
round. McCoy won holes 12, 13, and 14
with two pars and a birdie to break open a
tight match. He rolled in a 20-footer on
the 449-yard, par-4 14th for a birdie and a 2-
up lead.
“It’s always good to be still standing at the
end of the day,” said McCoy, who also
defeated his second-round opponent, 4 and 2.
Todd Mitchell, the 2008 U.S. Mid-Amateur
runner-up, also won two matches in
reaching the quarterfinals for the second time.
The 35-year-old from Bloomington,
Ill. defeated John Engler, 34, of Augusta, Ga.,
3 and 2, in the third round. Mitchell
had four birdies, including Nos. 9 and 10 when
he took a 3-up lead.
Bradley Bastion, 28, of Clinton Township,
Mich., Ken Tanigawa, 45, of Phoenix,
Ariz., and Matt Schneider, 25, of Grand
Rapids,
Minn., also advanced to the
quarterfinals. Schneider won his third-round
match in 19 holes.